ABC.L Share News (ABC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have opened lower Monday, as investors continue to contemplate the possibility of a US interest rate hike as early as this summer and await the outcome of a Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers.

WPP highlighted UK corporate reporting Monday. The media buying firm raised its total dividend by 12% and forecast a year of growth in 2015 similar to 2014, as it met expectations for headline profit before interest and tax, and earnings per share for 2014. Nevertheless, the FTSE 100 stock is off 0.6% at the open.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.6% at 6,872.08
FTSE 250: down 0.4% at 17,209.31
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 717.69
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.2% at 24,123.05
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.0% at 18,790.55
DJIA: closed down 1.5% at 17,856.78
S&P 500: closed down 1.4% at 2,071.26
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.5075
EUR-USD: up at USD1.0882

GOLD: up at USD1,173.56 per ounce
OIL (Brent): flat at USD59.61 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)

n/a Ireland Consumer Confidence
09:30 EU Sentix Investor Confidence
13:15 Canada Housing Starts
14:00 US Labor Market Conditions Index
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China's trade surplus rose to a record high in February as exports surged due to the effect of the timing of the Lunar New Year, figures from the customs office showed. The trade surplus came in at USD60.6 billion in February, much more than the USD6 billion expected by economists. This was larger than the record high surplus of USD60 billion recorded in January and marked a new high. Exports rose sharply by 48.3% year-over-year in February, more than the 14% rise expected by economists. Imports plunged 20.5%, much faster than the 10% drop forecast by economists.
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Japan's gross domestic product expanded just 1.5% on year in the fourth quarter of 2014, the Cabinet Office said in a revised reading. That was well shy of forecasts for 2.2%, which would have been unchanged from the February 15 preliminary reading. GDP contracted 2.3% in the previous three months.
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Japan had a current account surplus of JPY61.4 billion in January, the Ministry of Finance said. That missed forecasts for a surplus of JPY270.4 billion following the JPY187.2 billion surplus in December. The trade balance showed a deficit of JPY864.2 billion - which beat expectations for a shortfall of JPY936.0 billion following the JPY395.6 billion deficit in the previous month. Exports climbed 15.3% on year to JPY6.332 trillion, the data showed, while imports shed 8.9% to JPY7.196 trillion.
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Germany's exports declined more than expected in January and imports decreased unexpectedly, data from Destatis revealed. Exports dropped 2.1% month-on-month in January, reversing December's 2.8% increase. It was worse than a 1.5% fall forecast by economists. Imports fell 0.3% from December, confounding expectations for a 0.5% rise. In December, imports had decreased 0.7%. As a result, the trade surplus fell to a seasonally adjusted EUR 19.7 billion from EUR 21.6 billion in the prior month.
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The growth in the Irish construction sector eased sharply in February to reach its weakest in a year-and-a-half, as activity and new orders growth weakened, survey data from Markit Economics showed. The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 52.0 in February from 57.1 in the previous month. However any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.
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A suspect in the killing of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov has confessed to the February 27 murder, according to Russian news agencies quoting Moscow judge Natalya Mushnikova. The man, identified as Saur Dadayev, stands accused of organizing and carrying out the shooting, which happened on a bridge near the Kremlin. Four others arrested in relation to the crime have denied responsibility. The five men were arrested in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, according to reports on Saturday. Ingushetia is one of the country's heavily Islamic republics in the Caucasus.
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The EU should have its own army, the leader of the bloc's executive said in an interview, reviving the long-debated idea amid fresh tensions with Russia. "Such an army would help us to shape a common foreign and security policy and to seize together Europe's responsibility in the world," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted as saying by the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
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Dozens of politicians in Brazil are to be investigated over corruption allegations linked to the state-run oil firm Petrobras, following a Supreme Court decision Friday. In one of the biggest graft scandals to hit Brazil in recent years, the speakers of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, Renan Calheiros and Eduardo Cunha, are among those facing investigation. Like the speakers, most of those accused belong to the governing coalition.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: JEFFERIES RAISES RECKITT BENCKISER TO 'BUY' ('HOLD')
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN RAISES SEGRO TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL')
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN RAISES GREAT PORTLAND TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL')
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SOCGEN CUTS BBA AVIATION TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 375 (400) PENCE
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BERENBERG INITIATES CAMBIAN WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 305 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Media buying giant WPP raised its total dividend by 12% and forecast a year of growth in 2015 similar to 2014, as it met expectations for headline profit before interest and tax, and earnings per share for 2014. WPP posted a headline profit before interest and tax of GBP1.68 billion for 2014, up from GBP1.66 billion in 2013, and in line with analyst expectations provided by the company of GBP1.67 billion. It reported pretax profit of GBP1.45 billion, up from GBP1.30 billion a year before, on revenue of GBP11.53 billion, up 4.6% from GBP11.02 billion. Revenue was held back by the strength of sterling, and on a constant currency basis was up 11.3%, WPP said. The company proposed a final dividend of 26.58 pence, taking its total dividend to 38.20 pence, up 12% from 34.21 pence a year before.
