AMFW.L Share News (AMFW)

LONDON (Alliance News) - British Airways-owner IAG was scheduled to issue October traffic statistics on Friday but provided much more instead.

The stock was up 2.7%, near the top of the FTSE 100, after IAG upgraded its long-term guidance on returns and margins and announced a reshuffle of its management team.

AstraZeneca also sprung an end-of-week surprise, announcing a deal to acquire California-based ZS Pharma for around USD2.7 billion. The stock was barely changed in early trade, down 0.2%.

Following the early UK corporate news, attention will switch to UK industrial production figures at 0930 GMT and US non-farm payrolls in the afternoon.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,371.63
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 17,109.24
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 746.19
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.8% at 22,867.33
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.8% at 19,265.60
DJIA: closed flat at 17,863.43
S&P 500: closed down 0.1% at 2,099.93
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GBP: down at USD1.5195 (USD1.5240)
EUR: up at USD1.0882 (USD1.0866)

GOLD: up at USD1,108.91per ounce (USD1,105.61)
OIL (Brent): flat at USD48.22 a barrel (USD48.32)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)

09:30 UK Industrial and Manufacturing Production
09:30 UK Trade Balance
13:00 US Fed's Bullard speech
13:30 US Nonfarm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate, Average Earnings
13:30 Canada Unemployment Rate
13:30 Canada Building Permits
15:00 UK NIESR GDP Estimate
20:00 US Consumer Credit Change
20:15 US FOMC Member Brainard Speech
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Airlines will begin flying stranded British tourists home on Friday after the government in London permitted flights from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort to resume. More than 20 flights are expected to take off for London from the Red Sea beach resort. Earlier, British Prime Minister David Cameron maintained that the crash of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt was "more likely than not" caused by a bomb, despite Russian and Egyptian leaders' calls for all sides to await results of an official investigation.
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The US has not made its own determination about the cause of a Russian passenger jet crash in Egypt, despite Britain saying a bomb likely caused the incident. "We haven't made own determination," White House spokesman Josh Earnest says, while refusing to comment on intelligence matters. "However, we can't rule anything out, including the possibility of terrorist involvement." US officials were looking at possible additional security on some US-bound flights, but had not yet made any decisions, he says.
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Permanent job placements in the UK increased at the fastest pace in four months in October, the Report on Jobs compiled by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG showed. The number of people placed in permanent jobs climbed further in October and the growth was solid and sharpest in four months. Similarly, temporary and contract staff billings rose at a faster pace, marking the strongest growth in three months.
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Germany's industrial production decreased unexpectedly in September, data from Destatis revealed. Industrial production declined 1.1% in September from August, when it fell by revised 0.6%. Economists had forecast a 0.5% increase. Production in industry excluding energy and construction declined 1.4%.
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The leading index for Japan, which measures the future economic activity, decreased more-than-expected in September to the weakest level in thirty two months, preliminary figures from the Cabinet Office showed. The leading index fell to 101.4 in September from 103.5 in the previous month. Economists had expected the index to fall to 101.8.
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Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the fundamentals of Japan's economy are sound and the environment surrounding firms and households improved significantly since a year ago. The bank will achieve its price stability target of 2% through continuation of the current policy, he said at a meeting held by a research institute in Tokyo.
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The Reserve Bank of Australia said the reduction in interest rates and the depreciation of the currency since 2013 are working to support economic growth. "This is evident in a range of indicators, including employment growth, job vacancies, surveys of business conditions and trade data," RBA said in its quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy. The economy is expected to grow 2-3% in the year through June 2016 before picking up pace to 2.75-3.75% in the year through June 2017.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERNSTEIN CUTS OLD MUTUAL TO 'MARKET-PERFORM' ('OUTPERFORM'); TARGET 220 (235) PENCE
