15th Sep 2015 10:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Kingfisher reported a drop in profit in the first half of its financial year, which it said was hit by movements in currency exchange rates, but said that the business is on track in its turnaround programme. The DIY retailer reported a 1.8% drop in pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended August 1 to GBP386 million from GBP393 million in the same period the year before, as sales fell 4.8% to GBP5.49 billion from GBP5.77 billion. Kingfisher said that sales and profit were hit by adverse foreign exchange movements on the translation of non-sterling profits, but that it is progressing with its plan to turn the business around. The company will pay an interim dividend of 3.18 pence, up 1% on the 3.15p it paid the prior year.
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ARM Holdings said it is trading in line with its expectations as it prepared to set out investment plans at its capital markets day in London. The FTSE 100-listed chip designer said its current trading and operating costs in the third quarter are broadly in line with the guidance it gave in its second quarter results in July. ARM said its capital markets day, taking place Tuesday morning, will focus in its plans to invest in technologies for smart mobile devices, networking infrastructure and in complementary technologies for the Internet of Things, all of which it expects to increase its revenue and operating costs but which will become earnings accretive only in 2017.
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London Stock Exchange Group said it has sold its market data vendor and retail trading provider Proquote to Australia-listed financial technology company IRESS for an undisclosed amount. The exchange operator said it had identified Proquote as a non-core operation going forward for its information services arm. The acquisition includes the Proquote connectivity hub business and LSEHub, a FIX order routing business. LSE expects the deal to complete in the fourth quarter of 2015.
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British Land said it and partner Oxford Properties have signed a deal to let two further floors at the Leadenhall Building, known as The Cheesegrater, in the City of London. The property group said liquefied petroleum gas trader Petredec and insurance and reinsurance company Fidelis Insurance have agreed to take the floors.
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Anglo-South African life insurer and investment manager Old Mutual said Chief Operating Officer Paul Hanratty is to leave the company. Old Mutual said Hanratty will leave the company in March 2016, but will then remain available to the company for a further 12 months.
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Ocado Group reported growth in sales in the third quarter of its financial year as its average orders per week increased, and it said that it expects to continue growing slightly ahead of the UK online grocery market. The purely online grocery business said that its group sales in the 12 weeks ended August 9 grew 17% to GBP272.0 million from GBP231.9 million in the same period the year before, as retail sales rose 15% to GBP252.0 million from GBP218.5 million. Average orders per week increased by 17% to 190,000 from 163,000, although average order size slipped 1.1% to GBP110.46 from GBP111.64.
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Insurer Hastings Group Holdings confirmed it will float on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in October to raise GBP180.0 million from the sale of new and existing shares. Press reports earlier had said the IPO could value the business at up to GBP1.5 billion. Hastings - which provides cover for car, bikes, vans and homes and has 1.9 million customers - is half owned by US investment bank Goldman Sachs, which will indirectly remain the company's largest shareholder following the IPO. Credit Suisse, Barclays Bank and HSBC Bank will join in Goldman as bookrunners for the deal.
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MARKETS
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UK indices were trading mixed, with DIY retailer Kingfisher among the worst performers in the FTSE 100. Investors are looking ahead to the highly anticipated Federal Reserve meeting on Thursday for a decision on US interest rates.
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FTSE 100: down 0.5% at 6,047.51
FTSE 250: down 0.5% at 16,844.18
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 732.43
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The pound was flat against the dollar after UK inflation fell flat in August, a long way short of the Bank of England's inflation target of 2%.
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GBP: flat at USD1.5423
EUR: down at USD1.1309
GOLD: down at USD1105.98 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD47.48 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK inflation returned to zero in August as expected on slower growth in clothing prices, data released by the Office for National Statistics showed. Consumer prices remained unchanged in August from a year ago, following a 0.1% rise in July. The official inflation target of the Bank of England is 2% and the bank has estimated inflation to return to the target level within two years. Consumer prices advanced 0.2% on a monthly basis as expected by economists, offsetting a 0.2% fall in July.
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UK house price inflation slowed sharply in July to its weakest level in nearly two years, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. The house price index rose 5.2% year-on-year after a 5.7% increase in June. In April and May, house price inflation was 5.6%. The latest figure was the lowest since September 2013, when house prices rose 3.8%. On a month-on-month basis, house prices increased 0.8% after a revised 0.6% climb in the previous month.
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German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere called for financial sanctions on EU member states refusing to take in refugees. "Those countries that are refusing - nothing happens to them. The refugees simply pass them by," De Maiziere told national public broadcaster ZDF. "And for that reason, we must talk about using pressure," he added, noting that these member states frequently received considerable structural funding from the EU. De Maiziere expressed support for Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's proposal to cut funding to these countries. De Maiziere also called on Greece to cease simply funnelling refugees through to the centre of Europe. "That has to stop," he said.
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Hungary declared a state of emergency in two counties along the border with Serbia because of the influx of refugees. The step paves the way for parliament to allow the army to reinforce police along the border, as new measures to crackdown on refugees go into effect. Earlier in the day, Hungarian authorities used a boxcar fitted with razor wire to block a major entry point on the border with Serbia. Over the last two weeks, tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, most fleeing war in Syria and Iraq, passed through the crossing on a railroad near Roszke, using the last gap in a fence that Hungary built along its 175-kilometre border with Serbia.
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In his last act as Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott lashed out at "poll-driven politics" and "sour, bitter, character assassination" media commentary that he said was not good for the country. Abbott criticized a "febrile media culture that rewards treachery," and called on the media not to print unsourced claims from politicians. He pledged to ease the transition for incoming prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, his longtime rival who ousted him as leader of the Liberal Party in a vote late Monday night. "This is a tough game. But when you join the game, you accept the rules," Abbott said.
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Brazil's government faces a federal budget deficit of BRL26 billion (USD6.7 billion), government officials said, in the midst of the deepest economic crisis in the country in years. The deficit, announced by Finance Minister Joaquim Levy and Planning Minister Nelson Barbosa, will force a postponement of pay increases for civil servants from January to August and the delay of some other planned expenditures. It comes after the latest downgrading of Brazil's bonds to junk by Standard & Poor's.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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