Barclays Share News (BARC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have started the week firmly Monday, amid continued progress in the Greek debt situation and some M&A activity, while gold prices have fallen to a new five-year low on expectations of US and UK interest rate hikes by year-end.

AVEVA shares are up 26%, easily topping the FTSE 250, after it agreed a GBP1.3 billion reverse takeover by France's Schneider Electric.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.3% at 6,791.79
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 17,791.95
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 757.81
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Hang Seng: up 0.1% at 25,430.27
Nikkei 225: closed for holiday.
DJIA: closed down 0.2% at 18,086.45
S&P 500: closed up 0.1% at 2,126.64
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GBP: up at USD1.5620
EUR: down at USD1.0850

GOLD: down at USD1,115.86 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD57.00 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

Japan Marine Day holiday
09:00 EU Current Account
09:30 UK Public Sector Net Borrowing
13:30 Canada Wholesale Sales
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Just hours are left for Greece to met the deadline to repay EUR3.9 billion debt to the European Central Bank even as the European Commission's bridge-loan is expected to reach the crisis struck country later Monday. Meanwhile, the Greek banks are set to open partially after a three-week closure. The Greek crisis is slowly subsiding after European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the EUR7.16 billion bridge-loan approved on Thursday would reach Greece by Monday. It is expected that Greece would use the bridge-loan to repay the bond redemption to the ECB and the two missed loan instalments to the International Monetary Fund. Dombrovskis said that a new bailout program for the country would be ready by August and talks will now take place in Athens.
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Greece's new cabinet was sworn in on Saturday, state radio ERT reported, after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ousted several hardline leftists of his SYRIZA party the night before. The reshuffle follows the rebellion on Thursday of 32 SYRIZA lawmakers who voted against the austerity and reform measures, and was aimed at bringing in ministers who can be relied on to implement the tough new conditions required by Athens' creditors.
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The average asking price for a house in the UK was up 0.1% on month in July, property tracking website Rightmove said - coming in at GBP294,542. That follows the 3.0% jump in June, which was a record high for one month. On a yearly basis, prices spiked 5.1% after climbing 4.5% in the previous month.
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Britain is committed to working with the US to wipe out the Islamic State militant group from Syria and Iraq, Prime Minister David Cameron said in an interview. "I want Britain to do more," he told the NBC television network's Meet the Press programme. "I'll always have to take my Parliament with me." Cameron made his comments after the London-based human rights group Reprieve released documents Friday that showed British pilots have taken part in US-led airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria.
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The Islamic State or IS militant group on Saturday claimed responsibility for Friday's huge suicide truck bomb explosion at a busy marketplace in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, according to reports. The group reportedly said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who drove his truck bomb loaded with three tons of explosives and detonated it among Shiite militias near the Shiite mosque of al-Rasoul al-Aazam in the town of Khan Bani Saad in Diyala province.
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Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, whose popularity has faded after local election setbacks and a migration crisis, made a bid to revive his political fortunes Saturday by unveiling bold tax cuts for the next three years. Renzi pledged to scrap an unpopular levy on primary residences, as well as taxes on agricultural land and industrial machinery, in 2016. He also promised to cut corporate taxes in 2017 and income taxes in 2018.
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The Obama administration sent the Iran nuclear accord to the US Congress, triggering a 60-day review period and intense lobbying efforts by advocates and opponents of the deal. US State Department spokesman John Kirby said the nuclear accord that was sealed on Tuesday between Iran and six world powers had been sent to Congress for consideration, as required by law. In New York, the UN Security Council was preparing to vote Monday to lift the economic sanctions on Iran that were aimed at forcing it to dismantle its nuclear programme.
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Pro-Russian separatists have said they will withdraw all of their heavy weapons from the conflict zones of eastern Ukraine in accordance with an agreement with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Separatist leader Vladislav Deynego was quoted by the Interfax news agency as confirming implementation of the agreement, which stipulates that weapons with a caliber of 100 millimetres will be withdrawn at least three kilometres from the front lines.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP RAISES HSBC TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL') - PRICE TARGET AUF 635 PENCE
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JEFFERIES CUTS PRUDENTIAL TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 1753 (1802) PENCE
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TRADERS: EXANE BNP CUTS DERWENT LONDON TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OUTPERFORM')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Barclays plans to cut more than 30,000 jobs within two years as the British lender considers accelerating a cost-cutting program after firing chief executive Antony Jenkins in early July, The Sunday Times reported. The redundancy program could reduce Barclays' workforce to below 100,000 by the end of 2017 and is seen as the only way to address the bank's underperformance and double its share price, according to The Sunday Times. As Jenkins' successor, a potential candidate is reportedly expected to cut jobs at a much faster rate and more deeply than Jenkins. The job cuts are likely to impact staff at middle and back office operations in order to achieve largest savings.
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Standard Chartered Chief Executive Bill Winters has appointed a new management team reporting directly to him and made changes to the bank's structure as he tries to improve performance and cut USD1.8 billion in costs by the end of 2017. The new management team, which consists of 13 members, will be responsible for devising a plan by the end of the year to address the emerging markets banking group's performance, Standard Chartered said in a statement on Sunday.
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Rolls-Royce Holdings said it has struck two new deals, one covering TotalCare services in Saudi Arabia and one a Trent 700 engine order from International AirFinance Corp. The FTSE 100-listed aerospace and engineering company said it has been selected by SAUDIA, Saudi Arabia's national airline, to provide TotalCare engine service support for 20 Airbus A330 regional aircraft. The deal is worth USD1.3 billion. Rolls-Royce also said it has won a contract from International AirFinance to provide Trent 700 engines for 20 Airbus A330s. That deal is worth USD930 million.
