Aukett Swanke Share News (AUK)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are narrowly mixed at the open Friday, as markets await speeches at the Jackson Hole gathering of central bankers.

London Stock Exchange is the second largest faller in the FTSE 100 after revealing the details of its fully underwritten rights issue that will partly fund its USD2.70 billion acquisition of the US's Russell Investments. The GBP938 million 3-for-11 rights issue was priced at a 30% discount. London Stock Exchange shares are off 1.1%.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: flat at 6,777.53
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 15,830.05
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 764.94
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Hang Seng: up 0.4% at 25,090.03
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.3% at 15,539.19
DJIA: closed up 0.4% at 17,039.49
S&P 500: closed up 0.3% at 1,992.37
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6587
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.3286

GOLD: up at USD1,279.65 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD102.33 a barrel

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

All Day US Jackson Hole Symposium
13:30 Canada Consumer Price Index
13:30 Canada Retail Sales
15:00 US Fed's Yellen speech on labour markets in Jackson Hole
19:30 EU ECB President Draghi speaks at Jackson Hole
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The UK's house price sentiment index rose at the slowest pace in five months in August, results of a survey by Knight Frank and Markit Economics showed Friday. The house price sentiment index, an indicator of house price trends, fell to 61.8 in August from 62.4 in July. However, a reading above 50 indicates that prices are rising. It was the seventeenth consecutive month of increase.
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US warplanes Thursday bombarded militant Islamist State targets in northern Iraq despite the terrorist group's threat to kill a captured American journalist. The US military conducted six airstrikes against the al-Qaeda breakaway group near the Mosul Dam, destroying vehicles and bomb emplacements, the Defence Department said. The latest hits have brought the total number of airstrikes to 90 since the US started its aerial campaign in Iraq on August 8.
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Islamic State militants cannot be defeated without action against their strongholds in Syria, the top US general said Thursday. "This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated," said General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Asked whether the terrorist group that is operating across Iraq and Syria could be defeated without attacks against them in Syria, he said no, but that the cross-border threat must be addressed by a regional coalition "that takes on the task of defeating ISIS over time."
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Israeli jets pounded dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Thursday while Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets into southern Israel, with the violence once again gaining momentum after a lengthy ceasefire. Israel's cabinet was reportedly considering calling up 10,000 reservists. Israel withdrew its ground troops out of Gaza early this month, but there have been calls by hardliners in the government to increase the military's operations against Hamas and other militant groups. Three Hamas commanders were killed in airstrikes in south Gaza, as Israel, for what appeared to be the first time in the latest conflict, has managed to hit high ranking members of the group.
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The National Guard is to withdraw from Ferguson, Missouri as nearly two weeks of often violent protests have finally waned, Governor Jay Nixon said Thursday. The situation in the St Louis suburb has "greatly improved" since Nixon ordered the Guard to back up state police earlier this week, he said. Only six arrests were logged overnight in the town, which saw a more peaceful night after steady protests related to the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a policeman.
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Two US missionaries have left a hospital in Atlanta after what one of them termed a "miraculous" recovery from the Ebola virus. Dr Kent Brantly and health worker Nancy Writebol had recovered from the virus and posed no public health threat, doctors at Emory University Hospital said Thursday. They had been airlifted to the US August 2 for treatment at a special infectious disease unit after first receiving the experimental treatment ZMapp in Liberia.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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S&P CAPITAL IQ CUTS STANDARD LIFE TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 390 (425) PENCE
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GOLDMAN RAISES LONMIN TO 'CONVICTION BUY LIST' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 280 (270) PENCE
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TRADERS: BARCLAYS CUTS DUNELM GROUP TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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TRADERS: BARCLAYS CUTS HALFORDS GROUP TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL WEIGHT')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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London Stock Exchange Group priced the fully underwritten rights issue it is launching with the aim of raising GBP938 million of net proceeds in order to part fund its USD2.70 billion acquisition of the US's Russell Investments. London Stock Exchange said it is launching the three-for-11 rights issue at 1,295 pence per share, representing a 30% discount. The rights issue will result in the issue of 74.3 million new shares, about 27% of the group's existing issued share capital and about 21% of the resulting shares in issue. The remaining USD1.14 billion to be paid for Russell will be financed through London Stock Exchange group's existing multi-currency bank debt facilities, including a recently signed additional GBP600 million multi-currency revolving credit facility.
