Earthport Share News (EPO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened lower Tuesday, amid caution ahead of US Fed meeting minutes later in the week and despite further gains by blue-chip mining stocks.

Rio Tinto is up 5.3% after saying it had rejected a merger approach from Glencore. Anglo American is up 2.2%, Antofagasta up 1.3% and BHP Billiton up 1.1%.

Also in the FTSE 100, Schroders is down 2.9% after being cut to Underperform from Buy by Merrill Lynch.

Shares in healthcare products and services company Ultrasis are trading down 86% after it announced plans to cancel its trading on AIM, on the request of a substantial shareholder with whom it has loan facilities, and the departure of Non-Executive Chairman Gerald Malone.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.4% at 6,535.75
FTSE 250: down 0.5% at 15,196.87
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 740.36
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Hang Seng: up 0.1% at 23,327.18
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.7% at 15,783.83
DJIA: closed down 0.1% at 16,991.91
S&P 500: closed down 0.2% at 1,964.82
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6103
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.2654

GOLD: up at USD1,208.75 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD92.86 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)

09:30 UK BOE Credit Conditions Survey
09:30 UK Industrial Production
13:30 Canada Building Permits
13:55 US Redbook index
15:00 US IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism
15:00 UK NIESR GDP Estimate
17:20 US Fed Minneapolis's Narayana Kocherlakota speech
19:00 US Fed's William Dudley speech
20:00 US Consumer Credit
21:30 US Former Fed's Bernanke speech
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German industrial production declined more than expected in August, a report from Destatis showed. Industrial production fell 4% month-over-month in August following the revised 1.6% rise in July. Economists had expected production to fall 1.5%. Among the goods, production of capital goods declined the most, by 8.8%.
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The Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged at its October meeting as widely expected by economists. The bank maintained its pledge to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY60-70 trillion. The bank repeated that it will purchase Japanese government bonds so that their outstanding amount will rise at an annual pace of about JPY50 trillion and to purchase exchange-traded funds and Japan real estate investment trusts to increase at an annual pace of around JPY1 trillion and JPY30 billion, respectively. The bank said the Japan economy has continued to recover moderately as a trend, although some weakness particularly on the production side has been observed due mainly to the effects of the subsequent decline in demand following sales tax hike.
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The leading index for Japan decreased as expected in August, preliminary figures from Cabinet Office showed. The leading index fell to 104 in August from 105.4 in July. This was in line with the consensus estimate. The latest reading was the lowest since January 2013.
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Kurdish forces were fighting desperate street battles in their holdout of Kobane along the Turkish border Monday after Islamic State jihadists forced their way into the town, a local official told dpa. The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) evacuated the last civilians, including local officials, to the Turkish border, said Mustafa Bali, head of the semi-official local Free Media Union. The YPG was fighting from house to house against the advancing jihadists, who had broken into the east of the town using tanks and car bombs, Bali said, adding that a few civilians had refused to leave.
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Hong Kong police arrested five people suspected of having ties to the computer hacking group Anonymous that declared an online war against authorities in the wake of democracy protests. The alleged cyber pirates, aged between 13 and 39, were held in connection with recent hacking attacks against the website of the semi-autonomous territory's government, police said. Police senior superintendent Hui Chun-tak said the suspects were accused of "accessing a computer with criminal or dishonest intent." The government said its website had suffered from cyber-attacks.
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A Madrid nurse is the first confirmed case of human-to-human transmission of the disease in Europe, Spanish media reported Monday citing health authorities. In Uganda, the government mobilized response teams and issued a public health alert after a man died of the Ebola-like Marburg virus, a senior health official said. In Washington, US President Barack Obama said the US would bolster screening of passengers at airports in Africa and the US to halt Ebola's spread after a traveller from Liberia came down with the haemmorrhagic disease in Texas.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: MERRILL LYNCH ADDS TRAVIS PERKINS TO 'EUROPE 1 LIST' - 'BUY'
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TRADERS: MERRILL LYNCH CUTS SCHRODERS TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('BUY'); CUTS PRICE TARGET TO 2,400 (2,800) PENCE
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TRADERS: NOMURA RAISES ANTOFAGASTA TO 'NEUTRAL' ('REDUCE') - TARGET 700 (720)P
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TRADERS: SOCGEN RAISES ANTOFAGASTA TO 'HOLD' ('SELL')
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TRADERS: SOCGEN RAISES SMITH & NEPHEW TO 'HOLD' ('SELL')
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TRADERS: LIBERUM CUTS HUNTING TO 'SELL' ('HOLD')
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TRADERS: PEEL HUNT CUTS MANAGEMENT CONSULTING TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Mining giant Rio Tinto said it was contacted by Glencore in July regarding a potential merger of the two companies but rejected the proposal, saying it was not in the best interests of Rio Tinto shareholders. Rio Tinto confirmed that no talks are taking place with Glencore at present. "The board's rejection was communicated to Glencore in early August and there has been no further contact between the companies on this matter," Rio Tinto said in a statement.
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Private equity group TPG has emerged among a group of potential suitors considering a bid for the marketing group behind Tesco's Clubcard loyalty scheme, Sky News reported Tuesday. The buyout firm is understood to have made an approach to Tesco PLC over acquiring Dunhumby, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the supermarket group, in a deal that would be worth over GBP2 billion, Sky News said. Tesco is believed to be considering its ownership of Dunhumby amid a wider review of its business being overseen by new Chief Executive Dave Lewis.
