Barclays Share News (BARC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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British Sky Broadcasting Group's plan to buy the rest of Sky Deutschland AG hit a snag, as Sky Deutschland's board members said that they will not recommend BSkyB's EUR6.75 per share bid. Sky Deutschland said in a statement that it has concluded that the offer price "does not reflect the full potential and thus intrinsic value of the business." The board said that it operates in an under-developed market, and the full realisation of its potential is subject to the success of a business plan over a long period of time "with inherent uncertainty."
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Smiths Group raised its dividend marginally for the full year to end-July, although it saw results hit by the strength of sterling as growth in its John Crane, Smiths Interconnect and Flex-Tek businesses were offset by declines in Smiths Medical and Smiths Detection. The technology group proposed a total dividend of 40.25 pence, up 1.9% from 39.50 pence in the previous year. Smiths posted a pretax profit of GBP302.0 million in the recent financial year, down from GBP395.7 million the year before, as revenue fell to GBP2.95 billion from GBP3.11 billion and it posted higher exceptional and amortisation charges of GBP126.8 million, compared to GBP73.2 million a year before.
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US oil group ConocoPhillips Co has put its stake in the Clair oilfield up for sale, sparking a race to buy a part of one of Scotland's most valuable oilfields, The Times reported. Conoco has hired banks to sell the 24% stake in the field, west of Shetland, which could fetch between GBP1.2 billion and GBP1.8 billion, the paper said. The field is operated by BP, which owns a 28.6% stake, and holds an estimated eight million barrels of oil, making it one of the largest fields in Europe. Royal Dutch Shell, which already owns 28% of the field, is reportedly likely to be interested in upping its stake in the field.
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Barclays, HSBC Holdings and Royal Bank of Scotland Group have been named among thirteen banks facing allegations of fraud and a claim for USD1.15 billion in damages in the US over the sale of mortgage bonds during the financial crisis, The Guardian reported on Tuesday. The accusations have been made in the state of Virginia, with attorney general Mark Herring alleging the banks named in the suit packaged up risky home loans into the bonds before selling them to the Virginia Retirement System as, primarily, top-quality AAA-rated bonds, the paper said.
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The New York attorney general Tuesday called for the rejection of a move by Barclays for the dismissal of the state's lawsuit alleging fraud in connection with how the bank operated its dark pool trading platform, Reuters has reported. According to the report, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman targeted Barclays' argument that the lawsuit falls outside the Martin Act.
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Two mobile operators who contributed to the fall of Phones 4U into administration by withdrawing their business from the retailer in recent weeks are understood to be in talks with administrators to buy portions of the company, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Vodafone Group and EE have each held talks with the administrator about buying parts of the Phones 4U business, including some stores, staff and stock in the UK, the FT said. The moves may provide an escape route for thousands of staff who are set to lose their jobs. It also comes on the back of talks being held by Dixons Carphone to offer jobs to 800 Phones 4U staff working in concessions in its own stores. Dixons Carphone may also reportedly be interested in buying some of the stores and acquiring some of Phones 4U's brands, the FT said.
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Imagination Technologies Group expressed confidence that its progress will continue in line with its expectations, forecasting a heavier second half weighting than usual due to new product shipments, such as those with Apple Inc later in the year. The company said that in the period from May 1 to Tuesday, it had seen encouraging activity in licensing, across all three main intellectual property product areas and its customer base. In the quarter to end-June, royalty revenues were in line with expectations, as it saw growth from a number partners, as well as a short-term hit from product transitions.
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Sports and fashion chain JD Sports Fashion sported an impressive increase in its pretax profit for the first half of its financial year, as strong revenue growth was driven by another strong sales performance from its core UK sportswear business. The sportswear, outdoor clothing and fashion retailer reported a pretax profit of GBP16.5 million for the six months to August 3, up from only GBP6.1 million a year earlier. Its profit was driven by a 27% increase in revenue to GBP721.5 million, up from GBP567.4 million last year, after strong sportswear sales continued, and it was given a much-welcome boost by the build up to the football World Cup.
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Dignity announced a proposal to return GBP54 million to shareholders as it restructures its debt obligations in order to cut its annual debt servicing costs. The funeral services provider said its overall balance sheet liability would increase to GBP580 million under the deal, but said its debt service costs would fall by GBP6 million to GBP34 million per year from GBP40 million at present. As a result of the exchange offer to secured notes holders, the company would generate net new proceeds of GBP70 million, of which GBP54 million, or GBP1 per ordinary share, would be returned to its shareholders.
