BP Share News (BP.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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British American Tobacco said revenue in the first nine months of its financial year grew by 2.4% at constant foreign-exchange rates, as it raised its tobacco prices, but said that in sterling terms it's still being hit hard by the strength of the pound. The company, one of the world's second biggest tobacco companies, said revenue grew at constant rates of exchange on the back of a slightly better price mix, but said growth was held back by weaker trading in Western Europe and, to a lesser extent, the Americas. It also cited competitive pricing in markets such as Australia and Malaysia as a drag on pricing. However, at reported currency rates, it said revenue declined by 9.6% for the nine months to September 30.
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Mining giant BHP Billiton on Tuesday reported a 17% year-over-year increase in iron ore production for the first quarter, and a 1% growth from the fourth quarter. Production of metallurgical coal grew 25%. "Robust operating performance across our diversified portfolio in the September 2014 quarter delivered a nine percent increase in production with records achieved for eight operations and four commodities," Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said. Mackenzie said the company remains on track to generate production growth of 16% over the two years to the end of the 2015 financial year.
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BP scored a rare win this week in its legal battle over compensation payments from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 oil company was boosted after the US Supreme Court ruled a group of parishes in Louisiana would not be able to sue the company for damaging wildlife in the area, the paper said.
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Home Retail Group outlined a three-year strategic plan for its Homebase business, which it said will improve, but shrink, its store estate and strengthen its offering both in-store and online to improve profitability. Home Retail said the move to shrink Homebase was partly driven by "the rise of a generation less skilled in DIY projects". It also cited the growth of digital and multi-channel competitors. Home Retail said it will reduce Homebase's store estate by 25% by the end of the 2018 financial year, from 323 at the end of the 2014 financial year, through scheduled lease expirations and a series of property exit transactions. It said it will close 80 Homebase stores in total - 30 by the end of this year, and 50 over the next couple of years.
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International Personal Finance said pretax profit rose 5% in the third quarter, driven by higher customer numbers, although profit was pulled back by currency movements, investments it made in new markets, and weakness in the Czech and Slovak markets. The home credit business, with operations across Eastern Europe, reported pretax profit of GBP34.0 million in the three months to end-September, up from GBP32.5 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP245.5 million, from GBP264.4 million, helped by a 4.8% increase in customer numbers to 2.6 million.
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Fashion retailer SuperGroup said it has appointed Non-Executive Director Euan Sutherland as its new chief executive, with founder Julian Dunkerton moving to the newly created role of founder and product and brand director, a move they said would assist an accelerated expansion overseas. The company said the change will allow Dunkerton, along with designer James Holder, to focus on developing its product ranges and "enhancing and protecting the brand" as it expands round the world. "Really it's about the complexity of the business, where we are moving to, and the growth ambitions of the business," Dunkerton told Alliance News, adding that the new role will leave him focused entirely on driving the business in terms of product, retail and on a creative basis.
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Senior said its adjusted pretax profit in the period since July 1 has been in line with its expectations and said it expects its full-year results to meet forecasts, as it reported solid results from across its business units. The group said its performance in the first nine months of the year and the current level of activity meant it expects adjusted pretax profit to meet expectations. It added it is in a strong position for 2015, though cautioned its results could be impacted by any further currency volatility or any exacerbation of global uncertainty in markets.
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UBM said it is on track to meet its guidance for the full year as it performed in line with expectations in its third quarter to end-September, although it warned that the strength of sterling will continue to hit its reported results. The events marketing and communications services business said its constant currency performance remains on track, with all three of its business segments expected to deliver in line with the guidance it gave at its interim results in August.
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Playtech said revenue rose by more than a quarter in the third quarter of the year, and it's confident of exceeding current market expectations for the full year, as its casino product sales in particular powered ahead. The gaming software developer said revenue was EUR116.5 million in the three months to end-September, up from EUR90.6 million a year earlier, as casino software sales rose by a third to EUR62.4 million.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks are putting in a mixed performance, with company earnings driving the main stock movers. BAT is the worst FTSE 100 performer, down 4.0% after saying that its profitability has been hit by the relative strength of the pound.
