11th Mar 2014 11:14
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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London and Surrey estate agent Foxtons Group PLC said it will pay a special dividend after a strong full year which saw it listed in London in September and then entered into the FTSE 250. The estate agent known for its branded Mini Cooper cars and smartly dressed sales force posted pretax profit of GBP38.9 million for 2013, up from GBP24.9 million in 2012, as revenue rose 16% GBP139.2 million from GBP120.0 million a year earlier. Foxtons said it will pay its first dividend as a listed company, consisting of a final dividend of 1.70 pence and a special dividend of 3.74 pence per share - a total of 5.44 pence per share.
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Canadian gold producer Barrick Gold Corporation said it intends to pare the stake that it held indirectly in African Barrick Gold PLC as it continues efforts to divest non-core operations and cut costs in order to pay down debt. Toronto, Canada-based Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold producer, said it will shed about 13.5% stake in African Barrick through a placement of its ordinary shares to institutional investors.
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Inchcape PLC said revenue and pretax profit grew steadily during the full-year, boosted in part by an Australian acquisition, leading the firm to increase its dividend by 20%. The multinational automotive retail and services company saw its shares rise to lead the FTSE 250 in early trading after reporting a 4.2% increase in revenue for the year, rising to GBP2.2 billion from GBP2.1 billion last year, and pretax profit rose to GBP266.1 million, up 7.4% from GBP247.7 million in 2012.
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Computacenter PLC raised its total dividend, as pretax profit in 2013 was hit by higher exceptional costs relating to onerous contracts in Germany and under-performance in its French business. The company raised its total dividend for 2013 to 17.5 pence per share from 15.5 pence in 2012. Computacenter posted a pretax profit of GBP50.5 million, down from GBP64.8 million in 2012, as it was hit by exceptional costs of GBP27.1 million. Revenue rose to GBP3.07 billion from GBP2.91 billion in the previous year,
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Polymer products manufacturer Fenner PLC saw its shares tumble after it confirmed its results for the half year will be below the first half in 2012. Fenner had warned about the lower results in its interim management statement in January. However, the company said Tuesday it anticipates, in constant currency terms, its results for the year as a whole will show modest growth compared with 2012.
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esure Group PLC reported a marginally larger annual pretax profit, aided by lower finance costs, but the motor insurer said the costs of severe weather events in the first quarter of the new year are likely to cost GBP3.0 million to GBP4.0 million more than expected. In its maiden full-year results after listing in March 2013, the FTSE 250 motor and home insurer, owner of Sheila's Wheels, reported a GBP118.4 million pretax profit for 2013, compared with GBP115.5 million for 2012.
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Close Brothers Group PLC reported increased half-year pretax profit, driven by its banking division's increased lending to commercial and retail borrowers, while its securities and asset management divisions also delivered growth. In a statement, Close Brothers said it made a GBP94.8 million pretax profit in the six months ended January 31, compared with GBP78.0 million in the corresponding period in the previous year.
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Investment property group Hansteen Holdings PLC reported an increase in profit and revenue for the full year, as demand for its properties remained strong. The company, which invests in UK and continental European industrial property, posted pretax profit of GBP65.3 million for 2013, up from GBP46.2 million, as revenue rose to GBP83.0 million from GBP77.3 million a year earlier. Hansteen increased its full-year dividend of 2.9 pence, up from 2.7 pence, making a total dividend 4.8 pence per share, up from 4.5 pence per share.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks are marginally lower, as UK economic data comes in on the soft side and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and three other members of the Monetary Policy Committee face questions from the Treasury Select Committee.
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FTSE 100: down 20.88 at 6,668.57
FTSE 250: down 11.82 at 16,439.38
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 1.84 at 894.97
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6608
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3837
GOLD: up at USD1,347.91 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD108.50 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK industrial production growth slowed more than expected in January, while manufacturing output growth remained stable compared to December, official data showed. Industrial output edged up 0.1% from December, the Office for National Statistics reported. Output was forecast to expand 0.2%, following December's 0.5% rise.
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Retail sales in the UK grew at a significantly slower pace in February, survey data published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG revealed. Total retail sales increased 0.7% year-on-year in February, which was notably weaker than the 5.4% gain seen in January. February's sales were influenced by a marked pick up in spending on home accessories, followed by furniture and flooring, which indicates the impact of the continued recovery in the housing market on the wider economy. On the other hand, Food sales continued to stay relatively flat
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The UK's Financial Conduct Authority said it is proposing a shake-up of the GBP1 billion general insurance add-on market, finding that competition isn't working well, with many consumers not getting value for money. The FCA's proposals include the banning of pre-ticked boxes in online forms, forcing firms to publish claims ratios, and breaking the point-of-sale advantage for guaranteed asset protection insurance, usually offered alongside car sales. It also wants to improve the way that add-ons are offered through price comparison websites, including how and when they are introduced.
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German exports grew more than expected in January after declining in December, official data showed. Exports grew 2.2% month-on-month in January, reversing the 0.9% fall in December, Destatis said. Shipments were forecast to grow 1.5%. Likewise, imports advanced 4.1% after declining 1.4% a month ago. The rate of growth far exceeded the 1.4% rise forecast by economists. Due to a notable growth in imports, the trade surplus fell to a seasonally adjusted EUR 17.2 billion in January from EUR 18.3 billion in the prior month.
