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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK share prices have opened slightly soft Monday, following the FTSE 100's close above 7,000 points on Friday and amid a lack new economic news drivers.
Carnvival leads FTSE 100 losers, down 2.1%. Traders say Deutsche Bank has cut the cruise line operator to Hold from Buy.
In the FTSE 250, Egyptian gold miner Centamin is up 4.3%. It reported a sharp drop in pretax profit for 2014 as the falling gold price offset a rise in production, but still declared a dividend for the year.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 7,007.17
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 17,521.92
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 716.72
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Hang Seng: closed up 0.5% at 24,494.51
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.0% at 19,754.36
DJIA: closed up 0.9% at 18,127.65
S&P 500: closed up 0.9% at 2,108.10
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.4872
EUR-USD: down at USD1.0779
GOLD: up at USD1,182.56 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD54.51 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)
12:30 Canada Consumer Price Index
12:30 Canada Retail Sales
14:20 US Fed's Lockhart speech
15:30 US Fed's Evans Speech
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Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias spoke of a "long-term friendship" as he prepared the groundwork for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' first official visit to Berlin amid tensions between his country and Germany over Athen's bailouts. Kotzias' signals of reconciliation came a day before Tsipras is to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has taken a hard line on reforms in exchange for aid to highly indebted Greece. Those demands for austerity measures prompted Athens to revive its demands for World War II reparations from Germany.
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The conservative party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy was expected to win Sunday's first round of French regional elections, according to the first projections. The Union for a Popular Movement is taking 29 to 32% of the votes, according to the projections by the CSA polling agency. The far-right National Front followed with an expected 25% of the ballots, it said. President Francois Hollande's Socialists could expect a hammering with about 20% support, the institute said.
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Singapore began seven days of national mourning after the death of its first premier and dominant statesman, Lee Kuan Yew. Lee died in hospital early Monday aged 91, the government said. "The prime minister is deeply grieved to announce the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the founding prime minister of Singapore," said a statement from the office of Premier Lee Hsien Loong, Lee's son. Lee was hospitalized in early February with severe pneumonia, and had been on mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit since then.
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Influential US Senator John McCain threatened to block a potential nuclear deal with Iran. "We will do everything in our power to make sure we do play a role," McCain, the chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN. McCain was one of 47 Republican senators who sent a letter to the Iranian leadership saying the Senate must approve any nuclear deal. "We will insist on approval," McCain said. "I don't think that they will reach a deal that we can live with."
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Israeli President Reuven Rivlin criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for having warned on election day that Israel's Arab citizens were being bused "in droves" to polling stations to strengthen Israel's left. Analysts said the statement helped turn out the vote for Netanyahu's nationalist Likud party and played a major role in its victory in Tuesday's parliamentary elections. But Rivlin, who opened consultations with the 10 factions elected to the Knesset, called the statement "hurtful."
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US Senator Ted Cruz will run for president in 2016. "I'm running for President and I hope to earn your support!" the Republican wrote on Twitter. The Texas senator and champion of the Tea Party small government movement became the first major candidate to formally declare a run for the White House. Others Republicans expected to seek the nomination are former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, among others. Hillary Rodham Clinton is widely expected to run for the Democratic Party nomination.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: DEUTSCHE BANK CUTS CARNIVAL CORP TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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TRADERS: BERNSTEIN CUTS MEGGITT TO 'MARKET-PERFORM' ('OUTPERFORM')
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GOLDMAN RAISES SMITH & NEPHEW TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 1300 (1200) PENCE
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TRADERS: INVESTEC CUTS ROTORK TO 'HOLD' ('ADD')
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BERENBERG CUTS SERCO TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - TARGET 130 (155) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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US cable group Liberty Global wants to distribute ITV’s best programmes across Europe, but sees the British broadcaster as too “pricey” to acquire outright, its chief financial officer has suggested in an interview with the Financial Times. “ITV looks awfully pricey,” CFO Charlie Bracken told the newspaper. “We’re not going to invest billions of dollars in content — that’s not our game.” Bracken also told the FT that Sky “is in trouble” over the next five to 10 years due to its reliance on satellite technology.
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CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings has complained to the UK antitrust regulator about the potential impact of BT Group's acquisition of EE, the Financial Times reported. In response to a call for comments on the merger from the Competition and Markets Authority, CityFibre has claimed BT buying EE could be harmful to competition, citing its concerns over the future of its deal to supply fibre connections to EE.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Centamin reported a sharp drop in pretax profit for 2014 as the falling gold price offset a rise in production, but the Egypt-focused miner still declared a dividend for the year. Centamin said its pretax profit for the year was USD81.6 million, less than half the USD184 million it posted a year earlier. Revenue dropped to USD472.6 million from USD503.8 million. The company said its gold production increased in the year to 377,261 ounces, up from 356,943 ounces a year earlier. Its gold production guidance for 2015 is 420,000 ounces. Centamin proposed a final dividend of 1.99 US cents per share, giving it a total payout of 2.86 cents per share for the year. Centamin paid no dividend in 2013.
