BT Share News (BT.A)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Kingfisher reported a drop in sales and profit for its last financial year which it blamed on a slower French market and the strength of sterling, but the DIY retailer said the new CEO plans to organise the company "very differently" to create a unified business that will share IT systems and buying infrastructure. Chief Executive Véronique Laury said her initial plans include shutting about 60 B&Q stores, unprofitable stores elsewhere in the business, rolling out a new IT platform based on SAP software, as well as putting a new management team in place. The DIY retailer reported a pretax profit of GBP644 million for the year to end-January, down 15% from GBP759 million a year earlier, as revenue dropped to GBP10.97 billion from GBP11.13 billion. Its closely-watched adjusted pretax profit dropped to GBP675 million, from GBP730 million.
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Miners Antofagasta and Teck Resources have both said they aren't in talks, following a report from Bloomberg that said they had been in early-stage merger talks.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group said Rory Cullinan is to leave his role as the executive chairman of its Corporate and Institutional Bank on April 30, only a month after he was appointed to the role. Chris Marks, the co-CEO of the Corporate and Institutional Bank, and Mark Bailie, the CEO of Capital Resolution, will be appointed co-CEOs of Corporate & Institutional Banking.
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Lloyds Banking Group said it has won permission from Bank of England regulators to redeem some of the enhanced capital notes issued to provide it with an important source of capital during the financial crisis, but has postponed the action to a later time. About GBP3.3 billion of the notes were left outstanding after GBP5.0 billion of the notes originally issued in 2009 and 2010 were exchanged into additional tier 1 securities and cash in March and April of 2014. The outstanding notes carry coupons ranging from as low as 6.4390% to as high as 16.1250% in an interest rate environment in which central banks have set rates at historic lows or even in negative territory. Some of the outstanding notes are due to mature as late as 2032.
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BT Group and Virgin Media have written a letter to media and communications regulator Ofcom, arguing any attempt to open up high-speed broadband networks to rivals will result in higher prices and lower investment in the UK, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The pair, in a letter seen by the FT and also signed by regional broadband company Kcom Group, warned any regulatory changes to the business broadband market may lead to higher prices and "significant regulatory uncertainty, undermining the return on sunk investments and therefore disincentivising future infrastructure investments".
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3i Infrastructure said its portfolio has performed well in the final quarter of its financial year, meaning it should be able to meet its dividend target. 3i Infrastructure, a constituent of the FTSE 250, targets a total return of 10% a year and an annual distribution yield of 5.5% of opening net asset value by investing in infrastructure mainly in Europe. Ben Loomes and Phil White, the managing partners and co-heads of infrastructure at 3i Group PLC's 3i Investments, the company's investment adviser, said they expect 3i Infrastructure's total return to be "very strong" for the year ending March 31.
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Marston's said it has struck a deal to acquire the beer division of Daniel Thwaites for GBP25.1 million in cash, an acquisition it expects to boost earnings right away. Marston's has been handling the brewing of Thwaites' beers since 2014, including its Wainwright and Lancaster Bomber ales. It estimates the division generated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation of around GBP7 million in the year to the end of December. Marston's expects the deal to earnings-enhancing in the first full year of ownership and expects the division to contribute GBP1.5 million to its pretax profit in the current financial year to October.
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Mitie Group expects its headline operating profit for the year end-March to be slightly below current market expectations, as a result of market pressures in its homecare and social housing businesses caused by local authority spending cuts. The outsourcing company expects its full year revenue to be broadly in line with market expectations, driven by a strong performance from its facilities management business which won a contract extension with Lloyds Banking Group last December, but its homecare and social housing businesses have faced further pricing pressures in the second half of the year.
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Thomas Cook said it is trading in line with management's expectations for its current financial year, having sold almost all the winter season holidays and more than half of the summer season. It said the UK business continues to trade ahead of last year, with "significant" bookings growth driven by robust demand particularly for its Winter Sun holidays, and while trading in Continental and Northern Europe is tough compared with last year's strong performance, it has improved since the first quarter.
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RPC Group expects its revenue and adjusted operating profit to be in line with its expectations and significantly ahead year-on-year despite the impact of the strength of sterling against the euro. It expects revenue to be boosted by organic growth, the conclusion of its short-term strategic programme and the contribution from acquisitions. RPC said the financial year benefited from the time lag in passing on declining polymer prices to its customer base, though this was offset by the strength of sterling against the euro.
