Crawshaw Group Share News (CRAW)

LONDON (Alliance News) - AstraZeneca has led the FTSE 100 all Monday morning after US drugs giant Pfizer confirmed that it has now twice approached British peer with a takeover proposal.

Pzifer said it is considering its options after being rebuffed for a second time. The US firm contacted AstraZeneca on Saturday in the hope the two sides could come up with a takeover proposal that both companies would put to their shareholders, but AstraZeneca again declined to engage with Pfizer.

The company first approached AstraZeneca with a cash and shares offer that valued the British company's shares at GBP46.61, or USD76.62, each on January 5.

The ongoing merger and acquisition chatter has boosted pharmaceutical and health-care equipment companies, with Shire, Smith & Nephew and GlaxoSmithKline all trading higher.

--------

FTSE 100: up 0.4% at 6,710.07
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 15,880.20
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.4% at 815.90
GBP-USD: up at 1.6841
EUR-USD: up at 1.3868
GOLD: down at USD1,299.93 an ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD109.91 a barrel

--------

Key UK Corporate News

--------

FTSE 100: GlaxoSmithKline said, in conjunction with the Medicines for Malaria Venture, it will be beginning a Phase III programme to evaluate tafenoquine for the treatment and relapse prevention of Plasmodium vivax malaria. BG Group said Chief Executive Chris Finalyson has resigned with immediate effect for personal reasons. Non-Executive Chairman Andrew Gould has appointed as interim executive chairman until a replacement has been found. Merck & Co is in final discussions to sell its consumer healthcare unit for about USD14 billion, and that a deal will be made as soon as next week, according to media reports. UK-based consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser Group and German conglomerate Bayer AG each offered around USD14 billion or over EUR10 billion for the unit and are said to have emerged as frontrunners in the bid.

FTSE 250: Al Noor Hospitals Group has expressed confidence in meeting expectations for the full-year 2014, as it saw revenue rise in the first quarter to end-March. Premier Oil has discovered oil offshore Indonesia and gas onshore Pakistan; the company also rejected Ophir Energy's bid to merge the two businesses together. Financial trading systems company Fidessa Group said it expects to report modest growth in constant currency terms in 2014, as the recovery in its markets is continuing. Balfour Beatty has reached financial close on the GBP196 million BC Children's & BC Women's Redevelopment Project, Phase 2, in British Columbia, Canada. Ultra Electronics Holdings will acquire Canada's Forensic Technology WAI Inc for CAD94 million in cash, with an additional payment of up to CAD6 million depending on earnings growth of the business over the next two years. Candover Investments has sold the Innovia Group to private equity firm Arle Capital at an enterprise value of EUR498.0 million, with Electra Private Equity PLC also investing in the buyout. Motor retailer Inchcape's Singapore subsidiary will sell its 24 Leng Kee Road property to Wealth Assets Pte Ltd for SGD46.2 million, relocating the current body and paint operation at the site to another facility.


AIM All-Share: GW Pharmaceuticals is trading higher after the group said that its compound Sativex had been granted a Fast Track designation by the US Food and Drug Administration, for the treatment of pain in patients with advanced cancer. Shares in TXO are up after the company said it hopes to become cash flow positive in 2014, as it announced that one of its investments had won a significant new contract. SimiGon is trading higher upon reporting strong growth in revenue and profits in 2013, driven by big new contracts and expansion into new geographies, and a maiden dividend. Shares in Tristel have been boosted after the firm said it has seen a strong start to the second half of the year across the business and is now confident that its pretax profit for the year will beat current market expectations. Also trading higher is Australia-focused Bullabulling Gold; the firm has expanded its metallurgical test-work programme to evaluate new opportunities in order to enhance gold recovery and reduce its operating costs at the Bullabulling Gold Project, as further testwork proves positive. Shares in Sound Oil have risen after it signed non-binding heads of terms with Niche Group, whereby Niche will acquire from Sound a 27.5% interest in a gas-prone permit area in Po Valley, northern Italy. Crawshaw Group's shares are up; the meat retailer reported strong growth in profits and revenue in its last financial year, as it previously flagged, and also said its like-for-like sales growth had accelerated in the first 12 weeks of the current year. At the other end of the market sits Sierra Rutile, trading lower after announcing the cessation of discussions with parties potentially interested in making an offer for the company.

