18th May 2015 10:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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BHP Billiton spin-off South32 is trading higher Monday as the mining company begins its first trading session in London. However, South32's opening price came in below analyst estimates, sending BHP shares lower. BHP is the worst performer in the FTSE 100, down 4.0% at 1,471.438p. South32, which also is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, is quoted up 1.3% at 105.375 pence in London. The company has 5.32 billion ordinary shares in issue.
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Babcock International Group reported strong growth in pretax profit for its last financial year as revenue was buoyed by major new contract wins and acquisitions. The engineering support services company focused on infrastructure and big projects reported a pretax profit of GBP313.1 million for the year to end-March, up from GBP218.8 million a year earlier as its own revenue rose to GBP4.00 billion from GBP3.32 billion. Revenue including its share of joint venture and associates' revenue rose to GBP4.50 billion, from GBP3.55 billion. Babcock raised its full-year dividend to 23.6 pence, from 21.4p, to reflect the improved financial performance.
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Mining giant Rio Tinto is planning to sell unwanted aluminium assets in a potential USD1 billion deal, the latest sign of global miners' attempts to restructure in the face of a commodities downturn, the Financial Times reported. The Anglo-Australian company has engaged Credit Suisse to find a buyer for its Pacific Aluminium business, a group of smelters in Australia and New Zealand, the report said quoting people aware of Rio's plans. The company has tried to sell Pacific Aluminium, known as PacAl, in the past, but halted its efforts in 2013 after there was scant interest in its loss-making operations.
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Fresnillo saw its shares rise early Monday, buoyed by a rise in the gold price and as the precious metal miner's chairman reiterated that the company is firmly focused on value creation. "I remain committed to our proven strategy in precious metals. Our priority, for 2015 and beyond, is firmly set on value creation. Thus, management must continue to focus on managing ore grades, optimising capacity and volume of ore processed, bringing on new projects, and extending the profitable growth pipeline, all while continuing to contain costs, enhance sustainability practices, and uphold our commitment to stakeholders," Alberto Baillères said in a statement that will be delivered to shareholders at the company's Annual General Meeting.
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ARM Holdings and United Microelectronics announced the availability of a new ARM Artisan physical IP solution on 55 nm to accelerate the development of ARM processor-based embedded systems and Internet of Things applications. According to the company, UMC's 55nm ultra-low-power process technology is emerging as an ideal solution for energy-efficient IoT applications.
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AstraZeneca revealed Movantik - naloxegol - had a similar incidence of adverse events among elderly patients as compared with placebo or usual care, in a presentation at the Digestive Disease Week 2015 in Washington, DC. The study evaluated the effects of daily oral administration of Movantik 12.5 mg or 25 mg versus placebo among outpatients 65 years and older with opioid-induced constipation and chronic non-cancer pain. The results came after further analysis of the Phase III KODIAC-04, KODIAC-05 and KODIAC-08 studies.
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The City regulator is set to hand out its largest fine ever to Barclays this week as the bank becomes the latest to settle foreign exchange rate rigging allegations in the UK, The Daily Telegraph reports. The Financial Conduct Authority is expected to make the bank pay at least GBP250 million, part of more than GBP4 billion in penalties set to be imposed this week on Barclays, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, UBS AG, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co for currency rigging. The vast majority of the GBP4 billion will be paid to US regulators.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group has been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of pounds in fines over its involvement in selling toxic mortgage-backed debt to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, The Sunday Times reports. RBS and Japanese lender Nomura have been ordered to pay a combined USD806 million fine for making false statements when selling home loan bonds, The Sunday Times said. The fine was handed down by US district judge Denise Cote. The Japanese bank, which is appealing the fine, has agreed to indemnify RBS, the newspaper said.
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The takeover battle for FTSE 250-listed online gaming company Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment ramped up Monday as 888 Holdings gatecrashed the existing talks between Bwin.Party and smaller rival GVC Holdings. 888 Holdings said it has submitted a cash and shares takeover bid for Bwin.Party, although it didn't detail the size of the offer. 888 said it thinks there is "significant industrial logic" in combining its business with that of Bwin.Party. 888 added that the deal would need to be approved by its own shareholders, and it has already secured the support of investors holding 59% of its share capital. It said there's no certainty a deal will be completed.
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Pork and poultry producer Cranswick reported a drop in profit in its recently-ended financial year despite a rise in sales, as it booked costs associated with the valuation of assets, amortisation of assets, and a contingent consideration following its purchase of Kingston Foods in 2012. The pork and poultry specialist reported a drop in profit in the year ended March 31 to GBP52.8 million from GBP54.8 million the year before, even though revenue grew to GBP1.00 billion for the first time, from GBP994.9 million. Cranswick will pay a final dividend of 23.4 pence, up 6.4% on 22p the prior year, making a total dividend of 34p, an increase of 6.3% on the 32p paid the year before.
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MITIE Group reported a lower pretax profit for its last financial year, as increased costs for completing an exit from its mechanical and electrical engineering construction business and for writedowns in its asset management business offset growth in revenue. The outsourcing and energy services company reported a pretax profit of GBP41.5 million for the year to end-March, down from GBP68.4 million a year earlier. Excluding exceptional costs, pretax profit rose to GBP114.1 million, from GBP113.3 million, as revenue grew to GBP2.27 billion from GBP2.14 billion. MITIE raised its final dividend for its last financial year to 6.5 pence, from 6.1p, bringing the full-year dividend to 11.7p, up from 11.0p.
