9th Sep 2014 10:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Whitbread said its sales were boosted in both the 11 weeks and 24 weeks to August 14, with its Premier Inn hotel chain continuing to win market share and its Costa Coffee business increasing sales across the board. Total sales for the group in the 11 weeks to August 14 were up 13%, pushed higher by a 15% rise for the Premier Inn business and a 18% increase for Costa. Like-for-like sales at Premier Inn in the same period were up 9.2%, while Costa like-for-like sales rose 7.3%.
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Investec said it has sold specialist UK mortgage business Kensington Group, along with other of mortgage assets, to funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Advisors LLC and TPG Special Situations Partners, in a restructuring deal that builds the specialist bank and asset manager's capital and leverage position.In a statement, Investec said it sold the assets for GBP180.0 million in cash, based on a tangible net asset value of GBP165.0 million. The deal does not include Investec's Irish mortgage entities, assets or operations. Investec said the proceeds will be deployed in its UK specialist banking operations. The deal is part of Investec's strategy of simplifying and reshaping its specialist banking business.
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Oxford Instruments said it expects a "more pronounced" second half weighting than usual, as good order intake in its first half underpins its revenue projections for the rest of the year, in a statement ahead of its annual general meeting. The technology tools and systems company said orders in the year to date continue to be ahead of the previous year at both actual and constant currencies.
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Petra Diamonds said it had recovered an "exceptional" 232.08 carat white diamond at its Cullinan mine in South Africa, the third exceptional find at the mine this year. In a statement, the company said the latest big stone it has found is a D colour Type II diamond of "exceptional size and clarity". It expects to sell the stone in the second quarter of its financial year, which began July 1.
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Recently merged Dixons Carphone said like-for-like sales were up across the Dixons Retail business in the fiscal first quarter, but were down 6% in the Carphone Warehouse business due to difficult market conditions in Spain and a particularly strong performance across the business a year earlier. In a short trading update, the company said like-for-like sales at the Dixons Retail business were up 4% in the UK and Ireland in the three months to August 2, up 1% in the Nordic region, and up 6% in Greece, which the company called encouraging.
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MARKETS
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Major UK stock indices are fluctuating between gains and losses as investors chew over to implications of a second poll that indicates Scottish voters are becoming increasingly likely to vote for a split from the rest of the UK in the September 18 independence referendum.
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,827.99
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 15,758.81
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 777.04
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The pound is up against the dollar despite the UK trade deficit unexpectedly widened in July. It has slipped more that 6% against the dollar over the last two months as traders have pushed back UK interest rate rise expectations, and more recently have shown concern over a potential vote for an independent Scotland.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6115
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2885
GOLD: flat at USD1256.51 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD99.92 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK visible trade gap widened unexpectedly in July to the highest monthly shortfall since April 2012 as imports rose to a 9-month high. The visible trade deficit increased to GBP 10.2 billion from GBP 9.4 billion in June, the Office for National Statistics showed Tuesday. This was the widest monthly deficit since April 2012. The deficit was forecast to narrow to GBP 9.1 billion.
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UK industrial production growth accelerated in July, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Industrial production expanded 0.5% from June, when it was up by revised 0.3%. This was the fastest growth since last February. Production was forecast to rise 0.2%. At the same time, manufacturing output maintained 0.3% monthly growth in July and matched economists' expectations.
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Like-for-like retail sales in the UK were up 1.3% on year in August, the British Retail Consortium said. That topped forecasts for an increase of 0.3% following the 0.3% contraction in July. Total sales climbed an annual 2.7%, slowing from 3.6% a year earlier.
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A new opinion poll published Tuesday showed a swing to Scotland's pro-independence camp, leaving it tied with the pro-unionists at 41%, nine days before Scots vote on whether to leave the UK. The poll of 990 people by TNS showed support for independence among those certain to vote was up by 3 percentage points from 38% last month, while support for the union was down from 46%.
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The EU delayed Monday a new set of sanctions against Russia, saying that the reprieve would be used to assess the tenuous ceasefire reached in Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists. The West has accused Moscow of fuelling the conflict in eastern Ukraine by sending heavy weapons, fighters and troops into the neighbouring country. The new measures planned by the bloc would further limit Moscow's access to European financial markets and exports, according to diplomats.
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Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed after breaking up in the air probably after being hit "by a large number of high-energy objects," a preliminary Dutch investigative report found. Images of the MH17 wreckage show that it was pierced in numerous places from the outside, causing the Boeing 777 to break up in flight July 17 over eastern Ukraine, the report said. The Dutch Safety Board, which is leading the multination investigation, said it found no evidence that the crash resulted from a technical problem or crew error.
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Iraq's parliament Monday approved a national unity government under Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to face the threat of the Islamic State extremist group. Of the parliament's 328 deputies, 177 voted in favour of the government programme proposed by al-Abadi, a member of the Shiite Islamist Daawa party. Kurdish lawmakers only joined the session after al-Abadi had already started speaking and said they were giving him three months to resolve outstanding issues.
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Members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board said that the country's economy is likely to continue its moderate recovery, minutes from the bank's August 7-8 meeting revealed. The members added that inflation expectations appear to be rising as the country continues to battle the deflationary pressures that have plagued it for the last 15 years. That's largely because of the consumption tax hike in April, although the higher tax also caused a sharp decline in demand.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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