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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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Aberdeen Asset Management reported a 2.7% increase in assets under management over July and August, as positive market movements and performance more than offset GBP1.7 billion of net outflows. In the three months to the end of June, Aberdeen recorded GBP8.8 billion of net outflows, prompting the asset manager to say that net outflows have "moderated" in the two months since. Aberdeen said inflows were won into higher margin products, while outflows were more weighted towards lower-margin capabilities.
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Standard Chartered said Sunday it has temporarily suspended banking services at some of its branches in Hong Kong until further notice. The announcement comes amid the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. The Asia-focused lender said that from September 29, Monday, onwards until further notice, it will temporarily suspend banking operations at five of its branches in Hong Kong.
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BP and Royal Dutch Shell are among those in the final running for a fiercely contested deal to operate some of the largest oil fields in the Persian Gulf, the Daily Telegraph reported, citing the United Arab Emirates oil minister.
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The insider who blew the whistle on the accounting problems which arose at Tesco last week attempted to raise the alarm in the past but was ignored, The Sunday Times reported. The whistleblower, an unnamed accountant with the supermarket chain, raised concerns with his superiors but "failed to get traction", according to a senior source at the company cited by the newspaper.
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BAE Systems said it expects a short-term trading disruption in the US, will take a goodwill impairment charge on the sale of a majority stake in its South African business, and will book extra charges related to commercial shipbuilding programmes in the US. BAE said, however, that in spite of the extra charges, it retains its guidance for its 2014 full year earnings. Elsewhere, BAE said its group order intake in the calendar year to August 23 was GBP7.9 billion, with GBP2.6 billion of this from non-UK or US markets.
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Food and support-services company Compass Group said strong growth in its fourth quarter was again driven by North America and its emerging and fast growing markets, but said that while its full-year expectations remains "positive and unchanged", it has suffered a big hit from sterling strength. Compass said that for the full financial year ending September 30, it expects its North America and Fast Growing & Emerging regions to deliver "healthy levels" of organic growth, while it said it also has seen improvements through the year in Europe and Japan.
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SSE said it expects to meet its expectations for the full year as it said its divisions remains profitable, though it said it is still contending with a challenging operating environment. The group said its expects profitable trading for its retail, network and wholesale segments. The networks business has generated an increase in operating profit in the six months to September 30, but it sounded some caution on the retail and wholesale businesses. In retail, though the group said it expects trading to be profitable, its Energy Supply business is expected to incur an operating loss for the period, albeit lower than previous losses.
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AstraZeneca said it has presented new data from its oncology pipeline at the European Society of Medical Oncology congress in Madrid, which it said demonstrates the strength and rapid progression of the pipeline. In its immuno-oncology pipeline the company's biologics research and development arm MedImmune presented eight abstracts to show the activity and tolerability of its MEDI4736 compound on its own and in combination with tremelimumab.
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Balfour Beatty said it expects its Construction Services UK division to take another GBP75 million hit to its profit this year and said it has appointed auditors KPMG LLP to undertake a detailed independent review of the contract portfolio within the business. Balfour said trading across the rest of the company remains in broadly line with expectations. The company said it is now at an advanced stage in the process of appointing a new chief executive. Balfour also said it intends to update on the sale of its Parsons Brinckerhoff business in October and said it anticipates GBP200 million will be returned to shareholders via a share buyback programme following completion of the divestment. Balfour said its final dividend for the year would be assessed in light of the sale of the Parsons Brinckerhoff business.
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AMEC and Balfour Beatty said that the companies have been selected to deliver Sellafield's Box Encapsulation Plant project in West Cumbria in a joint venture with Jacobs Engineering Group. AMEC said the four-year reimbursable framework contract, awarded by Sellafield Limited, has a potential value range of between GBP240 million and GBP336 million. Under the terms of the waste treatment contract, the joint venture partners will share the financial terms equally, said AMEC. The joint venture will deliver the complete life cycle of services to the project, which addresses the cleanup of one of the most hazardous legacy facilities on the Sellafield site.