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Satellite communications service provider Inmarsat said it is suspending its guidance for 8% to 12% compound annual growth in revenue from wholesale mobile satellite services over 2014 to 2016, as the launch of its third Global Xpress satellite I-5 F3 was delayed by the failure of a related satellite. The delay is due to a failure to launch the Proton Breeze M rocket carrying the Centenario satellite on Saturday. According to Inmarsat's launch partner International Launch Services, the rocket suffered a "disabling anomaly" after lift-off, leading to the loss of the satellite and the rocket.
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Engineering software company Aveva Group is understood to be an acquisition target for a slew of US and European suitors, The Sunday Times reported. Senior City sources told the newspaper that Aveva is likely to be targeted by French energy group Schneider Electric SA, US conglomerate General Electric Co, and US-based manufacturer Emerson Electric Co. Aveva is set to publish its full-year results on Tuesday following a difficult year compounded by a profit warning it issued in September.
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MARKETS
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London stock indices are trading higher mid-morning, while miner BHP Billiton is the worst-performing stock in the FTSE 100 after its spin-off South32 was priced at the lower end of market expectations.
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FTSE 100: up 0.4% at 6,984.55
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 18,046.01
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 762.65
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Gold hit its highest level since mid-February at USD1232.41.
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GBP: down at USD1.5675
EUR: down at USD1.1395
GOLD: up at USD1229.41 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD66.95 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said he will announce the Summer Budget on July 8. Osborne pledged to deliver policies for the working people. The Conservatives came to power for a second time following the general election held on May 7. "I am going to take the unusual step of having a second budget of the year - because I don't want to wait to turn the promises we made in the election into a reality . And I can tell you it will be a budget for working people," he wrote in the Sun newspaper. He is likely to reveal the blueprint of a planned GBP12 billion reduction in welfare bills.
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British manufacturers reported growth in export orders and sales in the first quarter, a quarterly report released by the British Chambers of Commerce and DHL Express showed. About 46% of manufacturers said increased export orders improved in the first quarter, compared to 36% in the fourth quarter, according to International Trade Outlook report. Likewise, nearly 43% of manufacturers reported an increase in export sales, up from 38% seen a quarter ago. Meanwhile, the proportion of service firms that recorded increased export sales remained steady at 33%.
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The average asking price for a new house in the UK was down 0.1% on month in May, property tracking website Rightmove said on Monday - coming in at GBP285,89. That follows a 1.6% increase in April. By region, prices in London fell 2.3%, while the north-east and Yorkshire also were down. Prices in the east climbed 1.4%. On a yearly basis, house prices advanced 2.5%, slowing from 4.7% in the previous month.
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The European Central Bank should maintain the pace and volume of interventions so that inflation rises back towards 2% as quickly as possible, Executive Board Member Yves Mersch said Monday.
Despite the success of the quantitative easing, "it is important that we do not get carried away," he said at the Swedbank Economic Outlook Seminar. "Unconventional monetary policy must remain exceptional and time-bound." he observed.
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Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said it will not be appropriate to start raising the fed funds rate until sometime in early 2016. Although economic activity appears to be on a solid, sustainable path, supporting a rate hike soon, the weak first quarter data necessitates confirmation that they are indeed a transitory aberration, he said at the Swedbank Global Outlook Summit in Stockholm. Furthermore, inflation is low and is expected to remain low for some time. He said there would not be any serious costs of modestly overshooting 2% inflation target, particularly considering how long inflation has been below the target.
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The Saudi-led coalition resumed its airstrikes on rebels in Yemen early Monday, a news report said, after a five-day humanitarian truce in the country expired. Warplanes struck at Houthi rebels in al-Awlaban and al-Arish in the southern province of Aden, Al Jazeera reported, citing unnamed Saudi officials. The ceasefire expired at 11 pm local time on Sunday.
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The Iraqi government said it would dispatch allied Shiite fighters to the mostly Sunni province of Anbar after a retreat by security forces in the face of advancing Islamic State militants there. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the Shiite paramilitaries, known as the Popular Mobilization, to be prepared for fighting the jihadists in Anbar, which is Iraq's largest province, state broadcaster al-Iraqiya reported. The decision to send the Shiite allies to Anbar comes after the extremists overran the last district held by government forces in Ramadi, the capital city of Anbar that stretches from Baghdad to Syrian border.
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Iran poses no danger to the Gulf States and is ready to begin a dialogue with the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said in Tehran. Speaking about this week's meeting between the GCC and the US at Camp David, Marzieh Afkham said: "Iran views dialogue with its neighbouring countries (in the GCC) as necessary and has always demanded this."
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Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza made his first public appearance on Sunday after a failed coup. Nkurunziza met with ruling party officials in the Kamenge neighbourhood of the capital, Bujumbura, as part of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy's (CNDD-FDD) election campaign. Local government polls are scheduled for May 26 in the small East African country, with presidential elections set for June 26.
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