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The UK government has sold off a further 1% stake in Lloyds Banking Group under a trading plan managed by Morgan Stanley, meaning the UK taxpayer now owns 22.98% of the bank's equity. News that the government's stake has been further whittled down comes just over one week since Lloyds resumed dividend payments for the first time since receiving state aid in the financial crisis of 2007-09.
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Vodafone Group said its M-Pesa mobile money transfer and payment service has launched its first international money transfer corridor between Tanzania and Kenya. M-Pesa customers in these countries can now use their mobile phones for money transfers between countries via a combined network of 180,000 agents. Vodafone claims its service is cheaper than existing services.
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Antofagasta said copper production at its Los Pelambres Mine in Chile has so far been reduced by about 5,000 tonnes due to ongoing protests that are causing limited disruption at the site. The miner said that a small group of protesters from the the local Choapa valley community established intermittent blockades at several points on the access road to the Los Pelambres mine late last month and have been there since. There has been damage to the office and minor equipment at the mine entrance and some facilities outside the mine limits have also been damaged.
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GlaxoSmithKline has fired more than 100 staff in China as a result of the internal investigation the drugmaker carried out into the corruption scandal in the country which last year resulted in it being hit with a GBP300 million fine, the Financial Times reported on Friday. The move is the biggest round of dismissals Glaxo has carried out in China since it was found guilty in September of bribing doctors to prescribe its medicines, the paper said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Hansteen Holdings said its pretax profit doubled in 2014, as it sold properties into the buoyant UK property investment market, and it raised its dividend and announced a special dividend as it also gave a positive outlook. The property investor reported a pretax profit of GBP131.2 million for 2014, up from GBP65.3 million, buoyed by the gains on property sales, while its normalised income profit, which excludes profits or losses from the sale of properties and therefore represents the repeatable income of the business, rose to GBP48.2 million, from GBP39.4 million in 2013. Hansteen said it will pay a full-year dividend of 5.0 pence, up from 4.8p in 2013, reflecting the increased earnings, and will also pay a special dividend of 3.0p reflecting the profits it made on its property disposals.
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Telecity Group said it now has a definitive agreement on its proposed all-share takeover of European data centre services provider Interxion Holding NV. The British company had announced February 11 that it had agreed a deal to buy New York Stock Exchange-listed Interxion, with Interxion shareholders receiving 2.3386 new Telecity shares per Interxion share. Telecity shareholders will own around 55% of the combined group
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Balfour Beatty said it has been appointed as civil contractor to the Thames Estuary Asset Management Programme, a deal that it thinks will be worth up to GBP250 million to the company. The programme is about flood risk, and involves improving flood defences along the Thames Estuary. It is a GBP300 million programme in total.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Clarkson reported higher profit and revenue for 2014, beating its own expectations as transaction volumes across its broking business continued to increase, and it reported a 10% increase in its forward order book for 2015. The shipping services company said it's still facing "extremely challenging" conditions in some markets, although others have recovered. It raised its 2014 dividend to 60 pence, from 56p in 2013, a 12th consecutive annual increase.
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Education software and services company Tribal Group said it has struck a deal to acquire the entire issued share capital of Australian student management systems company Callista Software Services Pty Ltd. Tribal will pay AUD3.6 million in cash to acquire Callista, payable in equal installments over three years.
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ABCAM said it is on track to meet its financial and strategic targets for its full year, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for its first half. The life science research tools supplier proposed an interim dividend of 2.29 pence for the half year to end-December 2014, up from 2.13 pence a year before. ABCAM posted a pretax profit of GBP22.1 million, up from GBP21.2 million a year before, as a 7.7% rise in revenue to GBP66.7 million from GBP62.0 million was partly offset by an increase in administration costs.
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Coms moved to shore up its depleted board, appointing Mark Braund and Guy van Zwanenberg as non-executive directors. Braund is the chief executive of specialist information technology recruitment group Interquest Group PLC, while van Zwanenberg has had a varied career that started with Grant Thornton and then through various financial management businesses. He is currently a non-executive director of Quixant. The news comes a week after the company's former Chief Executive David Breith resigned.
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Transense Technologies said its Translogik tyre management services subsidiary has won a deal via Australian distributor Brownfield Engineering and Maintenance. Under the deal, Translogik will supply iTrack mining tyre monitoring systems for large haul trucks to the Ravensworth mine in Australia. The mine is owned by a unit of FTSE 100-listed Glencore.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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News Corp said it agreed to acquire the VCCircle Network, which includes VCCircle.com, Techcircle.in, VCCEdge, VCCircle Training, in addition to a premium-content driven conference business. Terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close in March, were not disclosed. VCCircle Network is owned by Mosaic Media Ventures Pvt Ltd and has about 100 employees across India, with its headquarters in Noida.
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Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM reported a 0.6% increase in passenger traffic, with a 0.4% rise in capacity for the month of February 2015. The company carried 5.92 million passengers in the month, a growth of 1.9%.
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

24/7 Gaming
Starwood European Real Estate Finance
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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