27th May 2016 10:17
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Shareholders in Irish drugmaker Shire approved the company's USD32.0 billion acquisition of US-based Baxalta. Shire said 94% of its shareholders voted in favour of the deal at a meeting Friday, paving the way for the deal to complete on June 3. "We are pleased to take this important step toward completing our combination with Baxalta, and are grateful that our shareholders have voiced their support by approving this transaction," said Shire Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov.
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Anglo American said Bruce Cleaver has been appointed as the new chief executive of its De Beers diamond business. Cleaver will take over from Philippe Mellier, who has stepped down from the role after five years. Cleaver moves from his role at director of strategy and business development at Anglo American. Duncan Wanblad, the chief executive of Anglo American's base metals unit, will take on Cleaver's previous duties in addition to his current role.
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Building materials company Wolseley said Simon Nicholls will not take up the position of chief financial officer later this year as previously announced. Wolseley had said in January that Nicholls would be joining the company from Cobham, the defence and aerospace group, where he is currently chief financial officer. However, on Friday, Wolseley said this was not longer the case and said instead David Keltner, who is the chief financial officer of Wolseley's US subsidiary Ferguson Enterprises Inc, will be appointed as interim chief financial officer.
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Drugmaker AstraZeneca said the US Food & Drug Administration has issued a complete response letter on the new drug application made for sodium zirconium cyclosilicate, while also saying it secured good results from its Faslodex trials. AstraZeneca said its faslodex drug met its primary endpoint for treating advanced breast cancer. The company said the drug met its target of extended progression-free survival.
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Closed-life fund consolidator Phoenix Group Holdings said it has agreed a GBP375.0 million deal to acquire the pensions and protection business of AXA Wealth, the wealth management arm of French insurer AXA. Phoenix will pay the consideration in cash, and the deal will add around GBP12.3 billion in assets under management to its books, along with more than 910,000 policies. The businesses acquired trade under the Embassy and SunLife brands. The deal will be funded by a share placing, through which Phoenix will seek to raise around GBP190.0 million, along with a new debt facility with a consortium of banks.
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Bodycote maintained its expectations for 2016, as revenue fell in the first four months of the year. The company, which supplies heat treatment, metal joining, hot isostatic pressing and coatings services, said group revenue for the four months to the end of April was GBP192.4 million, down 4.9% year-on-year, or 9.1% at constant currencies. After taking into account Bodycote's exit from its business in Brazil and the restructuring actions it announced in 2015, like-for-like revenue fell 2.7%, it said, and 7.0% at constant currencies.
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Defence contractor Ultra Electronics Holdings said it has agreed a deal to sell its ID business to private equity house LDC. Ultra will sell the business, which designs and manufactures card printers and associated products, for an initial GBP22.0 million in cash, with a further GBP3.0 million due based on earnings growth over the next two years.
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Arbuthnot Banking Group said it is planning to sell a significant stake in Secure Trust Bank, a move which will kick off a series of changes for both companies. Arbuthnot said it is planning to sell 5.8 million Secure Trust shares at 2,500 pence per share, an 11% discount to the closing price of Secure Trust shares on Thursday. The move would raise GBP145.0 million for Arbuthnot and would mean its stake in Secure Trust would fall from 51.9% to around 20%. The sale will be run by Stifel Nicolaus Europe as sole bookrunner, and the final pricing will be announced in due course, Arbuthnot said.
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Sports Direct International founder Mike Ashley was warned he will face "lengthy and public" contempt hearings if he continues to decline invitations to appear before a parliamentary committee. The Business, Innovation & Skills committee has been demanding since March for Ashley to appear before them in order to question him about working conditions at the sports clothing and equipment retailer's warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.
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MARKETS
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London stock indices were ending the week flat to marginally higher ahead of the UK Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Investors also were anticipating US GDP figures at 1330 BST and a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen at 1815 GMT, after the London equities close, amid growing expectations for a US interest rate hike this summer. Wall Street was pointed to a lower open.
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,269.12
FTSE 250: flat at 17,191.01
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 735.65
GBP: flat at USD1.4667 (USD1.4680)
EUR: flat at USD1.1178 (USD1.1181)
GOLD: down at USD1,218.05 per ounce (USD1,222.30)
OIL (Brent): down at USD48.97 a barrel (USD49.81)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The Federal Reserve is likely to raise US interest rates in the near term, according to Fed Governor Jerome Powell. "If incoming data continue to support those expectations, I would see it as appropriate to continue to gradually raise the federal funds rate. Depending on the incoming data and the evolving risks, another rate increase may be appropriate fairly soon," Powell said. Powell joins a chorus of Fed officials signaling a rate hike the summer, perhaps as early as June. US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks at Harvard University at 1815 BST Friday.
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The Leave campaign attempted to take back the initiative in the Brexit debate, capitalising on figures which showed net migration to the UK has soared. The Office for National Statistics estimated net migration to the UK hit 333,000 in 2015, with net migration from the EU at 184,000. The total figure is slightly lower than the record volumes reported for 2014, but the EU migration number is the joint highest on record. Meanwhile, leaders of the Group of Seven major economies, meeting in Japan, released a statement saying a Brexit would pose a "serious risk" to global growth. They warned a "UK exit from the EU would reverse the trend toward greater global trade, investment and the jobs they create and is a further serious risk to growth."
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Consumer confidence in the UK showed a bit of improvement in May but remained pessimistic, the latest survey from GfK revealed, with an index score of -1. That beat forecasts for -4 and was an improvement over April's -3, although it still was negative. Expectations for the coming year remained a key drag, rising one point to a still weak -13.
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China's industrial profits increased in April but at a slower pace, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Industrial profits grew 4.2% year-on-year, much slower than the 11.1% expansion seen in March. During January to April, industrial profits increased 6.5% from the same period of last year compared to a 7.4% rise in three months to March. Profits at state-owned firms declined 7.8%, while private firms' profits increased 8.4% in January to April period.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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