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TRADERS: JEFFERIES CUTS NATIONAL GRID TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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UBS CUTS AMEC TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 600 (875) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Drugmaker AstraZeneca said it has struck a deal to acquire ZS Pharma for around USD2.7 billion in order to further strengthen its cardiovascular and metabolic disease franchise. The pharmaceutical giant said it will pay USD90 per share to buy California-based ZS in an all-cash deal. The deal will not impact on its AstraZeneca's 2016 financial guidance, it said, but is expected to add to product sales, before becoming earnings accretive by 2018, with minimal earnings dilution expected in the interim.
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International Consolidated Airlines Group upgraded its long-term guidance on returns and margins and announced a reshuffle of its management team. IAG said it has upgraded its sustainable return on invested capital target for 2016 to 2020 to 15% from 12% previously. It has also upgraded its guidance on operating margin target to between 12% and 15%, up from 10% to 14% previously, and is now targeting average annual growth in its earnings per share over the five-year period of 12%, compared to 10% before. IAG said it has reshuffled the management of its airlines. Keith Williams will retire as the executive chairman of British Airways in April 2016 and will be replaced by Alex Cruz, currently the chairman and chief executive of Vueling, the low-cost arm of Iberia. IAG said its group traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, rose 17% in October to 20.7 billion, up from 17.8 billion a year earlier. On a pro-forma basis, including the results from recently acquired Aer Lingus, traffic increased 7.6%.
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Satellite communications company Inmarsat said its pretax profit declined in the third quarter due to higher financing costs which offset better revenue in the majority of its operating divisions. The FTSE 100-listed group said its pretax profit for the three months to the end of September was USD84.2 million, down from USD104.1 million a year earlier, mostly due to the group booking USD21.6 million in financing costs, which compared to a USD13.0 million gain it booked a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter rose to USD323.1 million from USD300.6 million, with increases in revenue from Inmarsat's maritime, government and aviation divisions but weaker sales for its enterprise division.
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BHP Billiton said it "understands" there has been a "serious incident" at the iron operation in Brazil operated by its partner Samarco Mineracao. The miner holds a 50% stake in Samarco and said it is "concerned for the safety of employees and the local community", but did not reveal any details over what the incident was or any further details. The iron ore operation is in Minas Gerais state in Brazil and is a joint venture with Brazilian iron-ore giant Vale.
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Shopping centre developer and owner Intu Properties said it remains confident of delivering rental growth for the full year and said its occupancy rate has improved in the second half. The group said it remains on target to deliver like-for-like net rental income growth for 2015, having seen a 1.0% decline in the first half, after improving lettings and rising occupancy was seen in the period from July 1 to November 6.
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Outsourcing and distribution company Bunzl said it has made three further acquisitions in Brazil, Spain and New Zealand. The group said it has acquired Casa do Epi in Brazil, a personal protection equipment maker for the mining, construction and manufacturing sectors. It also has bought Cemelim in Spain and ICB Cleaning Supplies in New Zealand, both of which distribute cleaning and hygiene supplies. No financial details on the acquisitions were disclosed.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Tullett Prebon said it will take a charge in its 2015 accounts to cut front-office interdealer brokers by 5% in the "traditional" product areas, with the cost-saving initiative following a further reduction in market volumes since the end of June. Tullett said the reduction in market volumes, which was particularly pronounced in Europe, has forced it into action to cut staff numbers and fixed costs. Tullett now expects the underlying operating profit margin for 2015 to be about 1.5 percentage points lower than in the prior year.
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TalkTalk Telecom Group provided another update on the extent of the recent cyber attack on the company, repeating that while financial details of its customers had been accessed, no money could be stolen by using this data. TalkTalk said the total number of customers whose personal details were accessed in the hack was 156,959, of which 15,656 had their bank account numbers and sort codes accessed. The 28,000 obscured credit and debit card numbers which were accessed cannot be used to make financial transactions, the company said. TalkTalk said its investigation into the attack has confirmed the scale of the breach was much more limited than initially expected and only around 4.0% of its customers had their details accessed.