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Dairy Crest Group said it has appointed Stephen Alexander as its new chairman with immediate effect. Alexander replaces Anthony Fry in the position. Fry was taken ill earlier this year; he will leave the board with immediate effect, said Dairy Crest.
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MARKETS
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UK equities are trading higher after Bank of England meeting minutes revealed a repeat of last month's monetary policy committee vote, with Ian McCafferty and Martin Weale voting for an increase in interest rate, versus seven votes against.
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FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 6807.97
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 15660.19
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.04% at 764.84
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The pound eased against the dollar despite making early gains after data showed the UK unemployment rate falling to its lowest level since the start of the recession.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6301
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.2959

GOLD: up at USD1236.40 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD99.53 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The UK unemployment rate continued to fall in July, to the lowest since late 2008, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The ILO jobless rate fell to 6.2% in May to July, down from 6.6% in February to April. The rate was seen at 6.3%. There were 2.02 million unemployed people, down 146,000 from February to April. The claimant count rate fell to 2.9% in August from 3% in July. The number of people claiming jobseekers' allowances declined by 37,200 from July to 966,500 in August. It was forecast to fall by 30,000.
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Policymakers of the Bank of England split on rate decision again in September as two members preferred a quarter point rate hike. Ian McCafferty and Martin Weale sought to raise key rate by 25 basis points, while all other seven members voted to keep the rate at 0.50%. They said economic circumstances were sufficient to justify an immediate rise in Bank Rate. Even after a rise of 25 basis points in Bank Rate, monetary policy would remain extremely supportive, and an early rise would facilitate the Committee's aspiration that rises in Bank Rate should only be gradual, two members said.
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Eurozone inflation remained stable at 0.4% in August, final data from Eurostat showed. Monthly inflation was 0.1%. The statistical office earlier estimated an annual rate of 0.3% for August. Inflation continues to stay below the European Central Bank's target of 'below but close to 2%'. Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco rose marginally to 0.9% from 0.8% in July.
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Pro-union and pro-independence campaigns made their finals appeals in Scotland, the day before voters decide whether to end more than 300 years of union with the rest of the UK. Opinion polls suggest the vote remains on a knife's edge, with three separate ones - by ICM, Survation and Opinium - published late Tuesday showing that 52% of Scots were against independence, while 48% were in favour. In an open letter to voters, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the referendum represented "the greatest, most empowering moment any of us will ever have." The leader of the devolved government in Edinburgh asked voters to ignore what he said were "increasingly desperate and absurd scare stories" spread by Downing Street and to trust in themselves.
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China's central bank is injecting CNY500 billion (about USD81 billion) into the nation's five major state-run commercial banks to bolster flagging economic growth, reports said. The People's Bank of China will release CNY100 billion to each bank to boost liquidity, the sina.com website quoted banking analyst Qiu Guanhua of Guotai Junan Securities as saying. The central bank began releasing the funds on Tuesday under its standing lending facility, a liquidity support tool, for a three-month period, it said. The central bank has not confirmed the reports.
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The parliaments of Ukraine and the EU ratified a landmark political and free trade deal Tuesday. The deal paves the way for deeper political relations between the EU and Ukraine and grants the country tariff-free access to the bloc's giant market. Moscow has long been critical of the agreement, amid concerns that the trade pact could hurt the Russian economy. In a bid to further peace in the region, the Ukrainian Parliament approved legislation granting greater autonomy to the separatist-held eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which is a key part of the Kiev government's ceasefire deal with rebels.
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The United Nations and the US issued dire warnings about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, as the US announced a major increase Tuesday in its response to the epidemic. West African countries at the centre of the epidemic could become collapsed states, the UN warned, as US President Barack Obama said the epidemic was spiralling out of control and would get worse before it gets better.
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The United Nations has brokered a deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that would allow the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip with UN monitors overseeing the process, a senior UN official said Tuesday. The deal will "enable work at the scale required in the strip, involving the private sector in Gaza and giving a lead role to the Palestinian Authority in the reconstruction effort," Robert Serry, the UN's Middle East envoy, told a Security Council meeting. Israel only allows imports of most consumer goods to Gaza but strictly controls the inflow of construction materials to Gaza due to concerns that such materials could be diverted by Hamas militants for building military installations such as attack tunnels.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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