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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC confirmed it is working on the potential acquisition of 21st Century Fox's interests in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. The media giant confirmed the acquisition discussions Monday following press speculation. British Sky Broadcasting Group said it has initiated preliminary discussions with 21st Century Fox to evaluate the potential acquisition of its pay-TV assets in Germany and Italy. The company said it "believes at the right value, this combination would have the potential to create a world-class multinational pay TV group." The FTSE 100 firm said discussions have not progressed beyond a preliminary stage, no agreement has been reached on terms, value or transaction structure, and there is no certainty that a deal will occur.
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Pfizer Inc Chief Executive Officer Ian Read said the company's proposed takeover of British drug maker AstraZeneca PLC would be a "win-win" for society and shareholders. In a series of videos posted on Pfizer's website, Ian Read said that the deal would liberate the balance sheet and tax of the combined companies and that will allow them to have great cash flow and together be a stronger company, and together be able to invest in research, and in development, and with the scientific community.
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Meanwhile, AstraZeneca and Amgen Inc said the Phase 3 AMAGINE-1 study evaluating brodalumab in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis met all primary and secondary endpoints for both evaluated doses. Brodalumab is the only investigational treatment in development that binds to the interleukin-17 receptor and inhibits inflammatory signaling by blocking the binding of several IL-17 ligands to the receptor.
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Capita PLC expressed confidence in meeting market expectations for 2014, as it saw a strong start to 2014, with GBP1.1 billion in new sales wins. In a statement ahead of its annual general meeting, the business management and outsourcing company said it remained on track to deliver an annual cash conversion ratio of at or around 100% for 2014, and net capital expenditure at or below 4% of its full-ear revenue. Capita has won GBP1.1 billion in new sales in the year to date, including contracts with Transport for London, The John Lewis Partnership and the UK Ministry of Defence, it said.
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Lonmin PLC said it swung to a significant pretax loss in its first half as the ongoing miners strike in South Africa continued to hit production at the company. However, a leaked memo over the weekend showed that the company is expecting a mass return to work on Wednesday. The platinum mining company said it swung to a pretax loss of USD278 million for the six months ended March 31 from a pretax profit of USD54 million the previous year. The company said its revenues fell as the amount of ore mined at the company dropped 43% to 3.2 million attributable tonnes, with production in its first quarter hit by safety stoppages and production in its second quarter at a virtual standstill due to the ongoing strike action.
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Polymetal International PLC announced the completion of its Reserves and Resources Audit for the Svetloye Gold Deposit, which offers the company additional medium-term low-risk and low-cost production of around 70,000 ounces of gold per year and positive cash flows. The gold, silver and copper-mining exploration and production company, with operations in Russia and Kazakhstan, said Snowden Mining Industry Consultants estimates Total Ore Reserves at 7.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 2.8 grams per tonne of gold, for a total of 700,000 ounces of gold contained. The consultants also found Total Mineral Resources at 1.1 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 2.3 grams per tonne of gold, for a total of 100,000 ounces of gold.
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Faroe Petroleum PLC said drilling has reached its target depth on the 8/10-5S exploration well and 8/10-5A appraisal wells in the Norwegian North Sea but has failed to find hydrocarbons. The oil and gas company, with operations in Norway, the Atlantic margin and the North Sea, said the two linked wells were the first of two back-to-back wells in the PL405 Licence, which is part owned by Centrica PLC and Tullow Oil PLC, following its 2011 Butch Main discovery.
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BP PLC, Niko Resources Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd together announced on Saturday that they issued on Friday a notice of arbitration to the Indian government over gas prices. The firms had won the approval in 2013 to nearly double their prices at the Indian natural gas field KG-D6, which they jointly operate, but the companies continued to see delays by the government in putting the changes in place, after implementation of the approval was deferred by India's election watchdog ahead of the ongoing general elections. The three firms said that, without knowledge of the specific price plan, they are unable to sanction planned investments of up to USD4 billion so far in 2014, and that they hope to work with the government to achieve a swift and efficient resolution to the problem.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has been ordered by a New York district judge to stop using certain software used for processing loans and credit services in relation to its trade-finance business after a six-year dispute, The Financial Times reported Sunday. According to the FT, RBS was ordered to stop using the software for new trade finance transactions within 60 days and to stop using it completely within a year.