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Amec Foster Wheeler has won a nine-year contract worth up to GBP15 million a year to provide project management services to all of EDF Energy's UK nuclear power stations as well as its technical offices in Gloucester and East Kilbride.
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John Wood Group has been awarded a five-year, multi-million dollar deal by Total SA to deliver engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services to four offshore assets and two onshore facilities in the UK continental shelf. The contract, effective immediately, continues Wood Group PSN's 12 year history of providing these services to the Alywn, Dunbar, Elgin and Franklin platforms and the St Fergus Gas Terminal, Wood Group said in a statement. The new contract, which also covers support for the Shetland Gas Plant, the onshore receiving facility for Laggan Tormore that starts production later in 2015, includes the option for two one-year extensions, it added.
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Grainger said Chief Executive Andrew Cunningham will retire at the company's next Annual General Meeting in February 2016 after seven years in the role, and it is starting to search for suitable candidates to replace him. It added that incoming Chairman Ian Coull will also take a leave of absence from its board after taking further medical advice. Senior Independent Director Margaret Ford has been made permanent chairman with immediate effect.
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MARKETS
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London's main stock indices are mixed with the FTSE 100 losing its opening gains amid concerns about the Greek debt talks and a weak set of UK current account deficit data.
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FTSE 100: down 0.6% at 6,853.30
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 17,243.64
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.5% at 716.12
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The pound is down against the dollar despite data showing that UK economy grew more than the prior estimate in the fourth quarter.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.4775
EUR-USD: down at USD1.0726

GOLD: down at USD1180.83 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD54.89 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The UK economy grew more than the prior estimate in the fourth quarter, according to the latest report released. Gross domestic product grew 0.6% sequentially in the fourth quarter, revised up from 0.5% published on February 26, the Office for National Statistics said. The growth was thus unchanged from the 0.6% expansion seen in the third quarter. Similarly, the annual growth for the fourth quarter was revised to 3% from 2.7%. The growth rate accelerated from 2.8% in the prior quarter.
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Consumer confidence in the UK rose to a 12-year high in March, the latest survey from GfK revealed on Tuesday, with an index score of +4. That beat forecasts for +2 and was up from +1 in February. "If people warm to it over the next few weeks then we may well see a further increase in the index next month," said Nick Moon, GfK's managing director of social research.
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Germany's jobless rate fell to a record low in March, the Federal Labor Agency reported. The unemployment rate dropped to a seasonally adjusted 6.4% in March from 6.5% in February. The rate came in line with economists' expectations. The number of people out of work declined by seasonally adjusted 15,000, which was bigger than an expected fall of 12,000.
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Germany's retail sales growth eased at a slower-than-expected pace in February, preliminary figures from Destatis showed. Retail sales grew 3.6% year-over-year in February, slower than January's 5.0% climb, which was revised from a 5.3% increase. Economists had forecast a 3.4% growth for the month. It was the third consecutive monthly rise.
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Japanese housing starts declined at a slower than expected pace in February, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism showed Tuesday. Housing starts dropped 3.1% in February from last year, slower than January's 13% decline and an expected decrease of 7%. It fell for the twelfth consecutive month in February. The number of annualized housing starts increased to 905,000 from 864,000 in January. It was forecast to rise marginally to 876,000.
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Automobile production in Japan declined for the eighth consecutive month in February, figures from the Japan Automobile Manufactures Association showed Tuesday. Production volume of vehicles fell 5.3% year-over-year, or by 46,062 units to 817,390 units in February. Domestic automobile demand decreased 14.7% annually to 482,103 units in February. Automobile exports dropped 0.3% annually in February, after rising in the previous two months.
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China on Monday relaxed rules on downpayment requirements and housing tax for home buyers, as policymakers try to revive momentum in the slowing property market that poses risks to overall economic growth. The People's Bank of China said on its website that the minimum downpayment requirement for buyers of second homes has been lowered to 40% from 60%. Separately, the finance ministry announced that homeowners who have held a property for at least two years will be exempt from paying business taxes. Previously, only those who owned a property for at least five years were exempt from taxes.
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