--------

Top Economics And General

----------
UK economic growth continued to gather pace in April, alongside predictions of even stronger growth in the next quarter, the growth indicator from the Confederation of British Industry showed. According to the survey conducted among 675 firms, growth strengthened across the retail and service sectors, while manufacturing output growth remained solid. The balance rose to +25% from +19%. Firms are optimistic that growth will pick up again over the next quarter, with growth expectations rising to a record +42%.
----------
Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle will be targeted in the next round of sanctions the US imposes over the Ukraine crisis, a White House security adviser said Sunday. Deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken said in an interview with the NBC television network that he would not rule out that Putin himself might one day become a target while acknowledging that penalizing a country's leader personally is rare. The sanctions could be decided as early as Monday. Among those expected to be on the sanctions list are the head of the state-run oil company Rosneft and the world's largest extractor of natural gas, Gazprom, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed US officials. On Sunday, one of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observers being held captive by the separatists was released.
----------
German import prices fell the most since August 2013 driven by a sharp decline in energy prices, data from Destatis showed. Import prices fell 3.3% year-on-year in March, the sharpest fall in seven months and exceeded the 2.8% decrease forecast by economists. Prices were down 2.7% in February.
----------
Italian consumer confidence strengthened unexpectedly in April, survey data from the statistical office Istat showed. Consumer sentiment rose unexpectedly to 105.4 in April from revised 101.9 in March. The index was forecast to fall to 100.8 from March's original estimate of 101.7
----------
Retail sales in Japan spiked 11.0% on year in March, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Monday, coming in at JPY13.731 trillion. The headline figure was in line with forecasts following the 3.6% gain in February.
----------
The International Monetary Fund said pushing ahead with structural reforms will be critical to reduce vulnerabilities and sustain Asia's growth momentum. In the Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and Pacific, the IMF said the reform agenda varies considerably across economies in the region, but in all cases vigorous implementation will be important.
----------
The air search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been called off because there is no hope of finding wreckage on the ocean surface, officials in Australia said. The hunt for MH370, which vanished March 8 an hour into a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, will move underwater. The underwater search is expected to take more than six months.
----------
An Egyptian court sentenced to death 683 supporters of toppled president Mohammed Morsi, including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie, a lawyer said. They were convicted for storming a police station in al-Idwa city, in southern Minya province, and killing a police officer. Only 70 of the accused are in custody, according to lawyers.
----------
Violent thunderstorms packing tornadoes and hail roared through several states in the US Midwest, killing 12 people, officials said.
----------

Afternoon Watchlist (all times British Summer Time)

15:00 US Pending Home Sales
15:30 US Dallas Fed Manufacturing Business Index

--------

Tuesday's Key UK Corporate Events

AB Dynamics Half Year Results
Petropavlovsk Full Year Results
Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust Interim Management Statement
Lidco Full Year Results
Segro Interim Management Statement
UBM Interim Management Statement
Essentra Interim Management Statement
St James's Place Interim Management Statement
Carphone Warehouse Trading Statement
Ensco Q1 Results
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Interim Management Statement
Telecity Group Interim Management Statement
BP Q1 Results
Utilitywise Full Year Results
Redrow Interim Management Statement
Stagecoach Trading Update
Huntsworth Full Year Results
Lifeline Full Year Results
Walker Greenbank Full Year Results
JQW Full Year Results
Flying Brands Full Year Results
Incadea Full Year Results

-------

Tuesday's Key Economic Events (all times British Summer Time)

All Day Japan Showa Day
07:00 Germany Gfk Consumer Confidence Survey
07:45 France Consumer Confidence
09:00 EU M3 Money Supply
09:00 EU Private loans
09:30 UK Gross Domestic Product
09:30 UK Index of Services
10:00 EU Economic Sentiment Indicator
10:00 EU Business Climate
10:00 EU Consumer Confidence
10:00 EU Industrial Confidence
10:00 EU Services Sentiment
13:00 Germany Consumer Price Index
13:00 Germany Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices
13:55 US Redbook index
14:00 US S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
15:00 US Consumer Confidence

-------

By Alice Attwood; aliceattwood@alliancenews.com; @AliceAtAlliance

Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.