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RSA Insurance Group late Thursday said it has agreed a deal to sell the insurance business of its branches in Singapore and Hong Kong to Allied World Assurance Company Ltd, as the FTSE 100 insurer continues to target asset sales. In a statement, RSA said it will receive about GBP130 million in cash - GBP93 million for Singapore and GBP37 million for Hong Kong - assuming the transactions complete, which are expected to result in a gain on sale of about GBP110 million, adding GBP95 million to tangible net assets. RSA said this will further improve its capital strength.
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Petrofac said Chairman Norman Murray has resigned with immediate effect and will be replaced by Senior Independent Director Rijnhard van Tets. In a statement, the FTSE 100-listed oil and gas services company said Murray has stepped down for "compassionate reasons". Murray had been chairman since May 2011, while Van Tets has been a director of Petrofac since May 2007.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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HellermannTyton Group reported an increase in profit for the first half, following a strong performance from its automotive division. The manufacturing company, which was promoted to the FTSE 250 in March last year, posted pretax profit of EUR34.6 million for the six months ended June 30, up from EUR21.8 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to EUR292.4 million from EUR267.5 million.
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Bank Of Georgia Q2 Profit GEL58.3M Vs GEL53.1M; Q2 Revenue GEL144.2M Vs GBP139.7M
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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AGA Rangemaster Group said an improving UK housing market drove higher sales of its cookers in the first half of the year, while it narrowed its losses after last year it was hit by restructuring costs in its businesses outside the UK. The range cooker maker said it managed to narrow its pretax loss to GBP0.3 million for the six months to June 30, compared with a loss of GBP2.4 million in the first half of last year, helped by higher revenue, but mainly due to last year's results being hit by GBP1.4 million in restructuring costs in its Irish and North American businesses.
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Japanese consulting firm Nippon Koei Co Ltd said it was considering its position in the takeover battle for Hyder Consulting PLC, after Arcadis NV on Thursday agreed a GBP288 million deal to buy the firm and bought a 15.6% stake in the business. Hyder Consulting had agreed a GBP256.2 million deal to be acquired by Arcadis in July, but last month Hyder recommended a higher GBP268.1 million offer from Nippon Koei.
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Portable hotel accommodation provider Snoozebox Holdings said it will be providing a 160 bedroom portable hotel for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France later this month.
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Aukett Swanke PLC said it has appointed Beverley Wright as finance director, effective from September 15. Wright joins from her position as the international commercial director at CH2M HILL, the US engineering, construction and operations consultancy. Prior to joining CH2M HILL in 2006, she worked as finance director at Midas Group Ltd, the independent property services firm.
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Property investment and construction company Henry Boot PLC reported an increase in profit in the first half, reflecting a strong performance across the business. The company, which constructs homes and retail buildings across the UK, posted pretax profit of GBP13.4 million for the six months-ended June 30, up from GBP7.4 million a year earlier, following a revaluation surplus of GBP1.8 million, compared with a GBP512,000 deficit a year earlier.
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UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC said Jason Berry has been appointed as an executive director of the company. Berry has spent 20 years working in the financial services sector in London and currently holds directorships or partnerships with Octagonal PLC, Jberry Consulting Ltd and Stoke Capital Ltd, the UK-focused oil and gas investor said in a statement.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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UK energy regulator Ofgem said EDF Energy is to pay a fine of GBP3 million following an investigation conducted by the watchdog into how the company handled consumer complaints. Ofgem said EDF Energy, the UK utility owned by French group Electrite de France, would pay GBP3 million to benefit vulnerable customers after it found the company failed to handle consumer complaints efficiently between May 2011 and January 2012.
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Bank of America has agreed to a record settlement of USD16.65 billion with the US government, amid allegations it sold troubled mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, the US Justice Department said Thursday. It is the largest settlement in history between the US and a single company. The bank will pay almost USD10 billion to settle federal and state civil claims and provide nearly USD7 billion in relief to customers hurt by the financial crisis through loan modifications and other measures. Attorney General Eric Holder called the settlement "appropriate given the size and scope of the wrongdoing at issue."
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Discount retailer Dollar General Corp Thursday affirmed its commitment to acquire Family Dollar Stores Inc, which earlier in the day rejected Dollar General's takeover bid on antitrust concerns. Family Dollar meanwhile is committed to its merger deal with Dollar Tree Inc.
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Cloud computing company Salesforce.com Thursday reported a slip to loss in the second quarter, hurt mainly by expenses and the absence of tax gains recorded a year ago. Adjusted earnings and revenue, however, topped Wall Street estimates. Salesforce.com detailed its guidance for the third quarter, in line with analysts' estimates and lifted its outlook for the full year 2015. Salesforce.com, which competes with bigger rivals Oracle Corp. and Sap AG, has been posting quarterly losses due to expenses, despite managing to boost revenue.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Security Research Group
Versarien
Mincon Group
Prime Active Capital
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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