ARM.L Share News (ARM)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Trench coat and scarf maker Burberry Group joined mining companies to lead London blue-chip stocks downward at the open Wednesday.

Burberry was down 3.3% after revealing a fall in profit in its recently ended financial year, together with a three-year investment and cost-savings plan. However, the luxury goods company also raised its dividend and announced a share buy-back programme.

ARM Holdings shares were flat after the company announced the USD350.0 million purchase of imaging technology products company Apical, which ARM claimed is one of the UK's fastest growing tech firms.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.5% at 6,137.01
FTSE 250: down 0.3% at 16,792.12
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 725.94
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Hang Seng: down 1.5% at 19,810.11
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.1% at 16,644.69
DJIA: closed down 1.0% at 17,529.98
S&P 500: closed down 0.9% at 2,047.21
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GBP: down at USD1.4435 (USD1.4478)
EUR: down at USD1.1274 (USD1.1337)

GOLD: down at USD1,271.76 per ounce (USD1,280.36)
OIL (Brent): flat at USD49.31 a barrel (USD49.29)

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

0930 UK ILO unemployment rate and average earnings
10:00 EU consumer price index
12:00 US MBA mortgage applications
14:30 UK Conference Board leading economic index
15:30 US EIA crude oil stocks
19:00 US FOMC minutes
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Boris Johnson has refused to rule out a second Brexit vote if next month's referendum sees a knife-edge victory for the Remain campaign. The former London mayor insisted he expected the Leave side to score a "decisive" victory, but left the door open to pushing for a second poll if things did not go his way. The remarks follow those of UKIP leader Nigel Farage which left Prime Minister David Cameron insisting he would not tolerate a "neverendum" repeat of the June 23 showdown.
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Japan's gross domestic product jumped 0.4% on quarter in the first quarter of 2016, the Cabinet Office said. That topped forecasts for an increase of 0.1% following the downwardly revised 0.4% contraction in the previous three months (originally -0.3%). On a yearly basis, GDP surged 1.7% - blowing away forecasts for a gain of 0.3% following the downwardly revised 1.1% contraction in the three months prior (originally -1.1%).
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Home prices in majority of the Chinese cities increased further in April, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. On a monthly basis, house prices rose 65 cities out of 70 surveyed by the government, while it fell in 5 cities.
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The number of persons in employment in Germany grew further in the three months ended March, and at an accelerated pace, preliminary figures from Destatis showed. Total number of employed persons in the country rose 1.3%, or by 533,000 persons to 43.1 million in the March quarter from the corresponding period of 2015. It was also faster than the 1.0% climb in the fourth quarter.
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Bernie Sanders was declared the winner in the Democratic primary in the north-western US state of Oregon, while Hillary Clinton claimed victory by a tiny margin in Kentucky. The split result in Tuesday's contests leaves the candidates locked in their months-long battle to determine who will represent the centre-left Democratic Party in November presidential elections. Sanders told supporters in California as the results came in that he was in the race for the long-haul despite trailing Clinton in the overall number of delegates need to secure the party nomination at its July convention.
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Families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist strikes hailed the US Senate's passage of legislation that would allow them to sue foreign sponsors they believe were behind the attacks. The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which must still pass the lower House of Representatives, cleared the Senate in a voice vote without opposition. The families have long sought to sue Saudi Arabia, claiming links between terrorist network al-Qaeda and the Saudi government. President Barack Obama has opposed the legislation.
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Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in France on Tuesday, with a handful facing off with police in a teargas-filled central Parisian plaza after a march against controversial labour reforms. Unions and student organizations had called for strikes and marches to pressure the government to scupper labour reforms perceived to erode hard-earned workers rights. Police estimated 11,000-12,000 people took part in the marches, while umbrella union CGT said the number was 55,000. Approximately 12 people were arrested, French media reported.
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The Venezuelan parliament rejected a decree granting special powers to socialist President Nicolas Maduro and the military, as the country's political and economic crisis deepens. The opposition majority in the legislature accused Maduro of preparing for a dictatorship. Deputy Enrique Marquez accused Maduro of having "totalitarian tendencies" and said the decree would have annulled the constitution.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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GOLDMAN RAISES BOOKER GROUP TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 198 (171) PENCE