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Morgan Advanced Materials said Chief Executive Mark Robertson announced his intention to step down from the company to take up the position of CEO of an undisclosed private equity-backed business.
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Workspace Group said it has exchanged contracts on the disposal of a portfolio of non-core industrial estates for gross proceeds of GBP44.3 million. The London real estate investment trust is selling the portfolio to Capital Industrial One BV. The portfolio of 10 industrial sites - which total 281,500 square feet - have been sold at a premium of 35% to the March 2014 valuation, said the FTSE 250-listed company. The disposal reflects a net yield of 5.3%.
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MARKETS
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The main UK indices trade lower, as investor concerns about the pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong weigh on stocks.
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FTSE 100: down 0.3% at 6,631.99
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 15,374.31
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 751.61
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The pound has slipped back against the escalating dollar after data showed British mortgage approvals fell by more than expected in August.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6226
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.2677

GOLD: up at USD1218.94 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD96.64 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK mortgage approvals declined more than expected to a 3-month low in August, figures from the Bank of England showed. Mortgage approvals fell to 64,212 in August from 66,100 in July. Approvals were forecast to decrease to 64,800. Total lending to individuals in August increased GBP3.2 billion versus GBP3.4 billion rise in July. At the same time, lending secured on dwellings grew GBP2.3 billion, the same level of growth as seen in the previous month. Consumer credit rose GBP0.9 billion from last month, in line with forecast, but smaller than last month's GBP1.1 billion growth.
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The Eurozone economic confidence index fell below its long-term average of 100 in September, survey results from the European Commission showed. The economic sentiment index dropped to 99.9, in line with forecast, from 100.6 in August. The indicator last surpassed 100 in December 2013. The indicator mainly reflect more cautious views of consumers and retailers. Consumer confidence booked the fourth month-on-month decline in a row propelled by consumers' increased pessimism about future unemployment, the future general economic situation and the level of future savings. The corresponding index declined to -11.4 from -10 in the prior month.
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Tens of thousands of demonstrators blocked major streets in Hong Kong as protests widened against China's decision to restrict open elections in the territory. Some commuters were unable to get to work when protesters refused to open up passage. More than 200 bus routes were suspended or rerouted, according to the city's Transport Department. Police used tear gas, pepper spray and baton charges overnight, but failed to disperse the protesters.
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Relations between Russia and the US need a new "reset", Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sunday, adding that the tensions over Ukraine and Washington's sanctions will take time to resolve. "It is now necessary for what Americans would probably call a 'reset'," Lavrov told a Russian television interviewer. Perhaps the effort could be described as "reset 2.0," he went on to say.
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The US-led coalition against the Islamic State launched air strikes overnight on Syria's biggest natural gas plant, a monitoring group said. The strikes hit the Coneco plant near Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. According to the Observatory, the Coneco plant fuels the Jandar power plant in Homs province, which generates electricity for several provinces in Syria. The raids hit the gateway of the complex and a nearby prayer room, the group said, causing injuries among the jihadist fighters who maintain a detention centre there.
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The extreme rightwing National Front has been elected for the first to the French Senate on Sunday, as French President Francois Hollande's Socialists and other left-wing parties lost their majority in the country's upper house.
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The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved USD130 million in emergency financial aid to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to fight the Ebola outbreak that has now claimed more than 3,000 lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday that the death toll in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone had risen to 3,083 and that the total number of cases stood at 6,553.
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Europe defeated the US to retain the Ryder Cup after wins in the singles by Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer and rookie Jamie Donaldson at Gleneagles Sunday. After Justin Rose snatched a half point for Europe against Hunter Mahan, victory was sealed when Donaldson beat Keegan Bradley in match 10 of the 12 singles. The American, four shots down, conceded after a superb approach shot on the 15th by Donaldson close to the pin, giving Europe an unassailable 14.5-9.5 lead. The final score was 16.5-11.5.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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