ARG.L Share News (ARG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have opened lower in London Thursday, with small-caps outperforming somewhat, amid a groaning buffet of UK corporate reporting.

Tesco, Unilever, Tullow Oil and Foxtons are leading decliners in the FTSE 350 following their pre-market updates.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 1.0% at 6,333.64
FTSE 250: down 1.1% at 15,011.07
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.3% at 706.90
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Hang Seng: down 0.7% at 23,239.98
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.4% at 15,138.96
DJIA: closed down 0.9% at 16,461.32
S&P 500: closed down 0.7% at 1,927.11
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6028
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2617

GOLD: flat at USD1,242.54 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD84.17 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Thursday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)

09:00 EU Markit Manufacturing, Services and Composite PMI Preliminary
09:00 Italy Trade Balance
09:30 UK BBA Mortgage Approvals
09:30 UK Retail Sales
11:00 UK CBI Industrial Trends Survey
13:30 US Chicago Fed National Activity Index
13:30 US Jobless Claims
14:00 US Housing Price Index
14:45 US Markit Manufacturing PMI Preliminary
15:00 US CB Leading Indicator
15:00 EU Consumer Confidence Preliminary
15:30 Canada BoC Governor Poloz Speech
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage
16:00 US Kansas Fed manufacturing activity
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China's manufacturing sector continued to expand at a slightly accelerated pace in October, the latest survey from HSBC Bank revealed in a preliminary reading with a PMI score of 50.4. Now at a three-month high, the October score is up marginally from 50.2 in September.
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Japan's manufacturing sector continued to expand at an accelerated pace in October, the latest survey from Markit Economics revealed in a preliminary reading with a PMI score of 52.8. That follows the reading of 51.7 in September.
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UK car production declined in September due to a planned re-tooling for model changes, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. However, car manufacturing recorded its best year-to-date performance since 2008, the industry body said. Output totaling 137,068 units in September was down 2.8% from a year ago. Car production for home market surged 17.7%, while that for exports dipped 8.1%. At the same time, the year-to-date production gained 0.6% to 1.13 million.
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The suspect in Wednesday's fatal shooting near Canada's Parliament was a 32-year-old who had been designated a "high-risk traveller," news reports said, in what was the second killing of a Canadian soldier this week. Michael Zehef-Bibeau recently had his passport confiscated, according to the Globe and Mail daily, citing federal authorities. Zehef-Bibeau, a Canadian citizen, was shot dead inside the Canadian Parliament building after allegedly killing a Canadian soldier as he stood guard at the National War Memorial.
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NATO detected and intercepted a Russian aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea early Tuesday, in a breach of NATO airspace, the alliance said on Wednesday. The aircraft was identified as a Russian IL-20 intelligence aircraft," NATO said in a statement, adding that the plane took off from the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. After several manoeuvres, the Russian plane "entered Estonian airspace near the island of Saaremaa for a period of less than one minute, which represented an incursion of about 600 metres into NATO airspace," according to the statement. The plane was first intercepted by Danish F-16's and then by Swedish fighter jets, before being escorted away by Portuguese planes, NATO said.
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The regional parliament of Iraqi Kurdistan voted Wednesday to send Peshmerga forces to relieve the northern Syrian town of Kobane, which is under siege by the Islamic State. The decision was supported by all parties in the assembly, with lawmakers applauding and singing the Kurdish national anthem when it was approved, Kurdish news site Rudaw reported. The move offers the first prospect of reinforcements to the outgunned defenders of the enclave, which has been under attack for more than a month and can be accessed only through Turkey.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: BARCLAYS RAISES GLAXOSMITHKLINE TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL WEIGHT')
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HSBC RAISES LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL') - PRICE TARGET 2100 (1861) PENCE
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CREDIT SUISSE RAISES IAG PRICE TARGET TO 618 (587) PENCE - 'OUTPERFORM'; ADDS IAG TO 'EUROPEAN FOCUS LIST'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Tesco said it overstated its first-half profit expectations by GBP263 million, higher than the GBP250 million it had revealed last month, and said Chairman Richard Broadbent will step down once the business is "back on track". The news came as the supermarket reported a first-half trading profit of just GBP937 million, down 41% on the year before. Britain's largest supermarket chain said the Deloitte investigation into its overstatement of expected half year profit has been concluded, with the "impact" confirmed as GBP263 million. Of that, GBP118 million related to this year's first-half trading profit, and the rest to prior years.
