BP Share News (BP.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Standard Life said that David Nish is standing down as chief executive after six years in the role, with Keith Skeoch, the head of its increasingly influential investments arm, to become the leader of the FTSE 100 group. In a statement, the Edinburgh-based investments and savings company said that Nish and the remaining board directors discussed succession planning for months, particularly in the wake of the sale of its Canadian business and the acquisition of Ignis Asset Management. Standard Life said that Nish will stand down as chief executive from August 5, with a seven-week handover to come before he goes on "garden leave" until the end of March 2016.
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London Stock Exchange Group named Donald Brydon, the current chairman of Royal Mail and formerly of the London Metal Exchange, to take on the same role at the bourse. London Stock Exchange Group has been looking for a successor to Chris Gibson-Smith since last July, when he said he would be leaving the group.
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BP and Rosneft offered further details about their strategic relationship at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, signing production, exploration and refining deals. According to a statement, final binding agreements were signed for Rosneft to sell a 20% share of Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha to BP, resulting in the creation of a new joint venture in East Siberia. The statement said the venture will develop the Srednebotuobinskoye oil and gas condensate field in eastern Siberia, which produces about 20,000 barrels per day.
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The independent directors of telecommunications and IT firm Colt Group have said that a 190 pence per share offer from Fidelity for the remaining share in Colt it does not already own "undervalues" the company, and makes no recommendation as to whether or not shareholders should accept the offer. The offer from FMR LLC and FIL Ltd, together known as Fidelity, values the company at around GBP1.72 billion. Fidelity said this offer price will not be increased. FMR already has a 62.43% shareholding in Colt. Fidelity said it has received irrevocable undertakings to accept the offer for 70.15 million shares, or around 7.8% of Colt's issued share capital. The offer price is at a 21% premium to Colt's closing price of 157 pence Thursday. The stock is up 20% at 187.50 at the open Friday.
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N Brown Group reported growth in revenue in the first quarter of its financial year and said its guidance for the full year remains unchanged. The online, catalogue and stores retailer said group revenue was up 2.5% in the 13 weeks to May 29, as like-for-like sales rose 1.5% and product revenue grew 4.3% but financial services revenue fell 1.9%. "We have had an encouraging start to the year, but there remains a lot to do," Chief Executive Angela Spindler said in a statement.
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Petrofac said its Offshore Projects & Operations business unit has secured contract renewals for operations and maintenance work worth around USD400 million on the UK continental shelf. The renewals include a five-year contract for the provision of operations and maintenance teams for CNR International (UK) Ltd, and a two-year contract with Eni SpA in the East Irish Sea.
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Card Factory said some of its directors and members of its senior management team have sold 14.8 million shares in the company at 330 pence each, representing approximately 4.3% of its issued share capital. At that price, the offering is worth GBP48.8 million. The selling shareholders, which include Chief Executive Richard Hayes and Chief Financial Officer Darren Bryant, continue to have an interest in 49.1 million shares between them, representing 14.4% of the issued share capital.
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Auto Trader Group expressed confidence for growth in its current year, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for its recently ended financial year in its maiden results since it listed on the London Stock Exchange in March. The digital automotive seller raised GBP2.35 billion in its initial public offering earlier this year, and is set to join the FTSE 250 this coming Monday. For the year to March 29, the company posted a pretax profit of GBP10.9 million, up from GBP3.7 million a year before, as revenue rose to GBP255.9 million from GBP237.7 million and administrative costs fell. Additionally, the company's margins increased to 61% from 57% in the previous year. The company said its new financial year has started well and in line with its expectations.
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MARKETS
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London share prices are higher mid-morning, forging ahead despite the Greek debt talks at Thursday's Eurogroup meeting finding no agreement, with Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Colt Group leading the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 gainers, respectively.
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FTSE 100: up 0.7% at 6,758.02
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 17,742.07
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 766.57
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The euro weakened against the dollar amid concerns that Greece is edging closer to a debt default and as the German producer price index declined by more than expected in May.
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GBP: down at USD1.5852
EUR: down at USD1.1312

GOLD: flat at USD1200.64 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD63.56 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Eurozone leaders will hold an emergency summit on Monday to discuss the situation in near-bankrupt Greece, after their finance ministers failed to secure a breakthrough in the country's bailout crisis. "It is time to urgently discuss the situation of Greece at the highest political level," EU President Donald Tusk said in a statement issued on Thursday evening. Fears are mounting that cash-strapped Greece will soon go bankrupt. It is seeking to access EUR7.2 billion remaining in its international bailout, but has been struggling for months to agree with its creditors on prerequisite economic reforms.
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Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he has warned his eurozone counterparts that "we are dangerously close to a state of mind that accepts an accident" involving his near-bankrupt country. "I urged my colleagues not to fall prey to this state of mind," he said. "We can forge a good agreement. Our government is standing by with ideas and with a determination to cultivate the two forms of trust necessary to end this Greek drama - the trust of our partners...and the trust of our people." Varoufakis said he presented the eurozone finance ministers' Eurogroup panel with "a comprehensive proposal that can, if accepted, in a short space of time resolve the Greek crisis once and for all." This includes an automatic deficit brake, he said.
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Sentiment among UK households concerning house prices increased for the twenty-seventh consecutive month in June, improving to an eight-month high, as households expects that any uncertainty caused by the general election has passed, a survey from Knight Frank and Markit Economics showed. The house price sentiment index rose to 59.5 in June from 58.0 in the previous month. This marked the twenty-seventh successive month that the index remained above 50, a level separating rise and decline in prices.
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Germany's producer prices declined more than expected in May, data released by Destatis revealed. Producer prices declined 1.3% in May from last year, but slower than the 1.5% drop seen in April and 1.7% fall in March. The annual pace of decline was bigger than a 1.1% fall forecast by economists. Producer prices have been falling since August 2013.
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Denmark voted for a change of government, which put an end to Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt's four years as head of a left-leaning government with a swing to the right. Thorning-Schmidt conceded defeat and announced she would resign as leader of the Social Democrats that she has led since 2005. The result suggested a comeback for Lars Lokke Rasmussen, leader of Venstre, a liberal party, who has been backed by the opposition as premier.
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The US House of Representatives approved a bill granting President Barack Obama wide-ranging authority to negotiate trade deals. The 218-208 vote on so-called fast-track trade authority came as part of an agreement among lawmakers to revive Obama's trade agenda, after part of his trade package failed to pass the lower chamber of Congress last week. Twenty-eight Democrats joined majority Republicans, who are traditionally advocates of free trade, in support of the measure. The vote should clear the way for completion of trade deals under negotiation with Pacific Rim countries and the EU.
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The EU said representatives from the maritime regulatory authorities of the EU, the People's Republic of China and the US met in Brussels to discuss antitrust and regulatory issues in maritime transport. The delegates confirmed their renewed intention to cooperate on these matters.
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Dylann Storm Roof, the suspect in the Charleston, South Carolina, massacre at an historic black church arrived back in the state after being captured earlier in the day in the neighbouring state of North Carolina. Roof, 21, was booked into a detention centre in the southern city on the US East Coast, news reports said. Roof was captured during a traffic stop in Shelby, North Carolina, about 300 kilometres from Charleston. Roof, a white man, is suspected of killing nine people in a shooting spree at a Wednesday night Bible study meeting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the oldest black churches in the US South.
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