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British Land said it has had a "good start" to its new financial year, with 129,000 square feet of retail lettings and renewals and 132,000 square feet of office lettings and renewals, as further space was let at the Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City of London. Chief Executive Chris Grigg said the London-based property investment company had a "good start" to the year, with "real progress" being made.
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Anglo American said it will book underlying earnings from Anglo American Platinum Ltd of USD175 million for the first half of 2015. The FTSE 100-listed multi-commodity miner said the underlying earnings from the company are substantially better than the USD1.0 million loss it booked in the same period a year earlier. Anglo American is the platinum miner's largest shareholder with a 77.3% stake.
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Royal Dutch Shell may cut its capital spending for the current year by several billion dollars from the previously announced spending of USD33 billion, reflecting project deferrals, the Financial Times reported. A substantial cut to this year's capital investment may be outlined at its interim results on July 30, the report said. The paper said that Shell expects billions of dollars more in savings from its proposed GBP55 billion takeover of BG Group than previously disclosed as it uses the enlarged company's scale to slash costs in its deepwater oil business and natural gas trading arm.
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Defence company BAE Systems has started the process of preparing to replace Chief Executive Ian King, Sky News reports. Roger Carr, BAE's chairman, has hired City headhunter Spencer Stuart to start a "horizon-scanning" exercise to identify potential successors to King, who has run the company since 2008, Sky said. King has no immediate plans to step down, and insiders told Sky that any change of leadership could be at least two years away.
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Alibaba Group and Unilever China announced a comprehensive strategic partnership that will enable Unilever to reach customers across China with unprecedented precision and effectiveness through Alibaba Group's data-driven ecosystem. The collaboration includes rural China penetration, cross-border e-commerce, consumer protection and Big Data. Alibaba noted that the agreement is a major milestone for a partnership that started five years ago with a single Tmall store, which has since grown steadily on a solid foundation of mutual trust and success over the years.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Engineering software company AVEVA Group said it has struck a deal with Schneider Electric to acquire selected industrial software assets in a GBP1.3 billion reverse takeover. Under the terms of the deal, AVEVA will acquire the software assets on a debt-free, cash-free basis and will received GBP550 million in cash from Schneider Electric for AVEVA shares, giving Schneider a 53.5% stake in AVEVA. The GBP550 million Schneider will pay will be distributed to AVEVA shareholders, which will hold a 46.5% stake in the enlarged company.
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Tullow Oil said gas exports from the Jubilee field to the Ghana gas plant at Atuabo have been suspended due to technical issues which will continue to impact exports until mid-August. The gas exports were suspended on July 3 due to technical issues with gas compression systems on the floating production, storage and offloading Kwame Nkrumah vessel. Oil production is currently constrained to 65,000 barrels of oil per day, but the company said there has been no affect on the field's reserves or resources.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Supply chain services company Wincanton said it has secured a contract with defence contractor BAE Systems. Under the contract, Wincanton will provide goods management and inspection, storage and packing and transportation services for BAE's military air and information sites in Samlesbury and Warton. No financial details on the contract were revealed.
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The owners of hotel chain Travelodge are understood to have hired Deutsche Bank to advise on a GBP1 billion sale or flotation of the business, The Daily Telegraph reports. Goldman Sachs Inc, GoldenTree Asset Management and Avenue Capital are thought to be planning to exit their investment in the budget hotel group this autumn. The Telegraph said an initial public offering of the business is thought to be less likely than a sale and said there is speculation that the business may draw the attention of an Asian investor.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Swiss private banking group Julius Baer Group reported that its profit attributable to shareholders for the first-half of 2015 fell to CHF39.0 million from CHF178.3 million last year. Julius Baer also announced that it has entered into an investment agreement with NSC Asesores, SA de CV, Asesor en Inversiones Independiente under which it will acquire 40% of the largest independent financial advisory firm in Mexico, for an undisclosed amount.
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Lockheed Martin has agreed to buy United Technologies' Sikorsky Aircraft for more than USD8 billion, reports said Sunday, quoting people familiar with the matter. By acquiring Sikorsky, the maker of the Black Hawk helicopter, Lockheed Martin will extend its status as the world's largest defense contractor and widen its lead over Boeing Co in the US Sikorsky had sales of about USD7.45 billion last year. For United Technologies, the sale of Sikorsky will enable it to focus on divisions making jet engines, air conditioners and elevators.
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JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay USD388 million to settle a suit by investors who claimed the bank misled them about the safety of USD10 billion worth of residential mortgage-backed securities it sold before the financial crisis. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd announced a USD388 million recovery on behalf of a class of investors in nine 2007 residential mortgage-backed securities or MBS offerings issued by JPMorgan- bringing to a successful conclusion one of the last remaining MBS purchaser class actions arising out of the global financial crisis.
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Alstom reported first-quarter group sales of EUR1.6 billion, an increase of 8% over prior year. Sales were up 3% organically. The group said its sales deliveries were mainly driven by regional and suburban trains in France, regional trains in Italy and Germany, as well as maintenance of high speed trains in the UK.
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Yahoo! on Friday announced the initial filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its plan to spin off its remaining holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd into a newly formed independent, publicly traded, registered investment company. The name selected for the new public company is Aabaco Holdings Inc, Yahoo said. Under the spin-off plan, announced in January, Yahoo plans to distribute all of the outstanding shares of Aabaco Holdings pro rata to its shareholders.
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Quintain Estates
Aquatic Foods Group
Ensor Holdings
GTS Chemical Holdimgs
Lead All Investments
Origo Partners
Rame Energy
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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