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FirstGroup said it had retained the First Great Western rail franchise in the UK until at least April 2019, and pledged to add new and updated trains, faster services, more direct trains to Devon and Cornwall and improvements to infrastructure. The transport operator said it will continue the franchise until April 1, 2019, and the deal could be extended for a further year at the UK government's discretion. It has already been running the franchise since 2006.
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Interserve said it and joint venture partner Kajima Corp, a Japanese construction company, have reached financial close on a project to design and build seven secondary schools across Hertfordshire and in Luton and Reading. The scheme, procured under the UK government's Priority Schools Building Programme, has a capital value in excess of GBP135 million, Interserve said.
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Halfords Group said that McDonald's Corp's current head of UK and Northwest European operations, Jill McDonald, will become the car parts and bicycle retailer's chief executive from May 11, after its current CEO previously resigned after being poached by Tesco PLC.
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SVG Capital, the private equity investor, said the economic recovery around the world is uneven and could result in volatility that may prompt investment opportunities. "While this volatility may impact the exit and financing markets, a period of dislocation could translate subsequently into an attractive investment environment," Chairman Andrew Sykes said in a statement. "We expect to make at least one, if not two further fund commitments and to make further co-investments this year." SVG said its net asset value, or book value, rose by 14% to 588 pence per share in the 13 months ended January 31, citing strong investment returns and realisations in its investment portfolio.
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High-performance polymers company Victrex said it has appointed Martin Court as an executive director, effective from April 1. Court joined the company in February 2013 and is the managing director of Invibio, the FTSE 250-listed company's medical division.
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Pennon Group said trading remains in line with expectations for its financial year to the end of March, with its South West Water business performing well and its Viridor waste management division making progress, leading the company to reiterate its dividend growth plans. Pennon said it is well placed to generate increasing operating cashflows over the 2015-2020 regulatory period and, as a result, intends to continue with its current dividend policy of year-on-year growth of 4% above UK retail prices index inflation over that period.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Europa Oil & Gas and Egdon Resources said they have plugged and abandoned the Kiln Lane-1 exploration well in the East Midlands of England and will return the site to farmland after drilling encountered sandstones with too much water. In a statement, Europa, which is the operator of the PEDL 181 license with a 50% working interest, said the drilling had found significant oil and gas shows, but wireline logging and subsequent petrophysical analysis indicated that the sandstones encountered are water wet.
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Engineering services company Costain Group said it has won a contract from the Welsh government to provide design development services for the M4 Corridor around Newport. Costain has won the contract as part of a joint venture with French construction company Vinci Construction Grand Projets and UK construction company and housebuilder Taylor Woodrow. The contract is worth GBP750 million and scheme development work is set to start immediately, Costain said, with construction set to start in spring 2018, dependent on the completion of required processes.
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Optimal Payments said it is to acquire payments company Skrill from private equity company CVC Capital partners and investment manager Investcorp Technology Partners for an enterprise value of EUR1.1 billion, a deal it will fund with cash, new debt facilities and an underwritten rights issue. The move came as Optimal reported a USD59.0 million pretax profit in 2014, up from USD32.7 million in the prior year, bolstered by revenue growth in its NETBANX and NETELLER businesses. The AIM-listed payments company, which also now wants to join the London Stock Exchange's FTSE 250 index, said it will pay EUR720 million in cash and 37.5 million new shares for Skrill, a move that will give Sentinel Group Holdings SA, the company owned by CVC Capital and Investcorp Technology, a stake of about 7.9% in Optimal Payments.
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Telit Communications said 2015 has started positively and in line with its expectations, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for 2014. The communications technology company posted a pretax profit of USD13.9 million, up from USD12.0 million a year before, as a rise in revenue to USD294.0 million from USD243.2 million was partly offset by higher operating costs resulting from acquisitions and investments during the year.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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China National Chemical Corp, or ChemChina, agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli in a deal that values the company at about EUR7.1 billion. The deal is expected to close by September. The deal will help expand Pirelli's presence in China, while providing ChemChina access to Pirelli's technology. The deal will see ChemChina's subsidiary China National Tire & Rubber Co, or CNRC, first buying a 26.19% stake in Pirelli for EUR1.8 billion from a holding company Camfin that is indirectly controlled by Pirelli Chairman and CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera.
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German air carrier Lufthansa on Sunday reported normal operating conditions for the first time after days of labour stoppages in a dispute about retirement ages and pension benefits. The latest round of labour stoppages began as a one-day strike on Wednesday that was then extended three times and ended up lasting through Saturday. Thousands of passengers saw their travel plans disrupted. Lufthansa reported cancelling 74 of 160 planned long-haul flights on Saturday. The threat of further labour stoppages remains.
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs
Blackstar Group
Coalfield Resources
Management Resource Solutions
Mid Wynd International Investment Trust
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite
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