Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
----------
COMPANIES
----------
Inmarsat confirmed that the third satellite in the Global Xpress programme has been scheduled for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1244 BST on Friday, August 28. The launch of the third Global Xpress satellite had been delayed by a previous failure to launch of a Proton Breeze M rocket. The mobile satellite communications provider said the satellite, I-5 F3, will cover the Pacific Ocean Region. With Inmarsat-5 F1 and Inmarsat-5 F2, the satellite will create "world's first globally available, high-speed mobile broadband service, delivered through a single provider", according to the company. "Following the successful launch of I-5 F3, Inmarsat expects to commence global commercial GX services by the end of the year," Inmarsat said in a statement.
----------
Barclays has handed hundreds of customers a take-it-or-leave-it offer that may result in some small businesses being "forced to pay the bank hundreds of thousands of pounds despite having been mis-sold its complex hedging products", the Times reported. According to the report, Barclays has said that if the customers don't accept its compensation offer, they will have to pay the cost of terminating the products and for missed premium payments.
----------
Travel group TUI is considering spinning off non-core assets with revenue of about EUR3 billion, The Times reported. The Times said it understands that TUI Group could seek a separate listing for its non-mainstream operations, including brands such as hotelbeds.com, Crystal Ski Holidays and Hayes & Jarvis, while retaining a stake. It would retain core holiday brands such as Thomson and First Choice.
----------
Wm Morrison Supermarkets is in advanced talks to sell its M Local convenience store chain to a group of industry executives backed by investment firm Greybull Capital, The Telegraph reported. The newspaper said it is understood that Greybull, which saved Monarch Airlines from bankruptcy last year, will provide tens of millions of pounds to fund the takeover and provide the stores with working capital. The Morrisons convenience estate will include between 150 and 160 stores, which generate between GBP250 million and GBP350 million in sales, The Telegraph said, citing sources and adding that the shops are thought to generate a small profit.
----------
Standard Life said late Friday it is looking to increase its stake in HDFC Standard Life Insurance Com to 35% from 26% for about GBP169 million. The Edinburgh-based savings and investments company said it is seeking regulatory approval to increase its stake in HDFC Life following the passing of a key insurance bill by the Indian Parliament in March. It has agreed terms with HDFC Ltd, its joint venture partner, over the move. The bill passed by India's Parliament enables foreign investors to own up to 49% of local insurers, an increase on the previous maximum of 26%.
----------
Clarkson reported a fall in pretax profit in the first half, as an increase in revenue was more than offset by higher administrative expenses and costs connected to its acquisition of rival shipping broker RS Platou ASA, and said it made a "solid" start to the year. The shipping services company said it made a GBP10.8 million pretax profit in the six months to the end of June, compared with GBP14.1 million in the corresponding period the prior year. The company increased its interim dividend by 1 pence to 22 pence per share.
----------
Bovis Homes Group said it is on track to deliver its expected volume of new homes, and it is confident in its outlook for 2015 as a whole, after reporting a 8.9% increase in pretax profit for the first half and a record number of legal completions. The housebuilder said it made a GBP53.8 million pretax profit in the six months to the end of June, compared with GBP49.4 million in the corresponding half the prior year, as revenue increased to GBP350.7 million from GBP322.1 million. Bovis Homes increased its interim dividend per share to 13.7 pence from 12.0p, and said it intends to increase the full-year dividend to 40p from 35p.
----------
Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate said it has bought a portfolio of 11 Carrefour supermarkets and five Dia supermarkets in Spain for EUR85.5 million, funded from the company's cash resources. The real estate property company said the acquisition is part of a joint venture with French institutional investors managed by AEW Europe. The 16 supermarkets comprise 593,600 square feet of lettable space across seven high street stores and nine big box stores in the Madrid and Barcelona regions. The stores generate a net operating income of EUR6.0 million.
----------
Carillion said a contract which will lead to the company upgrading facilities at eight schools in the English Midlands has reached financial closure. Through the company's joint venture vehicle, PSBP Midlands, Carillion said the Midlands Priority School Building Programme has reached financial close. The programme is a 25-year private finance concession contract using the UK government's Private Finance 2 model, it said in a statement.