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BERENBERG INITIATES JUST EAT WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 530 PENCE
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TRADERS: MERRILL LYNCH REMOVES GENEL ENERGY FROM 'EMERGING EMEA 1' LIST
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Chipmaker ARM Holdings said it has acquired UK-based imaging technology products company Apical for USD350.0 million in cash. ARM said Apical is a leading company in the field of imaging and embedded computer vision technology. Apical's technology is used in more than 1.5 billion smartphones and around 300 million other consumer electronics devices, digital cameras and tablets, ARM said, and the company is one of the UK's fastest-growing technology companies.
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London Stock Exchange Group confirmed the timetable for its agreed merger with Deutsche Boerse. LSE said shareholder documents on the merger will be published in June, and LSE shareholder meetings in connection with the merger will take place in July. That will mean LSE shareholders will vote on the deal after the outcome of the UK's referendum on its place in the European Union, set for June 23, is known.
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Burberry Group reported a fall in profit in its recently ended financial year, following a tough year which saw particular challenges in the Asian market, and it announced a three-year investment and cost-saving strategy. The luxury fashion retailer said its pretax profit in the year ended March 31 fell to GBP415.6 million from GBP444.6 million the year before, as revenue slipped to GBP2.51 billion from GBP2.52 billion, which Burberry blamed on a "difficult luxury sector" with a decline in footfall, particularly in Hong Kong. Burberry will pay a final dividend of 37p, which is up 5% year-on-year. It also will launch a share buyback programme of up to GBP150 million in financial 2017, its current financial year.
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SABMiller reported a fall in profit in its recently-ended financial year as revenue continued to be hit by negative foreign exchange translations, which it said it expects to persist in the current financial year. The drinks giant said its pretax profit in the year ended March 31 fell to USD4.07 billion from USD4.83 billion the year before, as revenue decreased to USD19.83 billion from USD22.13 billion. SABMiller will pay a total dividend of 122 cents, which is up 8% on the prior year. SABMiller is in the process of being taken over by Belgian-American drinks company AB InBev in a GBP71.00 billion deal. The merger is expected to complete in the autumn of 2016.
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AstraZeneca said the top-line results from the trial on its Lynparza drug in combination with paclitaxel chemotherapy did not meet the primary endpoint target for overall survival. The endpoint was not met on trials of the combination in advanced gastric cancer patients, AstraZeneca said. While there was a numerical survival trend in the Lynparza-paclitaxel combination, it did not meet statistical significance.
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SSE said it has delivered on its dividend policy by increasing its payout for the recently ended financial year, and although profits and earnings fell year-on-year, the results beat expectations. The utility said its adjusted earnings per share, which excludes exceptional items, was 119.5 pence in the financial year ended in March, down from 124.1 pence a year earlier. The result beat analyst expectations and came in higher than SSE's guidance range of 117.0 to 119.0 pence, which had also been raised from initial guidance of only 115.0 pence. SSE's dividend for the year increased by 1.1%, in line with its policy, to 89.4 pence per share from the 88.4p last year.
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Anglo-Dutch business information and analytics group RELX agreed to acquire the Social Science Research Network, an online repository of draft papers shared by academics which have not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals. RELX's Elsevier medical information business has acquired the business, based in the US, for an undisclosed amount. The group said SSRN will be further developed alongside Mendeley, RELX's London-based free reference manager and scholarly collaboration network.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Wealth manager Rathbone Brothers said its funds under management grew in the first quarter, though its underlying net operating income declined amid market volatility. Rathbone said funds under management at the end of March totalled GBP29.3 billion, up from GBP29.2 billion at the end of December and from GBP28.9 billion a year earlier. Fee income for the quarter grew to GBP37.7 million from GBP34.8 million, but Rathbone's underlying net operating income for its investment management business fell to GBP53.5 million from GBP54.7 million due to a volatile period for the FTSE 100 index, which hit commission income.
