17th Nov 2015 11:15
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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For the fourth consecutive period, J Sainsbury was the only big four UK supermarket to increase sales in the past 12 weeks, according to Kantar Worldpanel's grocery market survey, while overtaking Wal-Mart Stores-owned Asda to take second place in terms of market share, with both still behind Tesco. Sainsbury's sales rose 1.5% in the 12 weeks to November 8 to GBP4.14 billion from GBP4.08 billion in the same period a year earlier, as its market share increased to 16.6% from 16.4%, which Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel said was the first share gain registered by any of the big four since October 2014.
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easyJet reported growth in profit in its recently-ended financial year as revenue rose and it carried more passengers than the prior year, while it said the long-term outlook for the business is positive. The low-cost airline said pretax profit in the year ended September 30 grew 18% to GBP686 million from GBP581 million the year before, as revenue rose 4% to GBP4.68 billion from GBP4.52 billion. easyJet said passengers increased 6% in the year to 68.6 million, with a record load factor in August of 94.4%. Annual load factor increased by 0.9 percentage point to 91.5%. easyJet will pay a total dividend of 55.2 pence per share for the year, a 22% increase on the 45.4p it paid the prior year.
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Engineer Smiths Group said it has a resilient first quarter as the diversity of its operations helped to offset some tough trading in the oil and gas markets, which dragged on revenue in its John Crane energy services business. The company, which has operations spanning energy services, medical devices and security sensors, said underlying, constant currency revenue declined 4.0% in the first quarter to the end of October, though its group operating margin was broadly flat year-on-year.
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British Land Co reported that its net asset value, measured on the European Public Real Estate Association basis, grew by 7.5% in the first half of its financial year against the corresponding period the prior year, as UK property markets remained strong amid low interest rates and unemployment. The real estate investment trust's EPRA NAV per share amounted to 891 pence per share as of September 30, compared with 829p at the equivalent stage the year prior, which the company said was due to the strength of the markets in which it is invested, as well as its actions to improve and manage its portfolio. British Land will pay 14.18 pence per share, up from 13.84p a year before.
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Mining giant BHP Billiton said that it is reviewing the operating structure of mining joint ventures with companies including Glencore and Anglo American in the wake of the deadly Brazil mine disaster. The mining giant also said it is reviewing Samarco Mineracao, its joint iron ore operation with Vale in Brazil's Minas Gerais state, after a tailings dams burst November 5, sending a torrent into a valley below and killing at least nine people. BHP Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie told investors Monday on a conference call that the company will also assess its Antamina copper operation in Peru and its Cerrejon coal venture in Colombia.
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Television and film production company Entertainment One said its pretax profit surged higher in the first half thanks to a sharp decline in financing costs, as the group said it remains confident on the second half and is on track to double the size of the business by 2020. Entertainment One said its pretax profit in the first half to the end of September rose to GBP18.1 million, up from GBP2.4 million a year earlier, as its financing costs halved and as it good a boost to its profit from its joint ventures. The company said pretax profit was up 42% to GBP39.9 million on an adjusted basis. Revenue rose to GBP337.1 million from GBP330.5 million and the group paid a 1.1 pence dividend, up from 1.0p.
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B&M European Value Retail said it swung to a profit in the first half of its financial year while growth in revenue was boosted by new store openings. The discount retailer said it made a GBP66.7 million pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended September 26, having suffered a GBP16.5 million pretax loss in the same period the year before as it was hit by higher finance costs which did not repeat in the current year. Revenue rose by more than a quarter to GBP930.3 million from GBP739.8 million. B&M will pay an interim dividend of 1.6 pence per share, a 78% increase on the 0.9p it paid the prior year.
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Oil and gas explorer Tullow Oil said the Emesek-1 exploration well in northern Kenya has reached total depth but did not find any commercial levels of hydrocarbons. The well, located in the North Lokichar basin in Block 13T, was drilled by the PR Marriott 46 Rig. The rig will now move to the South Lokichar basin to drill the Etom-2 well, which will spud in late November, Tullow said.
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A deal has been reached for US cable company Liberty Global to acquire Cable & Wireless Communications in a deal that values the London-listed telecommunications company at about GBP3.60 billion, according to a statement late Monday. The GBP3.60 billion value ascribed to Cable & Wireless, which has operations in the Caribbean and Central America, takes into account a 3.0 pence special dividend to be paid to the company's shareholders. The deal, which comes after the two companies in October confirmed they were in takeover talks, values Cable & Wireless at 81.04p per share. Shares in Cable & Wireless closed up 0.1% at 73.54p on Monday in London and were up 6.6% at 78.65p on Tuesday.
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Engineering, design and project management consultancy WS Atkins said it bought the projects, products and technology arm of EnergySolutions, the nuclear engineering services company. Atkins said the deal values the acquired business at USD318.0 million and will further the group's presence in the nuclear energy market.