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 6360.66
FTSE 250: up 0.5% at 15,100.92
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 707.14
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The pound extended its decline against the greenback after the minutes of the Bank of England's recent monetary policy meeting showed that the policy makers remained split on raising UK interest rates and expressed increasing concern about a slowdown in global growth, particularly in the eurozone.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6044
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2689

GOLD: down at USD1245.85 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD86.87 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Bank of England policymakers decided to maintain its key rate at a record low 0.50% in a split vote for the third straight time at the meeting held early this month. As seen in the previous two meetings, Ian McCafferty and Martin Weale sought a quarter point hike in the bank rate, to 0.75%, while all other seven members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep the rate unchanged at 0.50%. Regarding the stock of purchased assets, the MPC unanimously voted to leave the the programme unchanged at GBP 375 billion.
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Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of JPY958.3 billion in September, the Ministry of Finance said - remaining in the red for the 27th consecutive month. The headline figure missed forecasts for a shortfall of JPY780.0 billion, following the JPY949.7 billion deficit in August. Exports were up 6.9% on year to JPY6.383 trillion , beating estimates for a gain of 6.5% following the 1.3% decline in the previous month.
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A deal between Russia and Ukraine on gas supplies for the upcoming winter should be finalized and signed next week if all sides keep up their "good will," EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger says. The agreement, which would be valid through the end of March, would see Ukraine pay USD385 per 1,000 cubic metres of Russian gas. It would have to pay for gas in advance, Oettinger says. In exchange, Ukraine will start settling its gas debts.
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Iran has assured neighbouring Iraq of help "until the end" in the fight against Islamic State militants, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday in Tehran. "As we supported Iraq from the beginning against those terrorists, we will be there until the very end," Rouhani told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the Iranian presidency said. Al-Abadi is on his first trip to Iran since taking office last month. His office said the visit was aimed at "unifying regional and international efforts" to help Iraq in the fight against Islamic State militants.
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Ebola drug trials and collection of survivors' blood for treating patients are expected to get underway in West Africa within weeks, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said Tuesday in Geneva. The WHO and partner organizations are currently selecting treatment centres in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in order to conduct trials of experimental Ebola drugs, said Marie Paule Kieny, head of health information at WHO. Drug companies have been working to fast-track Ebola drugs and vaccines by testing them directly in West Africa, as advised by the WHO and international experts.
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Hong Kong's government and student leaders met on Tuesday in their first round of talks after three weeks of pro-democracy protests. The activists are calling for open elections for the Chinese territory's next chief executive in 2017, rejecting Beijing's decision to have a closed election committee nominate two to three candidates for the public vote.
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Egypt has invited Israel and the Palestinians to resume indirect negotiations next week on a long-term Gaza truce, Palestinian delegation member Qais Abdul Karim said Tuesday. The indirect negotiations had began on September 23, days before the expiry of a one-month truce that temporarily ended 50 days of fighting between Israel and the Hamas movement that runs Gaza. Israel and Egypt have since eased restrictions on the movement of people and goods through their border crossings with Gaza.
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The Pentagon said it is possible that weapons delivered by the US military and meant for Kurdish fighters in Kobane may have inadvertently fallen into the hands of Islamic State militants. At least one of 28 bundles of weapons did not reach its intended destination, spokesman Admiral John Kirby said, but noted he cannot confirm video that appears to show that Islamic State instead acquired the weapons. "The short answer is ... we don't know," he said.
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British EU lawmaker Nigel Farage has managed to reconstitute his eurosceptic group in the European Parliament after a member's resignation had briefly prompted its collapse. "The new group is up and running," parliament spokesman Jaume Duch confirmed on Tuesday. Having a political group in the parliament gives EU lawmakers more influence, but they require at least 25 parliamentarians from seven EU member states to join forces.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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