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The UK's Serious Fraud Office has stepped up its probe into Barclays PLC's dealings in Qatar, the Financial Times reported Sunday. According to the FT, former chief executives Bob Diamond and John Varley are set to be questioned under caution by the SFO. The FT said the development represents an acceleration of the SFO's probe into alleged corrupt arrangements in Qatar as part of Barclays' emergency capital raising in 2008.
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MARKETS
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The UK's major stock indices are firmer across the board as investors focus more on the possibility of further central bank stimulus, both from China and Europe, than on tensions in Ukraine.
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FTSE 100: up 0.3% at 6832.34
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 15919.32
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 806.71
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The pound is performing well against the dollar, currently trading at a session high.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6897
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3766

GOLD: up at USD1294.17 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD108.34 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The Confederation of British Industry on upgraded UK economic outlook as the recovery continues to take hold. The business lobby forecast 3% economic growth this year, up from the prior estimate of 2.6%. Likewise, growth for 2015 was lifted to 2.7% from 2.5%. "Prospects are bright and we expect the recovery to broaden out this year, with greater support from business investment in particular," John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said.
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Several EU foreign ministers reject the referendum on independence in eastern Ukraine and say they support new sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea. "These votes, these attempts of referendums have zero credibility in the eyes of the world," British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters in Brussels. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt described the poll as "fake", while Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said, "I think we should simply ignore this referendum because it is not a contribution to finding a way out from this chaos in eastern Ukraine."
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Security forces and pro-Russian separatists clashed in eastern Ukraine, after the unauthorized referendum showed overwhelming support for independence from the pro-Western government in Kiev. Separatists in Sloviansk targeted soldiers and the television tower with grenades, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook. No injuries were reported. Sunday's vote in the self-proclaimed "people's republics" of Donetsk and Lugansk was organized by the separatists despite international condemnation and a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin for a postponement. The separatists said voter turnout exceeded 80%, with a "yes" vote of nearly 96% in Lugansk and 90% in Donetsk.
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Ireland's construction activity continued to expand in April and registered its sharpest growth in more than nine years, data from Markit Economics showed. The Ulster Bank Purchasing Managers' Index rose sharply to 63.5 in April from 60.2 in March. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. The construction sector expanded for the past eight months, with the latest expansion the sharpest since December 2004. Both growth of activity and new business reached multi-year highs.
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Japan's economy watchers' assessment of current conditions deteriorated notably in April, while outlook surged from March, survey data showed. The current conditions index plunged to 41.6 in April from 57.9 in the prior month. The score was forecast to fall to 45. Meanwhile, the outlook index climbed more-than-expected to 50.3 from 34.7. The expected reading was 40.
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Thailand's acting prime minister insisted that new elections are the only way to resolve to the protracted political crisis. Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan said the caretaker government was willing to work with all sides to end the impasse, but stressed that it must be done "within the framework of the constitution." "Any attempt by the courts (to launch a judicial coup) is done so at their own risk," he said. "We have legal mandate."  Niwatthamrong will meet with the Election Commission Tuesday to find a possible date for new elections. He said he would not be a candidate.
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Envoys from Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency were set to hold talks on broadening negotiations on Tehran's alleged nuclear weapons programmes, diplomats said. Iran has agreed to clear up the issue of its alleged work with detonators that could be used in nuclear warheads. The talks on this issue have not progressed, and the IAEA has demanded information about other suspect research projects, a Western diplomat said. "There is the aspiration that they will come up with a list of further topics to discuss," he said about the afternoon IAEA-Iran meeting in Vienna.
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French President Francois Hollande plans to host an African summit in Paris next Saturday to address the kidnapping of more than 270 Nigerian school girls, according to a report Sunday in Le Monde. Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin would likely participate, according to officials close to the president cited by Le Monde.
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