Barclays Share News (BARC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
----------
COMPANIES
----------
Oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC issued a profit warning, saying its fourth quarter results are expected to be significantly lower than recent levels of profitability having been hit by a range of issues including weak industry conditions in downstream oil products, higher exploration expenses and lower upstream volumes. In a statement, Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said the company's 2013 performance "was not what I expect from Shell". He said the company would now focus on improving its financial results, improving its capital efficiency and strengthening its operational performance and project delivery.
----------
William Hill PLC joined rival Ladbrokes PLC in warning that football results had gone badly against it in the second week of this year, taking some of the sheen off otherwise strong trading results. The bookmaker warned that it recorded a GBP13 million loss in week two of 2014 after an unusually high number of odds-on favourites won their matches. It said it can't be sure it will make up the loss. William Hill's performance for the fourth quarter of 2013 was better. Total net retail revenue was up 6% in the 13 weeks to December 31 compared with a 14 week period the year earlier, or up 13% on an exact 13 week basis.
----------
The UK's five largest banks are too powerful and should be forced to give up "significant" numbers of branches, opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband is to say later Friday in a speech, the BBC reports. According to the BBC, Miliband will say that Labour will fix the "broken" banking sector by creating two new challenger banks to boost High Street Competition. The Labout leader claims that the existing banks are still failing to serve the needs of the real economy or small businesses. The big five banks are HSBC Holdings PLC, Barclays PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Spain's Santander and Lloyds Banking Group PLC.
----------
Shire PLC said it has sold its Dermagraft living skin substitute assets to the US's Organogenesis Ltd, as it said the prospects of the product had been "significantly" reduced, and will take a USD650 million loss on the disposal. Massachusetts-based Organogenesis will make no upfront payment for the assets but will pay up to USD300 million in milestones payments should it meet certain performance criteria in the next four years. Shire noted that the one-off loss related to the disposal and associated impairment charges would be excluded from non GAAP earnings, and will be reported as discontinued in its fourth quarter and full year earnings. The assets had a value of USD683 million.
----------
Aviva PLC said it has entered a joint venture with PT Astra International Tbk to create a life insurer - Astra Aviva Life - in Indonesia. PT Astra International Tbk, Indonesia’s largest publicly listed company with a market capitalisation of about USD25 billion, and Aviva have formed the 50-50 joint venture in order to sell life insurance products in Indonesia. Aviva said Astra Aviva Life will become the life insurer of choice for Astra and its subsidiaries.
----------
Transport operator FirstGroup PLC said that it had traded in line with its expectations in its fiscal third quarter, with good performances in its UK rail and bus operations and its US greyhound and First Transit units offsetting a slowdown in its US First Student business. The company made no mention of its ongoing talks with shareholder Sandell Asset Management Corp, which earlier this week urged the company to reconsider its rejection of Sandell's proposal that it should break itself up and spin off its US business, selling Greyhound as part of the process.
----------
The UK Government said it has shortlisted FirstGroup, Keolis, and a joint venture between Stagecoach PLC and Virgin Group, as the three final bidders for the Intercity East Coast rail franchise. Keolis, which is 70% owned by French high-speed rail company SNCF and Caisse de depot et de placement du Québec of Canada, is bidding with Eurostar.
----------
Russian Steel maker Evraz PLC said production of crude steel and steel products increased slightly in 2013 after production was flat in the fourth quarter, but it reported sharp falls in prices of steel products. In its latest production company, Evraz said production of crude steel rose 1% in the whole of 2013, and production of steel products was up 2%, after output of both stayed flat in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier. However, it warned that prices for all its steel products fell for the year, even though prices for semi-finished products and railway products rose in the fourth quarter.
----------
The initial public offering of Britain's largest mobile operator, EE, has been delayed by Orange and Deutsche Telekom after the joint owners concluded that they would secure a higher valuation for the business once its 4G telephone service is fully rolled out, the Financial Times reported Friday. The two firms had been working on options for a partial sale of EE for more than a year.
----------
MARKETS
----------
UK stock indices are struggling to hold onto higher ground, in the face a some negative company reports, but the pound has received a big boost from unexpectedly strong UK retail sales.
----------
FTSE 100: up 17.60 at 6,833.02
FTSE 250: up 6.25 at 16,215.90
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 1.71 at 885.82
----------
GBP-USD: up at USD1.6434
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3604

GOLD: up at USD1,242.40 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD106.01 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
----------
ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
----------
UK retail sales increased more than expected in December, the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics showed. Retail sales, including auto fuel, increased 2.6% month-on-month in December, notably faster than the 0.3% growth expected. In November, sales recorded an increase of 0.1%. Sales, including auto fuel, grew 5.3% year-on-year compared with expectations for a 2.5% rise. This followed a 1.8% gain in November. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales rose 2.8% month-on-month in December, exceeding consensus for a 0.3% increase. Year-on-year, sales recorded a 6.1% increase, much faster than the expected 3.2% gain.
----------
UK Chancellor George Osborne has cleared the way for a rise in the minimum wage to GBP7 an hour, The Times and other media reported. In a surprise recommendation, Osborne said a recovering economy means employers can afford to pay the increased minimum, which currently stands at GBP6.31. The Times said the recommendation is intended to "blunt" claims from the Labour Party that millions of the British electorate aren't seeing any benefit from Britain's improving economic environment. The independent Low Pay Commission will make a decision on the final pay rate next month. Osborne did not recommend a specific rate for the minimum wage.
----------
The US Senate voted 72 to 26 late Thursday in favour of a massive government spending bill that avoids another government shutdown until at least October. The USD1.1 trillion bill, which eases tough spending cuts in place since March 2013, overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives earlier and now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. Obama is expected to sign it by Saturday, the Washington Post reported.
----------
Standard & Poor's revised its credit rating outlook on Portugal to 'negative' from 'creditwatch negative'. The rating agency said the latest action reflects the assessment that the risks that could have led it to downgrade Portugal did not materialize in the fourth quarter of 2013. Nonetheless, the 'negative' outlook suggests that there is at least a one-in-three possibility of downgrade this year.
----------
The People's Bank of China will adopt various tools to maintain appropriate liquidity, Zhang Xiaohui, head of the monetary policy department wrote in an article published on China Finance magazine. The bank intends to widen the issuance of interbank certificates of deposit and enhance the role of market forces in determining the exchange rate, Zhang said. The central bank last week said it will continue to keep steady and appropriate credit growth and social financing. It also pledged to increase the use of Chinese yuan in cross-border transaction while preventing risks of capital movements.
----------
The Japanese government upwardly revised its assessment of the economy for the first time in four months as the recovery picked up, reflecting improvement in household income and business investment. "The Japanese economy is recovering at a moderate pace," the Cabinet Office said in its monthly report. This is an upgrade from its view last month that the economy is "in the process of recovery at a moderate pace."
----------
Japan's consumer confidence deteriorated unexpectedly in December, monthly survey data from the Cabinet Office showed. The consumer sentiment index fell to seasonally adjusted 41.3 from 42.5 in November. The score was forecast to rise to 43.
----------
An explosion at an anti-government march in the Thai capital Friday injured at least 31 protesters participating in a Bangkok "shutdown" campaign, hospital sources said. The device was thrown into the midst of a march in central Bangkok, and exploded about 100 metres behind protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, who was not wounded, BlueSky TV reported.
----------
Copyright © 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.