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Acacia Mining said Michelle Ash, the company's chief operating officer, has left the company with immediate effect, with Chief Executive Brad Gordon taking over responsibility for its operations. "October was fully in line with plan, across all three sites, and we remain on track for the full year. We plan to reassess the situation as regards any potential replacement chief operating officer early in 2016," Gordon said.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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France's Group FNAC and London-listed electricals retailer Darty said they have reached an agreement on a possible takeover bid for Darty valuing the company at around GBP615.0 million. The pair first disclosed the talks in September and have since been discussing a possible takeover. The two said they have agreed to an offer comprising one FNAC share for every 37 Darty shares. Based on the closing price of FNAC shares on Thursday, which would value Darty at around 116.0 pence per share, a 47% premium to its closing price on September 29, the day before the talks started.
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Faroe Petroleum said it has completed the acquisition of Roc Oil (BG Holdings), increasing its stake in two UK gas fields. Faroe struck a deal to acquire Roc Oil back in September, and through the deal Faroe has acquired Roc Oil's 12.5% stake in the Blane field and a 12% stake in the Enoch field, both in the UK North Sea. Faroe already holds stakes in both fields, meaning that after the acquisition is completed it will hold a 30.5% non-operated interest in the Blane field and a 13.9% non-operated interest in the Enoch field.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Disney's first Star Wars film, to be released December 18, has chief executive Bob Iger "feeling really good" about the company's business prospects, he told broadcaster CNBC. Advance ticket sales have already shattered records, and many believe the movie could be one of the top-grossing films ever, raking in as much as USD2 billion in cinemas worldwide. Disney reported record income of USD1.6 billion for the fourth quarter, up 7% year-on-year, and USD8.4 billion for the 2015 fiscal year, up 12% from 2014.
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News Corp reported earnings for the first quarter that rose sharply from last year, boosted by a sizable tax benefit. Revenues at the media giant slipped 4%, hurt by currency fluctuations and a decline in advertising revenue in its news division. The company reported net income for the first quarter of USD175 million, up from USD65 million in the same period last year.
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The merged company Heinz Kraft will result in the closure of seven production facilities in North America and more layoffs, the company said. The seven production facilities are to be closed in the next one to two years and about 2,600 jobs are to be eliminated, a spokesman for the company said. Heinz and Kraft announced their merger in March, saying it would create the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world.The job cuts represent about 6% of the two companies' combined workforce and follow an announcement in August of 2,500 layoffs. Kraft Heinz operates 41 factories in North America. Separately, Kraft Heinz reported that its third-quarter adjusted pro forma earnings per share declined 4.3% to USD0.44.
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Toyota Motor said it would invest USD1 billion to establish a new company in the US with a focus on artificial intelligence and robotics. The headquarters of the new Toyota Research Institute will be in Silicon Valley, near Stanford University, while a second facility will be built near the Massachusetts Institute Technology (MIT). The institute will start to operate in January 2016.
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Allianz Group reported that its third-quarter 2015 net income attributable to shareholders decreased 15% from last year, reflecting one-off tax benefits in the year-earlier quarter. It is on track for full-year target. Net income attributable to shareholders for the quarter amounted to EUR1.36 billion, down from EUR1.61 billion in the previous year.
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Spanish telecom group Telefonica said its 9-month net income increased 70%, reaching EUR4.577 billion. Consolidated revenue grew 12% between January and September to EUR35.337 billion. For the first time in seven years, Spain returned to year-on-year revenue growth in the quarter.
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French healthcare firm Sanofi announced it expects to deliver a sales compound annual growth rate of between 3% and 4% over 2015-2020, with a target of mid-single digit growth in the second half of the period. Sanofi does not expect to show any meaningful bottom line growth over 2016-2017. Beginning in 2018, however the company expects to grow business earnings per share faster than sales. Sanofi said the company will explore strategic options for its animal health and European generics businesses.
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ArcelorMittal, the world's leading integrated steel and mining company, reported a third-quarter net loss of USD711 million, compared to net income of USD22 million in the prior year. The company noted that its third-quarter net loss included a USD0.5 billion exceptional charge related to the write-down of inventory following the rapid decline of international steel prices.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Revolution Bars Group
Pacific Horizon Investment Trust
Jupiter Energy
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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