BT Share News (BT.A)

LONDON (Alliance News) - J Sainsbury reported another a drop in sales in the fourth quarter of its financial year, despite price reductions that drove volume increases across the business, but the drop wasn't as bad as analysts had feared and compared favourably with rivals.

The UK's third-largest supermarket chain said total retail sales were down 0.3% excluding fuel in the 10 weeks to March 14, and down 2.7% including fuel. Like-for-like sales were down 1.9% excluding fuel, and down 3.9% including fuel for the fourth quarter.

The drop in like-for-like sales excluding fuel wasn't as severe as the 2.3% decline analysts had expected. The figure was also better than that reported by rival Wm Morrison Supermarkets, and in line with latest figures from larger rivals Tesco and Asda.

Sainsbury's sales drop came despite a price reduction in over 1,100 products following a GBP150 million price investment in November, although the supermarket says it has seen volume growth across the food business and an average uplift of over 3% on the price-reduced products.

"We expect the market to remain challenging for the foreseeable future. Food deflation is likely to persist for the rest of this calendar year, and competitive pressures on price will continue," said Chief Executive Mike Coupe. "However, we believe that the great value and quality of our products, combined with a strong focus on developing our multi-channel offer, will enable us to outperform our supermarket peers".

Morrisons had reported a drop in like-for-like sales of 2.6% excluding fuel in the three months to February 1, while Tesco reported a drop in like-for-like sales of 0.3% excluding fuel in the six weeks to January 3, and a 2.9% drop for the 19 week period ended January 3. Asda had reported a 2.6% decline in like-for-like sales in the 12 weeks to January 4, although it wasn't clear if that figure excludes fuel.

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Markets: UK stocks are trading mixed, with the FTSE 100 slightly higher. Oil-related stocks are amongst the best performers in London despite continued pressure on oil prices.

Wall Street is set for a flat to lower start, with stock futures indicating that the DJIA and S&P 500 will open down 0.2% and the Nasdaq 100 will open flat.

FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 6,816.78
FTSE 250: down 0.2% at 17,169.00
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 716.33
GBP-USD: down at 1.4776
EUR-USD: up at 1.0634
GOLD: down at USD1,151.85 an ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD53.10 a barrel
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Other Top Corporate News
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Antofagasta reported lower 2014 earnings, as expected, as revenue was hit by a drop in copper prices and higher cash costs, and it cautioned that copper prices are set to remain volatile this year and it's keeping its dividend policy under review while it tries to resolve issues at the Los Pelambres mine in Chile. The miner reported a pretax profit of USD1.57 billion for 2014, down from USD2.08 billion in 2013, as revenue declined by 11% to USD5.29 billion, from USD5.97 billion, largely on the back of an 8.5% decline in realised copper prices, a 7.1% decline in gold prices, as well as a small decline in sales volumes. Although revenue was in line with analyst expectations, pretax profit was below the analyst consensus of USD1.66 billion, as the company booked a USD88.3 million increase in depreciation at its Centinela and Michilla operations in Chile.
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Royal Dutch Shell said it has struck a deal with Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc to sell its Danish marketing business. Shell said the sale will include its retail, commercial, fleet and fuels, aviation and trading and supply businesses in Denmark. Shell added its upstream business in Denmark will not be impacted by the agreement and said it is seeking a buyer for its Fredericia refinery.
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Media and communications regulator Ofcom has fined BT Group GBP800,000 for its failure to provide an improved text-to-voice service for its customers with hearing or speech impediments between April and September 2014. Ofcom told all UK landline and mobile phone operators to launch the Next Generation Text Service by April 18, 2014, but BT missed the deadline due to technical problems with the sound quality of emergency calls. It eventually launched the service on September 24, 2014. Ofcom said it acknowledged that the emergency calls problem became apparent only late in the process and conceded the level of financial harm to consumers resulting from the delay was limited.
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Sky said it has invested a further USD5 million in start-up internet TV company 1Mainstream, continuing a string of investments the British pay-TV operator has been making in companies it hopes are developing the technologies of the future. Sky had already invested USD2 million in 1Mainstream, and its USD5 million top-up is in the form of convertible debt security. 1Mainstream plans to create a new subsidiary in which Sky will be a shareholder to focus on new product concepts.
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Severn Trent said it has already locked-in GBP200 million of the savings it has to make over the next five years, and has also made a GBP190 million investment in renewable energy to help power its operations. The company recently agreed with the UK water regulator Ofwat that it will make GBP372 million of efficiency savings between 2015 and 2020, and said Tuesday that it has already locked-in GBP100 million of savings by renegotiating supplier contracts, and GBP100 million from the structural organisation it announced last month.
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RSA Insurance Group is considering offloading its business in Latin America in what would mark the biggest asset disposal yet under Chief Executive Stephen Hester as he pushes on with a wide-ranging restructuring of the company, the Financial Times reported. The FTSE 100-listed insurer has hired Goldman Sachs to handle a proposed sale of the business, which accounted for around a tenth of its total premium income in 2014, the FT said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
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BHP Billiton recommended shareholders approve the proposed demerger of South32 to allow the group to streamline its activities and make cost reductions, and said both companies remain committed to its dividend policies. "The demerger will simplify BHP Billiton and has the potential to unlock shareholder value, while creating a new global diversified metals and mining company with a significant industry presence in each of its major commodities," said Chairman Jac Nasser. BHP is retaining its core portfolio of 19 assets based in eight countries over three continents, which generated 96% of the company's underlying earnings before interest and tax in 2014, and separating its less profitable assets, mostly in the southern hemisphere, to South32.
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Kier Group said it has been named on all three lots under the Southern Construction Framework and said it has won two contracts worth GBP130 million at the King's Cross development in north London. The construction and property group said it has been selected for all three lots on the Southern Construction Framework, a four-year framework with an expected value of more than GBP2 billion. In addition, Kier has expanded its work pipeline for the Argent development at King's Cross after being appointed preferred bidder on two contracts worth a total of GBP130 million.
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Online takeaway platform Just Eat reported strong growth in profit and revenue in 2014, as order volumes grew by half on the back of increased numbers of active users, particularly those using mobile devices to do their ordering, and it said the strong trading momentum has continued into 2015. The company, which listed last April, reported a pretax profit of GBP57.4 million in 2014, up from GBP10.2 million in 2013, as it booked GBP37.8 million in gains for changes in control at its French and Brazilian operations.
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Trinity Mirror confirmed that it's at an early stage of evaluating "certain" assets of rival newspaper group Northern & Shell, after The Times earlier reported that the owner of The Mirror was weighing up a bid for rival The Express. Trinity Mirror said there's no certainty an agreement will be reached on the "range of outcomes currently under discussion". The Times had quoted one person with knowledge of the situation as saying talks were at an early, information-sharing stage, but also quoted another person saying that negotiations are advanced and Daily Express owner Richard Desmond could bank as much as GBP100 million if the sale goes ahead.
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AIM Movers
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Kimberly Enterprises shares are up strongly after it finalised the delayed sale of the Troja Project in the Czech Republic, a deal that's expected to generate it EUR3 million in net proceeds. Diamondcorp is up after its Lace Diamond Mines subsidiary signed a royalty financing agreement with Acrux Resources that will see Acrux advance USD7 million to Lace Diamond Mines, in which DiamondCorp owns a 74% stake, in exchange for a 3% net revenue royalty on the Lace mine. Bowleven is another gainer after it finalised the farm-out of the Etinde permit in Cameroon and received USD165 million in cash from the deal. Scotgold Resources is down after its pretax loss widened in the first half of its financial year on the back of exploration costs at the Grampian gold project and further costs involved in advancing the Cononish project to production. WANdisco is another faller after its pretax loss for 2044 doubled on the back of a big rise in operating costs, even as revenue increased.
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Top Economics And General
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The British government announced the biggest increase in the national minimum wage since 2008, benefiting over 1.4 million of the lowest-paid workers, ahead of the general election in May. Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in a joint statement said the minimum wage will rise by 3% to GBP6.70 per hour with effect from October 2015. This was the biggest real-term rise since 2008. The minimum wage for apprentices will increase by 57p an hour to GBP3.30. This was the largest ever increase in wages for apprentices. The minimum wage for 16-17 year olds was lifted to GBP3.87 an hour from October.
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Eurozone consumer prices remained negative for the third month in February as initially estimated, final report from Eurostat showed. The harmonized index of consumer prices fell 0.3% in February from last year, slower than January's 0.6% decline. The annual decrease came in line with the flash estimate published on March 2. The decline in December consumer prices was the first fall since October 2009 and the 0.6% decrease seen in January was the biggest decline since July 2009.
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The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain stressed their determination to work for a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme, following talks in Brussels with their Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. Negotiations to curb Tehran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon have entered a crucial phase, with Iran and six world powers stepping up the diplomatic pace this week to reach a framework deal by the end of March. The agreement foresees allowing Iran to enrich uranium as reactor fuel only under tight international controls. In return, economically stifling sanctions on Tehran will be lifted.
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The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, welcomed the participation of EU countries in a new China-based development bank for Asia. "I think participation is good. The more countries take part, the better," the German politician told reporters during a visit to Beijing. Last week, Britain said it would seek to be a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, designed to fund projects such as new roads and telecommunications networks in the region. France, Germany and Italy have also agreed to join the bank, according to European officials quoted by the Financial Times. The US has expressed concern over the transparency of the China-led AIIB, which is seen as a rival to the US-based World Bank or the Asian Development Bank, which is dominated by Japan.
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Israelis went to the polls to elect a new parliament, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed no Palestinian state would be established if he was re-elected. Voting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said that despite the close race between his nationalist Likud party and the dovish Labour party, he would not accept a government of national unity that would include both. "There will be no unity government with Labour. I will form a nationalist government," he told reporters. His first coalition partner would be the pro-settler Jewish Home party of Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, he said.
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Brazil President Dilma Rousseff signalled her readiness for dialogue and said she would release an anti-corruption plan in the coming days. Revelations about growing corruption, added to growing economic problems, sent 1.7 million protesting Brazilians into the streets over the weekend, many calling for her to step down. "The government hears the protests in the streets and will continue to do so. I am open for dialogue," the left-wing politician said in an address in Brasilia broadcast on television.
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times in GMT)

12:30 US Housing Starts
12:55 US Redbook index
23:50 Japan Merchandise Trade Balance Total
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Wednesday's Key UK Corporate Events

Imagination Technologies - Trading Statement
Hochschild Mining - Full Year Results
Bioquell - Full Year Results
UTV Media - Full Year Results
Cape - Full Year Results
Smiths Group - Half Year Results
Phoenix Group - Full Year Results
Burford Capital - Full Year Results
Earthport - Half Year Results
Stilo International - Full Year Results
Accesso Technology - Full Year Results
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events (all times in GMT)

01:30 China House Price Index
05:00 Japan BoJ Monthly Economic Survey
08:00 EU Non-monetary policy's ECB meeting
09:00 Italy Global Trade Balance
09:30 UK Bank of England Minutes
09:30 UK ILO Unemployment Rate
10:00 EU Construction Output
10:00 EU Trade Balance
11:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
12:30 UK Annual Budget
14:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks change
18:00 US Fed Interest Rate Decision
18:00 US Fed's Monetary Policy Statement
18:00 US FOMC Economic Projections
23:50 Japan Foreign bond/stock investment
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