Astrazeneca Share News (AZN)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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The Financial Conduct Authority said it has fined Peter Carron, a former senior partner at St James's Place Wealth Management, GBP300,000 after he was found to have advised clients to invest a total of GBP2.4 million in three companies in which he was a director without adequately disclosing his interests. Between 2004 and 2010, Carron advised clients to invest GBP2.4 million in the three companies without disclosing his position on the board of the firms. These clients later lost approximately GBP2.2 million when the companies were placed into liquidation between May and August 2010. St James's Place subsequently paid GBP1.9 million in compensation to the 11 investors involved.
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AstraZeneca said it has agreed with Eli Lilly and Co Ltd to jointly develop and commercialise its compound AZD3293 as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Under the deal Lilly will pay AstraZeneca up to USD500 million in development and milestone payments. AstraZeneca expects to receive the first milestone payment of USD50 million in the first half of 2015. The two will share costs equally for the development and commercialisation of the drug.
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HSBC Holdings said it intends to issue EUR1.5 billion in perpetual subordinated contingent convertible securities on September 17. The terms and conditions of the deal will be in line with those issued under the bank's USD50 billion programme for the issue of the securities, known as CoCos. HSBC's CoCo issuance programme started last week when the bank came to market with two additional Tier One bonds worth a collective EUR4.4 billion, with one denominated in euros and one in dollars.
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Vodafone Group and EE were involved in talks about a joint takeover of Phones4U as recently as two months ago, but abandoned the deal without providing an explanation, Sky News reported on Monday. Executives at Vodafone discussed the deal at a meeting in June with financial and legal advisers to Phones4U, the mobile phone retail chain which collapsed into administration this week, Sky News said.
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US-based energy firm ConocoPhillips has hired banks to sell its 24% stake in the Clair oilfield, the UK's largest oilfield, the Financial Times reported quoting people familiar with the matter. The stake is said to fetch between USD2 billion and USD3 billion. BP has a 28.6% stake in the field, Royal Dutch Shell a 28% holding and Chevron Corp has a 19% stake. The moves comes as the future of North Sea oil is being debated ahead of the Scottish independence referendum later this week. The project is located in Scottish territorial waters west of the Shetland islands.
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Ophir Energy said it has found a new gas discovery at the Silenus East-1 well in Block R in Equatorial Guinea, saying the new find allows it to upgrade the Block R floating liquefied natural gas project. The initial drill at the well encountered a 67 metre gross gas column with high-quality reservoir in line with the pre-drill expectations, FTSE 250-listed Ophir said. The well was then deepened in order to test a secondary high risk oil target and the drilling encountered high-quality, albeit water-wet, reservoirs with weak oil shows. Ophir said the play remains of interest to the company, and it will conduct further evaluations on the block.
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UK travel operator Thomas Cook Group said it expects to report underlying earnings before interest and tax of between GBP315 million and GBP335 million for the full year, broadly in line with market expectations for the group. The travel group said demand for late summer holidays picked up, with a strong Summer 2014 "late bookings" market particularly in the UK, albeit with some pricing softness due to higher European short-haul market capacity. It said it has currently sold approximately 92% of its Summer 2014 programme, the same as this time last year.
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Petra Diamonds said it has sold a 122.52 carat blue diamond recovered in June for a value equivalent to USD27.6 million to a partnership comprising of the company and its polishing partner. The FTSE 250-listed company said that the diamond has been sold to a beneficiation partnership comprising of Petra, holding 15%, and its polishing partner - which wishes to remain unnamed - holding 85%.
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Online fashion retailer ASOS said its sales growth slowed in the final quarter of its financial year, as the fire that broke out at its warehouse in Barnsley in June wiped GBP25 million to GBP30 million off sales in the quarter, but it said it expects pretax profit for the recent year to be in line with market expectations. In the UK, retail sales growth slowed to 33% in the three months to August 31, while international sales rose only 6%. International retail sales accounted for 59% of total sales, down from 64% last year. "In the new financial year we'll make significant investments in our international pricing and proposition, as well as in our logistical infrastructure and technology platform. As a result, we expect profit before tax for the year to 31 August 2015 to be at a similar level to 2013/14," said Robertson.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks are lower across the board morning, despite the latest UK inflation data giving confidence that interest rates are staying low for now, as nervousness continues to grip markets in the run up to Thursday's independence referendum in Scotland and as the US Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting.
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FTSE 100: down 0.4% at 6777.97
FTSE 250: down 0.7% at 15547.99
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.9% at 766.11
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The pound depreciated to a six-day low of USD1.6161 against the dollar after data showed that UK consumer price inflation slowed in August from the month before.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6162
EUR-USD: up at USD1.2949

GOLD: up at USD1238.65 per ounce
OIL (Brent): flat at USD97.99 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK inflation slowed as expected in August on falls in prices of motor fuels and food, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Consumer prices rose 1.5% year-on-year in August, slower than the 1.6% rise in July. The annual rate came in line with economists' expectations. In a separate communique, the ONS said factory gate prices decreased for the second consecutive month in August. Output prices were down 0.3% annually versus 0.1% drop a month ago.
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House prices in the UK rose at a faster pace in July, figures from the ONS also showed. House prices grew 11.7% year-on-year in July following the 10.2% rise in June. This was driven by the 19.1% increase in house prices in London. This was followed by the 12.2% rise in the South East and the 10.6% climb in the East.
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The leaders of Britain's three main parties have pledged to hand over more powers to Scotland if voters reject independence in Thursday's referendum. The last-ditch attempt to persuade Scots to remain in the 300-year-old union with the rest of the UK came as opinion polls show the vote is too close to call. In an article entitle The Vow on the front page of Scottish newspaper The Daily Record, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "A no vote will deliver faster, safer and better change than separation."
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US military forces have conducted airstrikes against an Islamic State target near Baghdad for the first time as part of an expanded effort to combat the jihadist militants, the US Central Command said. Attack aircraft were used in a strike Monday in support of Iraqi government troops south-west of Baghdad. The airstrike was described as the first in "expanded efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions to hit (Islamic State) targets as Iraqi forces go on offense, as outlined in the president's speech" last week, the military said. The statement said the strike had destroyed an Islamic State fighting position that was firing on Iraqi soldiers outside Baghdad.
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The parliaments of Ukraine and the EU were set to ratify a landmark political and free trade deal, but some lawmakers expressed displeasure over a delay in the agreement. The EU and Ukraine agreed Friday to postpone the implementation of the deal's trade component until the end of 2015, following talks with Russia. Moscow had expressed concerns that the trade pact could negatively impact its economy. "What's happening is that Mr Putin is putting his foot in the door," Green lawmaker Rebecca Harms said in a debate before the European Parliament's vote in Strasbourg, France. "I don't know whether I should be glad, whether I should laugh, whether I should cry."
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Foreign direct investment in China declined notably in August, figures from the Ministry of Commerce showed. Investment inflows decreased 14% from last year to USD7.2 billion. The decline was followed by an another 17% fall in July. During January to August, inbound investment slid 1.8% from last year to USD78.3 billion. Meanwhile, outbound investment increased 15% to USD65.2 billion.
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The US will send thousands of troops to respond to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa by building clinics and training hundreds of healthcare workers, US President Barack Obama is to announce Tuesday. Obama called the outbreak a national security threat and planned to travel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to meet with experts working to combat the disease.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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