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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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US pharmaceutical company Allergan is preparing to approach Shire PLC about a potential takeover bid, according to people familiar with the matter, Reuters News reports. Allergan, which is itself facing an unsolicited bid from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, has already been turned away by Shire in recent months, but is currently eyeing another potential takeover, according to Reuters. The news comes amid heightened merger and acquisition activity in the pharmaceutical sector, with fellow US drug maker Pfizer confirming Monday that it is pursuing the UK's AstraZeneca PLC with its own takeover offer.
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St. James's Place PLC reported an increase in funds under management in its first quarter, after taking in GBP1.2 billion in net inflows, a 26% increase on the comparative quarter of 2013. In a statement, the British wealth manager, which earlier this year became a member of the FTSE 100 index, said its funds under management, boosted by the net inflow, grew by GBP1.5 billion to GBP45.8 billion over the quarter ended March 31. St. James's Place said demand for trusted wealth management advice remains as high as ever, which, twinned with good growth in partner numbers in recent years, means the wealth manager is "well placed to maintain momentum" in line with medium-term growth objectives.
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BP PLC announced an increased quarterly dividend despite pretax profit falling significantly in its first quarter, as lower revenues and a fall in other income hit the oil and gas major. BP said pretax profit fell 73% to USD5.27 billion for the three months ended March 31 from USD19.73 billion the previous year. The company also noted that its production fell 8.5% to 2.13 billion barrels of oil equivalent per day in the recent quarter and noted that its reported production, excluding from Russia, is expected to be lower in the second quarter due to planned seasonal turnaround activity. Despite this, the company increased its quarterly dividend by 8.3% to 9.75 cents per share.
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Whitbread PLC reported double-digit growth in both profits and revenue for its recent financial year, driven by a strong performance from both its Premier Inn hotels business and its coffee chain Costa Coffee, as it continued to win market share and expand its businesses. The hotel, restaurant and coffee chain operator delivered another strong financial performance in the financial year ended February 27, and declared a 20% increase in its full year dividend to 68.80 pence per share, while highlighting a confident outlook for its key growth driving businesses. The group continues to invest heavily in all its businesses. For the year ended February 27, the hospitality brand owner reported a pretax profit of GBP347.0 million, compared with a pretax profit of GBP343.2 million the prior year.
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Engineering company Bodycote PLC said revenue rose at constant currency rates in the first quarter of 2014, although the company joined the long list of those reporting a hit when currency fluctuations are taken into account. The company said revenue was GBP153 million for the three months to end-March, a 2.8% increase at constant currencies but down 2.2% at actual exchange rates. It said the figure had met its expectations, and its forecast for "further progress" in 2014 on a constant currency basis remains unchanged.
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Telecity Group PLC reaffirmed its full-year currency neutral revenue growth target of 10% for 2014, after it said it had seen a solid first quarter to end-March. The carrier-neutral data centre company continues to expect revenue of between GBP355 million to GBP362 million for the year. It also maintained its medium-term capital expenditure guidance range of between GBP110 million to GBP130 million. Telecity said that its first quarter currency neutral revenue growth was 9.4% compared to the previous year, accelerated from the levels it had seen at the full year 2013.
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Foxtons PLC said its performance since the beginning of the year has been encouraging, with sales boosted by significant volume growth in new and existing branches and increasing property prices. In an interim management statement for the period January 1 to date, the estate agency said group revenue rose 19% to GBP34.1 million as property sales commissions jumped 41% on 2013 to GBP17.6 million, driven by significant volume growth in new and existing branches and increasing property prices. Mortgage revenue during the quarter rose 54% although from low levels last year, to GBP1.4 million. Lettings revenue for the period was broadly flat at GBP15.0 million, as expected, said Foxtons, as the sharp upturn in the sales market has compressed lettings demand and rents.
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Redrow PLC saw its shares jump after the company said it benefited from a continuing positive sales market, resulting in increased reservations and the delivery of new homes from a higher number of outlets. The housebuilder said that the positive sales market seen in 2013 continued into the new year, with the group operating from an average of 92 outlets in the period, up 12% from 82 last year, in line with the company's focus on increasing delivery on new homes to meet the elevated demand.
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Intertek PLC said Chief Financial Officer Lloyd Pitchford has resigned from the role and will leave the company on September 30. Intertek said Edward Leigh, group financial controller, will replace Pitchford as CFO and join Intertek's Board. Upon his departure in September, Pitchford will join Experian PLC as CFO.
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MARKETS
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The FTSE 100 opened at a seven-week high, led by Shire PLC as merger and acquisition talk in the pharmaceutical sector continues to boost equity sentiment.
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FTSE 100: up 0.6% at 6741.47
FTSE 250: up 0.5% at 15897.1
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 813.6
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The pound has declined against the dollar after UK GDP data came out lower than estimated.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6802
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3859

GOLD: down at USD1290.76 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD108.56 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The UK economy grew at a faster pace in the first quarter, but the rate was slower than expectations, data revealed. Gross domestic product advanced 0.8% from the fourth quarter, when it grew 0.7%, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed. However, the sequential growth was below the 0.9% forecast by economists. GDP was 3.1% higher in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the same quarter a year ago.
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Eurozone economic sentiment weakened unexpectedly in April from a 32-month high, survey results from European Commission revealed. Economic confidence fell to 102 in April from 102.5 in March. Confidence was forecast to rise to 102.9 in April. The slight decrease in sentiment was mainly due to a worsening of confidence in services and construction. Industry confidence fell slightly by -0.3 to -3.6, reflecting a marked decrease of managers' production expectations which was mitigated by a brighter appraisal of the level of overall order books and a broadly stable assessment of stocks of finished products.
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The EU said it had imposed travel bans and asset freezes on nine Russian officials and six leaders of the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. Prominent Russians on the EU list are Dmitry Kozak, a deputy prime minister who is in charge of integrating Ukraine's Crimea region; Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian armed forces General Staff; and Igor Sergun, the head of the secretive military intelligence service. Also on the list are Oleg Belaventsev, President Vladimir Putin's personal envoy to Crimea and Oleg Savelyev, the newly appointed head of the Russian government's Crimea ministry.
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Edinburgh, Birmingham, Brighton, Leeds and Norwich have added jobs in financial and professional services as the UK emerged from recession, but London added the biggest gains, according to new research cited by The Financial Times. According to TheCityUK, the industry's lobby group, 100,000 jobs were created by the sector across the UK in the past two years, the FT reported. The sector could create another 100,000 jobs over the next six years if there is "balanced regulation" and "supportive policy" according to the lobby group, the FT said. But between 2010 and 2012 Bristol, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield saw declines.
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Nick Clegg has launched a GBP500 million scheme to give a boost to the use of electric and hybrid vehicles in the UK, The Independent reported Monday. The newspaper said that the Deputy Prime Minister wants to encourage drivers to make it "cheaper and more convenient" to drive vehicles that run on green alternatives to petrol or diesel.

US President Barack Obama will meet with American and Filipino troops on the second day of his visit to the Philippines. He will also view an electric vehicle whose production is being supported by a technology maker in the US and visit the American Cemetery in Manila before ending his visit. The Philippines is the last leg of Obama's four-nation Asian tour, part of the US president's effort to push America's pivot to the region. On Monday, the Philippines and the US signed a 10-year defence pact to allow greater American military presence amid rising regional tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
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South Korean President Park Geun Hye apologized for the government's handling of the sinking of a ferry that killed nearly 300 people. "I am sorry to the people and heavy hearted that many precious lives were lost," she was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.
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