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The Italian economy recovered moderately in the December quarter, in line with the preliminary estimates, marking the first growth since the second quarter of 2011, final figures published by statistical office Istat revealed. Gross domestic product edged up a seasonally and working-day adjusted 0.1% sequentially in the fourth quarter, which matched the preliminary estimates. In the third quarter, the economy had contracted by 0.1%, which has been revised down from zero growth recorded earlier.
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China's interest rates will likely be liberalized within two years, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said, signalling that the bank would gradually phase out the ceiling on deposit rates. Zhou's comments are in line with the central bank's pledge to embrace a fully market-based interest rate system as part of reforming its financial system. "Deposit rate liberalization is on our agenda," Zhou told a media conference. "Personally, I think it's very likely to be realized within one to two years."
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The Bank of Japan refrained from initiating additional easing ahead of the planned sales tax hike in April that could dent the moderate recovery. The policy board, led by Governor Haruhiko Kuroda decided, by a unanimous vote, to leave the size of its monetary easing unchanged. Accordingly, the bank will continue to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of JPY 60 trillion to JPY 70 trillion. The bank expects the economy to continue a moderate recovery as a trend, while it also sees negative impact from the front-loaded increase and the subsequent decline in demand prior to and after the sales tax hike.
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The headwinds encountered in many global labour markets may be moderating amid numerous signs of measured optimism among employers globally, the second quarter Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, released by Manpower Group showed. For the third consecutive quarter, US employers anticipate a steady hiring pace for the April-June time frame. According to Manpower, staffing levels are expected to increase in 38 of 42 countries and territories. Outlooks strengthened in 26 out of 42 countries and territories quarter-over-quarter and weakened in 11. The strongest hiring intentions were reported by employers in India, Taiwan, New Zealand, Turkey and Costa Rica. Meanwhile, the weakest expectations came from Italy, the Czech Republic and France.
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China expects to fully liberalize interest rates on bank deposits within two years, and will soon test private banks, finance officials said. Interest-rate liberalization will follow steps last year to remove a required minimum interest rate for state-run commercial banks and to pilot negotiable deposit certificates for the interbank market, said Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank. "Deposit-rate liberalization is definitely on the agenda," Zhou told reporters on the sidelines of the annual state parliament.
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EU finance ministers were under pressure Tuesday to reach a compromise on a new scheme to shield taxpayers from bank bailouts, during three days of last-ditch negotiations. The mechanism to wind down troubled eurozone banks would be the second element of a crisis-thwarting banking union, considered key to restoring trust in the currency bloc. The eurozone's 18 finance ministers held a first round of talks on Monday, aimed at settling the final details of an intergovernmental agreement to steer a new fund from which troubled banks could get assistance.
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Search operations to locate the missing Malaysia Airline passenger jet found nothing Tuesday even as the search area was expanded to include mountains and hills near the area where the plane disappeared, officials said. A Malaysian aviation official said search planes flew over the mountains and hills of the northern state of Kelantan in a bid to locate the missing Beijing-bound flight MH370 with 239 people on board, but failed to make any sighting.
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The passenger who used a stolen Italian passport to boarded the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines plane at the weekend was believed to be an Iranian travelling to Sweden, police said. Stockholm newspaper Aftonbladet said it had been in contact with a man in Sweden who said a distant relative in Iran had been on the plane and was travelling on an Italian passport. Police in the west coast city of Gothenburg told dpa they had received a missing persons report and have forwarded it to Interpol, but could not comment further.
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Deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych denounced the West for supporting the new government in Kiev, calling it "a band of ultra-nationalists and neo-fascists." Yanukovych, who was speaking to reporters in the southern Russian city of in Rostov-on-Don, promised that he will return to Ukraine. "As soon as circumstances allow it - I am sure it won't be long - I will return to Kiev," he said.
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The pro-Russian Crimean leadership pushed forward with accession plans to Russia, saying that the polling stations on Sunday will be monitored by 150,000 armed troops. Crimean parliamentary speaker Vladimir Konstantinov declared Monday that more than 80% of Crimea residents would vote "yes" in the referendum to decide whether the Black Sea peninsula is to secede from Ukraine. He cited focus group surveys for the percentage.
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The World Bank says it intends to support Ukraine with up to USD3 billion in development projects in 2014. The Washington-based development agency said it had received a request for support form the interim Ukrainian government "and stands ready to continue supporting the Ukrainian people" with badly needed reforms for the economic sector.
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Greece is expected to reach a key agreement with its international creditors, allowing much needed bailout aid to again flow to the country, by the end of the week, sources say. During their latest talks in Brussels, several eurozone ministers admonished Greece to finally fulfill the preconditions set by the creditors, such as reforms and privatizations, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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The number of Syrian children in need of humanitarian assistance has doubled in the past year and now totals 5.5 million, according to a report published by the UN Children's Fund. The report found that the number of children affected by the conflict stood at 2.3 million last March. However, a year later, 4.3 million children inside Syria and 1.2 million children living as refugees are in need of assistance.
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