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Concrete paving manufacturer Marshalls said revenue in the first four months of 2016 edged up against tough comparatives and a softening commercial market. Marshalls said revenue for the four months to the end of April was GBP120.0 million, up slightly from GBP119.0 million a year earlier. Marshalls said it anticipates meeting its expectations for 2016 and said it expects to make targeted bolt-on acquisitions over the course of the year to complement its organic growth.
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Galliford Try said it has secured two new contracts in the student accommodation sector worth a combined GBP102.0 million. The construction group said its building division has been selected to construct a new GBP62.0 million property to be called Park View Student Village under a contract awarded by Newcastle University. The second contract covers the construction of the GBP40.0 million scheme for Coventry University.
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Marston's said it swung to a profit in the first half of its financial year as revenue grew strongly following the openings of new pubs and its acquisition of the Thwaites beer business last year. The pub operator and brewer, which makes Hobgoblin ale, said it made a pretax profit of GBP22.8 million in the 26 weeks ended April 2, having suffered a pretax loss of GBP27.5 million in the first half of the prior year. Revenue grew to GBP444.3 million from GBP400.5 million. Marston's will pay an interim dividend of 2.6 pence, which is up 4% on the prior year.
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Events company UBM said trading in 2016 to date has met its expectations, driven by the performance of its larger events. The FTSE 250 constituent said its outlook for the year is unchanged. Earlier this week, the UK's Competition & Markets Authority, the antitrust regulator, said it is probing UBM's USD841.0 million sale of its PR Newswire business to Cision. UBM on Wednesday said PR Newswire has been trading in line with its expectations.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Housebuilder and regeneration company Countryside Properties saw profit and revenue rise in its first half, after it sold more homes at higher prices, and noted it had seen no impact from the upcoming UK referendum on its European Union membership. Countryside, which listed in February, reported revenue of GBP286.2 million for the six months ended March 31, up from GBP223.0 million for the same period a year earlier, which drove a pretax profit of GBP18.1 million, up from GBP12.1 million a year earlier.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Soros Fund Management, owned by billionaire George Soros, cut investments in US stocks by more than a third in the first quarter, while it bought a 1.7% stake in Barrick Gold worth USD264 million, according to a US government filing. The value of Soros Fund Management's publicly disclosed holdings declined 37% to USD3.5 billion at the end of the first quarter. Soros' stake in Barrick, the world's top gold mining company by production, is its biggest US-listed holding, as per the filing to the Securities & Exchange Commission. Soros trimmed its positions in some of the world's biggest technology stocks - class-A shares of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and roughly halved its holding of Facebook shares.
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The president of Mitsubishi Motors has decided to step down, taking responsibility for the fuel economy data scandal that surfaced in April, Nikkei reported. The position to be vacated by Tetsuro Aikawa, 62, will be filled temporarily by Chairman Osamu Masuko. The 67-year-old will continue to do double duty until after Nissan Motor completes its planned purchase of a 34% equity stake, the report said.
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Novartis said it will reorganize its operations to create separate units for cancer and for other drugs. The new structure reflects the importance of oncology to Swiss-based Novartis following the integration of the oncology assets acquired from the UK's GlaxoSmithKline. David Epstein, currently division head and CEO, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, has decided to leave Novartis. The company noted that it will focus its Pharmaceuticals Division by creating two business units reporting to the CEO: Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Oncology.
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Google announced a trial run of a new ride-sharing service, potentially putting the internet giant in competition with the likes of Uber and BlaBlaCar. Google will conduct trials of its new Waze Carpool app in the San Francisco area, where employees from participating companies are invited to use the platform for commuting to work.
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

UBM
Jupiter Fund Management
Antofagasta
Paddy Power Betfair
Circassia Pharmaceuticals
ProPhotonix
STM Group
Satellite Solutions Worldwide
CPPGroup
Vitec Group
Safecharge International
European REIT
Panmure Gordon & Co
Marshalls
Circle Holdings
Bankers Petroleum
Frenkel Topping Group
Johnston Press
Stilo International
Foxtons Group
Xaar
Rathbone Brothers
Skyepharma
Chesnara
Playtech
Zotefoams
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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