28th Jan 2014 11:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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F&C Asset Management PLC said it has reached an agreed GBP708 million deal to be acquired by Bank of Montreal, just a day after it had announced that it had been approached by the Canadian bank. In a statement, the asset manager said each of its shareholders will receive 120 pence a share in cash, as well as a 2 pence a share dividend for 2013.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC said late Monday it has set aside GBP3.07 billion in new provisions for a number of past issues, the bulk of which relate to litigation and regulatory decisions regarding mortgage-backed securities and securities sold in the years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008. In a separate statement, RBS said its executive committee will not receive bonuses for 2013, though Chief Executive Ross McEwan already had said he did not wish to be considered for a bonus for 2013 or 2014, when he was appointed in August.
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Fresnillo PLC said its full-year 2013 gold production ended slightly below its revised guidance due to an court-order explosives suspension in Mexico. The precious metals miner, operating in Mexico, said it made attributable gold production of 425,831 ounces in the full year 2013, a 10% fall when compared to its 473,034 ounces of gold produced in 2012 and slightly lower than its revised gold production guidance of 425,900 ounces.
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AMEC PLC said its AMEC Tekfen Azfen consortium has been awarded a USD974 million contract for BP PLC-operated stage 2 development of the Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea. In a statement, AMEC said it will contribute its project and construction management expertise to the consortium. It didn't give a breakdown for the costs or revenues for the consortium members.
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Housebuilder Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC reported an increase in profit and revenue for the full year citing the UK government's flagship, but contentious, mortgage-financing scheme as a catalyst for renewed interest in new builds. The firm saw pretax profit jump 40% to GBP80.9 million for the period ended October 31, 2013, from GBP62.1 million a year earlier, despite exceptional costs of GBP5.9 million connected with its initial public offering in February 2013.
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Carpetright PLC said it now expects its full-year underling pretax profit to miss the lower end of current market expectations, due to further weakness in its Dutch business, which already swung to a loss earlier in the financial year. In a second profit warning since the group issued one back in October last year, the carpet and floor-coverings retailer said that while trading improved at its UK business during the third quarter, which is the 13 week period to January 25, sales continued to decline steeply at its Dutch business.
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British Land Company PLC said it had a good third quarter as its like-for-like occupancy rose 30 basis points to 97.1% following strong interest in its portfolio. In an interim management statement for the quarter ended December 31, 2013, the property development and investment firm said it signed 386,000 sq ft of retail lettings/renewals, driving UK retail occupancy up 40 basis points to 98.4%. In addition, 139,000 sq ft of office lettings/renewals were signed, while investment lettings/renewals were 6.8% ahead of estimated rental value.
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Afren PLC said it achieved the upper end of its full year 2013 production guidance and improved revenues following a major oil find offshore Nigeria in November. The FTSE 250 oil and gas exploration and development company said its full-year production averaged 47,112 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up on its 42,830 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2012 and at the upper end of its 40,000 to 47,000 barrels guidance.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks are gaining, with the FTSE 100 looking to snap a five-day slump, buoyed in part by GDP data that points to a strong UK economic recovery.
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FTSE 100: up 26.87 at 6,577.53
FTSE 250: up 185.03 at 15,713.24
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 6.03 at 856.40
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The pound, which had rallied above USD1.66 heading in to the GDP numbers, fell on the release of the data and has made a low of the day against the dollar at USD1.6533 as traders may have been hoping for another upside surprise to forecasts.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6542
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3639
GOLD: down at USD1,252.90 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD107.11 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The British economy grew by 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2013, bringing annual growth to 1.9% - the country's best performance since 2007 - the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. "We have now seen four successive quarters of significant growth and the economy does seem to be improving more consistently," said Joe Grice, chief economist at the ONS. Different sectors diverged in their performance, with economic growth in the country largely powered by its services sector, which grew by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. The construction sector, meanwhile, contracted by 0.3%. This is Britain's fastest annual rate of growth since before the onset of the financial crisis.
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France's consumer confidence increased for the second consecutive month in January, survey data released by statistical office Insee showed. Economists had forecast sentiment to remain steady. The headline consumer confidence index advanced to 86 in January from 85 in December and 84 in November. Economists had forecast the index to remain unchanged at the December level.
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EU finance ministers were discussing Tuesday how to proceed on a controversial scheme to wind down troubled banks in the eurozone, with less than three months left to finalize the much-touted measure. Meant to help shield taxpayers from bank bailouts, the new set-up would be part of a crisis-thwarting banking union - considered key to restoring trust in the eurozone.
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The worldwide smartphone shipments topped one billion units in 2013, for the first time in a single year, according to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Large screen devices and low cost were among the top trends driving smartphone growth, with low cost being the key difference maker. Vendors shipped 1.004 billion smartphones worldwide, up 38% from the 725.3 million units shipped in 2012, aligning with IDC's most recent forecast of 1.010 billion units.
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India's central bank raised its key interest rates unexpectedly to combat sticky inflation, but sees no further tightening in the near-term if consumer price inflation comes down. The Reserve Bank of India raised its repo rate by 25 basis points to 8.00% from 7.75%. The repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends to banks. The RBI adjusted the reverse repo, the rate at which the central bank accepts deposits from banks, to 7% from 6.75%. The bank was widely expected to leave key rates unchanged.
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An anti-government protester was shot and wounded in Bangkok Tuesday, outside the venue where electoral authorities and caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra were discussing a postponement of the national polls, media reports said. The assailant, reportedly dressed like a motorcycle taxi driver, shot into a crowd of the opposition People's Democratic Reform Committee that was protesting outside the Army Club, MCOT radio said. Protesters grabbed the alleged attacker and beat him up. He was then taken under escort to a nearby hospital. The wounded protester was taken to another hospital.
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Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov offered his resignation to end the country's political crisis, just as parliament prepared to vote for major concessions to the anti-government protesters. President Viktor Yanukovych did not immediately react and pro-government lawmakers stressed that the government remains in office as long as the president does not accept Azarov's resignation.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin was set Tuesday to meet top EU officials, for a summit expected to be marred by tensions over everything from international diplomacy to energy. The meeting had initially been expected to stretch over two days, but was cut short to just two-and-a-half hours, headlined by a restricted meeting of leaders and key advisers.
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Syrian government and opposition delegations were due Tuesday to resume direct talks after discussions over an interim administration for the war-torn country stalled. UN and Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said that the second day of direct talks would again focus on the political framework agreed by talks sponsors the US and Russia. Under the so-called Geneva I declaration, the two sides are supposed to negotiate a legal structure for the interim authority, to be comprised of members of President Bashar al-Assad's government, the opposition and independent figures.
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Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sissi was one step closer to becoming president of Egypt after receiving the endorsement of the military leadership on Monday. In July, it was al-Sissi who announced the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the country's first freely elected leader, after millions took to the streets demanding his overthrow. Members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces gave their approval to al-Sissi's presidential bid after meeting for several hours.
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The US government will allow communication companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook to reveal more information about previously secret government requests for customer data, the Justice Department said Monday. Revelations about surveillance programmes had prompted technology companies last year to call for greater leeway in sharing requests with clients that they had been bound by law to keep secret.
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