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Anglo American reported increases in diamond, nickel and iron ore production during the third quarter whilst copper, platinum and thermal coal production declined. The company reported a 37% increase in iron ore production to 13 million tonnes for the third quarter ended September 30, compared to 9.5 million tonnes a year earlier. It also reported an increase in diamond production to 8.2 million carats in the quarter compared to 7.7 million carats in the third quarter of 2013. Nickel production also rose to 10,700 tonnes from 9,500 tonnes. Anglo American saw production of copper, platinum and thermal coal drop.
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Tullow Oil said it encountered hydrocarbon shows at the Kodos-1 wildcat exploration well in the Kerio Basin onshore Kenya, indicating the presence of an active petroleum system, but reservoirs were mixed quality alluvial sands close to the basin boundary fault at this well location. In a statement, the oil & gas, exploration and production group said the Weatherford Rig-804 drilled Kodos-1 to a final depth of 2,500 metres, and the well will be plugged and abandoned. The rig will now be moved to drill the second well in the basin at Epir-1, 25 kilometres north of Kodos-1 in a separate sub-basin. Tullow Oil said further drilling in the greater Kerio Basin can be expected during 2015, following up on the "encouraging" hydrocarbon shows at Kodos-1.
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Consumer goods giant Unilever reported a further weakening in trading, as market growth continued to slow in emerging markets, particularly in China, and its European markets continued to be hit by volume and price declines. The company said revenue declined 2.0% to EUR12.2 billion in the three months to end-September, with currency movements taking 2.6% off the figure. That was an improvement compared with the first nine months of the year, when revenue declined 4.3% to EUR36.3 billion including a 6.6% currency movement hit.
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Mining giant Rio Tinto said it has extended the tenure of of Chief Executive Sam Walsh and Chief Financial Officer Chris Lynch, saying the move provided a strong endorsement of their leadership, the compay's strategy and its focus on driving shareholder value. Walsh and Lynch will transfer to open-ended contracts after Rio Tinto's annual general meetings in 2015, the company said. Walsh's initial contract was due to end on December 31, 2015 with a break clause from October 31, 2014 and Lynch's initial contract was due to end on February 28, 2017. They will both move to a rolling contract with no end date and a 12-month notice period.
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Reed Elsevier said underlying revenue growth continued in the first nine months of the year and reaffirmed its outlook for the full year, expecting revenue growth in all of its divisions. The FTSE 100 information company said underlying revenue growth in the first nine months was 4%, with underlying revenue growth in all of its operating divisions. It said it has maintained its outlook for the full year, with profit and revenue both expected to grow.
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Lloyds Banking Group will next week disclose plans to cut about 9,000 jobs as part of plans to automate consumer-facing services, Sky News reported on Wednesday. According to the report, Lloyds will disclose the cuts, which will take place over three years to December 2017, alongside its third-quarter results next Tuesday.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Hochschild Mining reported a drop in third-quarter production, but said it remains on track to meet is full-year output expectations and will continue to cut costs. Attributable production fell to 4.8 million silver equivalent ounces in the three months to September 30, from 6.3 million ounces a year earlier and from 5.9 million ounces in the second quarter. The precious metal miner's silver production fell to 3.5 million ounces and gold production fell to 21 million ounces.
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SEGRO said it made good progress in the third quarter on the back of stronger occupational market conditions in the UK. The FTSE 250 property company said it added GBP1.9 million in annualised net rent in the quarter to the end of September, against a GBP0.1 million net take-back in the same period last year. The group let 149,000 square metres of existing space in the quarter.
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Inchcape said it produced a strong performance in the third quarter but said its revenue growth in the period and for the year to date has been hit by the strength of sterling. The FTSE 250 automotive services company said third quarter revenue was GBP1.7 billion, up 10.6% on a constant currency basis but up only 4.4% at actual currency rates. Like-for-like revenue increased 11.6% at constant currency, but only 6% in actual rates.
