25th Sep 2015 10:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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The UK government has cut its stake in Lloyds Banking Group, meaning it now owns 11.98% of the lender, according to a stock exchange filing. The further reduction to its stake is down from the 12.97% it held at the end of August, the last time the government sold off some of its holding. The government is in the process of returning the lender to private ownership after taking a 43% stake in the lender through a GBP20 billion bailout in the global financial crisis of 2007-09.
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Irish pharmaceuticals company Shire said a US court of appeals has upheld a previous judgement protecting certain patent claims on its Vyvanse attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment which will keep generic version of the drug off the market until 2023. Shire said the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit upheld the summary judgement made by the US District Court for the District of New Jersey affirming the validity of its patents.
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Capita said it has acquired UK-based IT network provider Electranet UK Ltd for GBP37 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis. Electranet runs a UK commercial site which is approved to hold UK government protectively marked information, and can therefore support secure government projects. It reported a pro forma operating profit of GBP2.7 million on revenue of GBP15.1 million for the year to end-February, and is forecasting an operating profit of GBP5.1 million on revenue of GBP26.4 million for its current year.
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STERIS's acquisition of Synergy Health cleared a major hurdle, after the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio denied the Federal Trade Commission's request for a preliminary injunction to block the takeover. The FTC revealed earlier in the year it intended to block STERIS's proposed USD1.9 billion cash and share takeover of Synergy, as a result of concerns relating to competition in the market for contract radiation sterilisation services. STERIS noted that as a result of the delay and the FTC review, the new combined company's legal expenses in connection to the deal are estimated to be increased by around GBP16 million, and finance expenses in connection to the deal may increase to up to GBP22 million.
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Just Retirement Group and Partnership Assurance Group both announced share placings in relation to the all-share merger between the two companies. Just Retirement, the retirement products company, and smaller rival Partnership Assurance said the two issues will raise a total of GBP150.0 million to back their proposed merger, under which they will combine under the name JRP Group.
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Drax Group said it will pull out as a partner of the consortium developing the White Rose carbon capture and storage project but said it is still mulling converting a fourth coal unit into a biomass unit despite recent government changes to renewable energy subsidies. The FTSE 250-listed company said it "remained committed" to fulfilling the front-end engineering and design work on the carbon capture and storage project, but said once completed, it will not invest any further funds into the project and will withdraw as a partner.
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US private equity house Lone Star increased its takeover offer for Quintain Estates & Development, the North London-focused property developer, days after it was revealed that hedge fund Elliott Capital Advisors had built up a stake in Quintain and was opposing Lone Star's offer. Quintain, which owns a large portion of land around Wembley Stadium in North London, accepted a GBP700.0 million takeover bid from Lone Star at the end of July. Since then, the bid deadline has been extended twice as Lone Star worked to secure the 75% of acceptances it needed to push the deal through.
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MARKETS
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UK indices were trading higher with the FTSE 100 index taking back the losses seen Thursday, supported by a rebound in mining stocks.
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FTSE 100: up 2.4% at 6,104.06
FTSE 250: up 1.8% at 16,812.58
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.5% at 732.40
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GBP: up at USD1.5226
EUR: down at USD1.1153
GOLD: down at USD1144.00 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD48.37 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she expects the long-anticipated rise in interest rates to begin gradually before the end of 2015, to avoid an abrupt hike later on. Yellen, who was speaking at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said that projection was based on her expectation that the labour market and economy continue to improve, and the projection that inflation will gradually move up towards the 2% goal set by the Fed. "Most [Federal Open Market Committee] participants, including myself, currently anticipate that achieving these conditions will likely entail an initial increase in the federal funds rate later this year, followed by a gradual pace of tightening thereafter," she said, according to a transcript of her speech. The final scheduled 2015 policy statement is December 16, with one other scheduled for October 28.
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The Telegraph reported that France has opened up the possibility of full treaty changes in an attempt to keep Britain in the EU, warning it would be a serious mistake to disregard the UK's demands. French economy ministry Emmanuel Macron said creative ways could be found to amend the EU treaties and prevent a 'Brexit', the report said. Macron said it was not impossible to craft a 'win-win deal' that addressed Britain's concerns about the status of non-euro members. Additionally changes to the UK's membership terms could be combined with euro reform in a broader EU accord.
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The death toll in the stampede in Mecca has risen to 717, with about 870 others injured. The incident took place at Mina where thousand of pilgrims had gathered to perform the 'stoning of the devil' ritual. This is the worst incident at Mecca since the deadliest in 1990, when over 1,400 pilgrims died in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel. Saudi Arabia has more than 4,000 rescue workers and over 200 ambulances in place to tackle the catastrophe. Earlier this month, at least 109 people were killed and about 400 people were injured when a crane collapsed at the Grand Mosque.
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US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down for a private dinner Thursday at the start of a state visit set to be dominated by concerns about cyber-security, the Chinese economy and climate change. The White House likened the dinner to a private meal the two leaders had in China last year designed to get the men to talk candidly. The US and China were due to outline Friday details of how they will reach goals set last year to reduce carbon emissions, including an announcement of a cap and trade system for Chinese companies and a move to prioritize green energy use.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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