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Crest Nicholson Holdings said its unit completions for the full year are set to rise by 8.0% and that the value of its sales going into its new financial year is significantly higher. The housebuilder said it expects its unit completions for the year to the end of October to rise 8.0% year-on-year to 2,725, up from 2,530 a year earlier. Looking to the recently-started current financial year, the group's forward sales position at the start of the new year is 12% higher year-on-year, while the value of its forward sales currently booked for the 2016 financial year is 32% higher.
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Specialty chemicals company Bodycote maintained its full-year profit guidance but said its market remain challenging and are likely to stay that way in the near term. The company said group revenue was down 9.7% in the four months to the end of October, with revenue from its aerospace, defence and energy business declining 11% and automotive and general industrial revenue down 8.8%.
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The restaurant group founded by designer Terence Conran is close to launching a public flotation in London which would value the group at around GBP100.0 million, Sky News reported. LDC, the private equity owner of D&D Restaurants, is to kick off a roadshow this week, run by Zeus Capital, to gauge investor appetite for a float of the business. D&D owns the Bluebird, Coq d'Argent and Skylon restaurants in London.
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MARKETS
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Share prices were higher again in London, continuing to shrug off the terrorist attacks on Paris last Friday. Futures were indicating a firm open in New York as well, with major indices pointed up 0.5%.
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FTSE 100: up 2.0% at 6,267.36
FTSE 250: up 1.2% at 17,052.72
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 730.14
GBP: firm at USD1.5205 (USD1.5192)
EUR: down at USD1.0663 (USD1.0708)
GOLD: down at USD1,080.50 per ounce (USD1,085.41)
OIL (Brent): up at USD44.59 a barrel (USD43.30)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK consumer price inflation remained negative for the second straight month in October, the Office for National Statistics showed. Consumer prices decreased 0.1% from a year ago, the same rate of decline as seen in September and in line with expectations. Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, rose to 1.1% in October from 1% in September. Month-on-month, consumer prices gained 0.1%, offsetting a 0.1% fall in September. Another report from ONS showed that output prices dropped at a slower pace of 1.3% after decreasing 1.8% in September. Economists had forecast a 1.4% fall.
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A second round of airstrikes against the Islamic State terrorist organization were conducted overnight in Syria, the French Ministry of Defence said. Ten planes took off from bases in Jordan and the Persian Gulf and dropped a total of 16 bombs on an Islamic State command centre and a training ground, the ministry said in a statement. In the first operation the previous night, French forces dropped 20 bombs and destroyed a commando position where munitions were stored and another training camp for terrorists. The airstrikes are retaliation for the November 13 attacks on Paris, which have killed 129 people and for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility.
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In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, the US and France will strengthen intelligence sharing to the fullest extent allowed by law. The G-20 meeting in Antalya, Turkey, that ended Monday was supposed to address the economy. But the terrorist attack on Paris last week changed that agenda, and US President Barack Obama pledged to redouble efforts against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On Monday, French aircraft bombed ISIL's quasi-capital city of Raqqa in Syria based on information the US was able to share with them. "We're working closely with our French partners as they pursue their investigations and track down suspects," Obama said during a news conference. "France is already a strong counter terrorism partner, and today we're announcing a new agreement. We're streamlining the process by which we share intelligence and operational military information with France," he told reporters.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to spend an additional GBP2 billion to fund the country's anti-terrorism forces. The money will be used over the next five years to buy new weapons, vehicles, protective equipment, night-fighting gear and communications technology, Cameron said in a speech at the Lord Mayor of London's Banquet. Britain needs to "increase both its hard and soft power," he said, adding that "the reality is that there are times when you do need to be able to deploy military force." Earlier Monday, Cameron told BBC Radio that British police have stopped around seven planned terrorist attacks in the last six months.
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The world's biggest lenders must build additional financial buffers to protect against destabilizing financial crises under new regulations ratified by G20 leaders. The G20's Financial Stability Board, a banking watchdog agency, published the new regulations last week in Basel, Switzerland, to oblige the banks to keep at least 18% of their risk-weighted assets available to cover losses.
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Governments among the Group of 20 countries have implemented about half of the economic growth agenda adopted by the world's leading advanced and emerging economies one year ago, the International Monetary Fund said. IMF chief Christine Lagarde, attending the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, urged the countries to finish implementing growth-spurring reforms agreed when leaders from the 20 countries met last year in Brisbane, Australia.
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US President Obama arrived in the Philippines Tuesday to attend an international economic summit where terrorism and maritime disputes were expected to overshadow trade discussions. Obama was scheduled to visit a Philippine Navy ship, the US State Department said, amid an escalating row over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely as its sovereign territory.
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