----------
MARKETS
----------
UK shares have reversed a higher open to trade flat mid-morning, while there is increased optimism over the Greek debt deal after German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a limited form of debt relief for the country.
----------
FTSE 100: flat at 6,552.48
FTSE 250: flat at 17,620.97
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 750.71
----------
GBP: down at USD1.5634
EUR: down at USD1.1098
GOLD: up at USD1116.27 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD49.11 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
----------
ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
----------
The pound strengthened following comments from Bank of England monetary policy committee member Kristin Forbes that interest rates could rise sooner than expected. In an article in the Daily Telegraph on Sunday, Forbes said UK economic recovery would be undermined with waiting too long to raise interest rates. "Maintaining interest rates at the current low levels during an expansion risks creating distortions," she said. "Interest rates will need to be increased well before inflation hits our 2% target," Forbes said. Traders await UK inflation data for July on Tuesday. Economists expect consumer prices to remain unchanged on a yearly basis. Core inflation is forecast to rise to 0.9% from 0.8% in the previous month.
----------
The average asking price for a house in the UK was down 0.8% on month in August, property tracking website Rightmove said on Monday, coming in at GBP292,284. That followed the 0.1% increase in July. On a yearly basis, house prices were up 6.4% after rising 5.1% in the previous month.
----------
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Sunday for debt relief for Greece, three days before Germany's parliament is to vote on the latest bailout for Athens amid concern that its debt burden is unsustainable. But the leader of Europe's biggest economy rejected calls for forgiving some of Greece's debt in an interview with the public broadcaster ZDF. She said, however, that she saw "wiggle room" on the interest rates it is charged and the maturity dates of its loans.
----------
Despite Merkel's comments, Germany has played down expectations of extensive debt relief for Greece, with a top Finance Ministry official saying on Monday that Athens' creditors had limited room for manoeuvre in what could be offered to the eurozone's most indebted state. The International Monetary Fund has made debt relief a condition for joining Greece's third bailout in five years, saying that the debt level was unsustainable. "At most, there is limited room for improvement in terms of the maturities for loans or the amount of interest charged," German Finance Ministry official Jens Spahn told dpa.
----------
Late Friday, Eurozone finance ministers approved the third bailout package in five years for Greece, which will commit to reforms and spending cuts in return for EUR86 billion in aid. Some of the countries in the eurozone, including Germany, require their parliaments to be consulted on the new bailout. Others that do so are Austria, Estonia, Portugal and Spain. Greece's Parliament approved it Friday. The bailout package will be needed for Greece to make its EUR3.2 billion loan repayment to the European Central Bank on Thursday.
----------
The Eurozone trade surplus rose to a 6-month high in June as the increase in exports exceeded imports growth, Eurostat showed. The trade surplus rose to a seasonally adjusted EUR21.9 billion in June from EUR21.3 billion in May. It was the highest level since December 2014, when surplus totaled EUR22.5 billion. Nonetheless, it was below the expected surplus of EUR23.1 billion. Exports increased 1.4% in June from May, while imports advanced 1.2%.
----------
The Japanese economy shrank at an annualized rate of 1.6% in the April-to-June period for the first contraction in three quarters due mainly to weak exports and sluggish consumption, the government said. The figure was slightly better than the 1.9% contraction forecast in a poll of economists by the Nikkei business daily. Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari blamed the contraction on weaker exports and slumping consumption. He also told a news conference that he was "not optimistic" about shipments to China, Japan's biggest trading partner.
----------
Rescuers removed hundreds of tons of cyanide from the site of a chemical explosion in northern China as the death toll reached 114, state media reported. Rescuers found two more bodies in the debris, Gong Jiansheng, deputy chief of Tianjin publicity department, told the press on Monday. The latest toll left 70 missing and more than 700 injured. A fresh explosion was reported early Monday but the blaze appeared to be quickly extinguished.
----------
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