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Colt Group said earnings fell in the third quarter, reflecting its decision to withdraw from low margin voice services business, but the telecom company maintained its outlook for the full year as its restructuring efforts continue. Sales in the three months to September 30 fell 8.4% to EUR354.2 million, from EUR386.5 million a year earlier. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and exceptional items, fell 5.5% to EUR73.7 million.
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Pork producer Cranswick said it has agreed a deal to buy the entire share capital of Benson Park Ltd, a cooked poultry producer. Cranswick did not provide any financial details on the deal. It said it will fund the deal via existing debt facilities and expects the acquisition to be modestly earnings-enhancing in the current financial year. Benson Park is based in Hull and saw revenue of GBP41.1 million in the year to August 31, Cranswick said.
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Department store operator Debenhams reported a lower pretax profit for its last financial year, but said the efforts it is taking to turn the business round are paying off as operating profit rose in the second half of the year. Debenhams reported a pretax profit of GBP105.8 million for the 52 weeks to August 30, down from GBP139.0 million a year earlier, as higher sales and distribution costs as well as administrative expenses offset a revenue rise to GBP2.31 billion, from GBP2.28 billion.
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Foxtons said its third-quarter performance suffered from a sharp slowdown in London property sales in the period and said its expectation for market volumes to remain constrained in the second half means it has downgraded its earnings forecast. The FTSE 250-listed estate agency said its performance in the third quarter to September 30 was hit by a slowdown in London property sales, coming after an "exceptionally strong" period in the nine months to June 30, when it said volumes hit the highest levels since 2007.
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Ladbrokes said it is on track to meet full-year expectations and reaffirmed its dividend plans after posted a jump in operating profit and a rise in revenue in the third quarter. The FTSE 250 bookmaker said group operating profit in the third quarter to September 30 was GBP33 million, nearly double the GBP17 million posted a year earlier. That came on the back of a 13% rise in net revenue in the period, it said.
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Britvic raised its guidance for full year operating earnings, even as it reported a drop in fourth-quarter revenue, citing poor summer weather and subdued retail spending in Europe. The drinks company said it expects earnings before interest and taxes to be ahead of the top end of its GBP148 million to GBP156 million estimate, as revenue and volumes grew over the full year and cost cuts took effect. Still, Britvic reported a 4% fall in revenue to GBP344.2 million in the fourth quarter.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Aircraft manufacturer Boeing reported a profit of USD1.36 billion in the third quarter, an 18% increase from USD1.16 billion a year ago, the Chicago-based company said Wednesday. Sales rose by 7% to USD23.8 billion, Boeing said. The company cited a strong demand for passenger planes as it surpassed Wall Street analysts' expectations. "We added net new orders for 501 commercial airplanes, launched the high-capacity 737 MAX 200, captured a NASA contract for the Commercial Crew programme," Boeing chairman and chief executive Jim McNerney said.
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German car giant Daimler reported that its third-quarter net profit climbed 49% to EUR2.82 billion from last year's EUR1.90 billion. Earnings per share improved to EUR2.56 from EUR1.72 a year ago. Revenue went up 10% to EUR33.12 billion from last year's EUR30.10 billion. Adjusted for exchange-rate effects, revenue increased by 11%. Daimler sold a total of 637,400 cars and commercial vehicles worldwide, 7% more than in the third quarter of last year.
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AT&T Inc on Wednesday reported a 21% decline in third-quarter profit, hurt by merger costs and other expenses that offset a near 3% climb in revenue, with earnings coming in short of Wall Street estimates. The telecommunications company slashed its revenue guidance for the full year, citing lesser-than-expected subscriber additions for its no-contract Next wireless plans.
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Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse Group said third-quarter reported core pre-tax income was CHF1.301 billion and return on equity was 10%. Core pre-tax income was CHF1.622 billion for strategic businesses and return on equity was 11%.
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A glitch in Apple's new mobile payment system, Apple Pay, caused some Bank of America customers to get charged twice for a single transaction, according to multiple media reports Wednesday. Bank of America is working to correct the problem and should have the issue fixed later Wednesday, the tech website Recode reported, citing a person familiar with the issue. Apple launched the payment system Monday.
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Thursday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Argos Resources
Rosslyn Data Technologies
River and Mercantile Group
Photo-Me International
BHP Billiton
CAP-XX
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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