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Virgin Atlantic Airways is to stop running its Little Red domestic service in the UK next year, the BBC reported on Monday. Flights operated by Little Red, launched in 2013 in an attempt to challenge British Airways, part of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, between London and Manchester will stop in March, with flights to Edinburgh and Aberdeen to end in September 2015.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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The Berkeley Group Holdings said Richard Stearn has been appointed as its new finance director. The housebuilder said the date on which Stearn's appointment will become effective has not yet been set, but said it would be on or before April 30, 2015. Stearn is currently the finance director at Quintain Estates and Development PLC. He worked for Berkeley prior to his time at Quintain, acting as financial controller of the company between 2002 and 2011. Quintain said it has started the process of identifying a successor to Stearn, who joined the company in January 2012.
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Ferrexpo said it has increased iron pellet production from its two open pit mines and processing facility in the Poltava region of Ukraine as iron ore prices continue to fall. For the nine months ended September 30, Ferrexpo increased pellet production from its own ore by 3.7% to 8.1 million tonnes from 7.8 million tonnes in the same period in 2013. Total pellet production, including ore from third parties, increased 2.6% to 8.3 million tonnes for the nine months ended September 30, compared to 8 million tonnes in the comparable period in 2013.
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Redefine International, the income-focused UK real estate investment trust (REIT), said it has disposed of 10 regional office assets for GBP35.1 million, meaning its non-core portfolio has been reduced to about GBP30.0 million or 3.0% of the group's direct property portfolio. According to the REIT, the sale price represents a 12.4% premium to book value.
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Technical products group Diploma said it has struck a deal to buy 80% of Technopath Distribution for an undisclosed sum. Diploma said the deal also includes put and call options allowing the company to acquire the remaining 20% of the company over the next five years. Diploma said it expects the deal to be immediately earnings accretive.
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Spirent Communications warned that its revenue started to be hit as trading conditions softened in the latter part of the third quarter, and it expects revenue and operating profit in the fourth quarter to be lower than it had hoped. In a trading update, the company warned that demand levels dipped sharply as a result of merger activity and delays in capital expenditure, as future new technology deployments were being assessed in areas in which Spirent has increased its investments. It said the impact was being most felt in its networks and applications businesses.
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Cairn Energy said has been discovered in an exploration well offshore Senegal that it has a 40% working interest in, and it thinks it may have significant potential as a standalone discovery as well as raising the potential of a wider block. In a statement, the oil company said preliminary analysis of results from the FAN-1 exploration well showed 29 metres of net oil bearing reservoir in the Cretaceous sandstones. The drilling made no contact with any water in a gross oil bearing interval of more than 500 metres.
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Carillion said the British government has announced that it will be the first company to benefit from a new facility designed to boost UK exports, and it has secured a GBP75 million deal with the support of the scheme to deliver some of the Dubai World Trade Centre District development.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Shares in Ultrasis are trading down 86% in early trade after it announced plans to cancel its trading on AIM, on the request of a substantial shareholder with whom it has loan facilities, and the departure of non-executive Chairman Gerald Malone.
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Hummingbird Resources said it has raised GBP1.8 million via a private placement, with the funds to be used for general corporate purposes. The gold exploration and development company, which has assets in Mali and Liberia, said it raised GBP1.8 million through the placement of 4.1 million shares at 45 pence per share.
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Cross-border payments company Earthport said it has signed a contract with Standard Chartered, highlighting the importance of the emerging markets focused bank's position in the Asian and African markets. In a short statement, Earthport said the agreement is subject to certain approvals, and that it would give further information in due course.
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Latchways warned its full-year earnings will be materially below last year's levels after the weak trading it had highlighted back in August continued, and it said it has taken steps to limit spending except on sales resources and new product development as a result. However, it said it will maintain its dividend in the expectation that profitable growth will resume in its next financial year.
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Norcros said its performance in the first half is in line with its expectations, with pretax profit expected to be ahead year-on-year despite revenue taking a hit from the weak South African rand. The supplier of branded showers, taps, bathroom accessories, tiles and adhesives said pretax profit for the 26 weeks to September 30 is expected to increase year-on-year to GBP6.7 million, from GBP5.9 million a year earlier.
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MoPowered Group said it has a deal to buy an app-creation software platform from Rounded Labs Ltd for GBP170,000, and it has raised a further GBP157,000 in a new placing to help fund the deal.
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Robert Walters said it expects its full-year 2014 pretax profit to be ahead of expectations, as the recruitment and recruitment process outsourcing consultancy reported a 10% increase in third-quarter net fee income. In a statement, Robert Walters said net fee income increased to GBP56.8 million in the quarter ended September 30, compared with GBP51.7 million in the corresponding quarter last year. The increase was driven by a 30% jump in Robert Walters' other international segment, as well as a 21% rise in the UK, backed up by 5% growth in Europe and 2% in Asia Pacific.
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The Mission Marketing Group said it has agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Singapore-based marketing services agency group Splash Interactive Pte Ltd for SGD600,000, equivalent to GBP300,000, payable in cash from its existing resources. The company also raised GBP2.4 million through a placing of 5.7 million new shares at a price of 42 pence per share, which it will use to fund future acquisitions and for general working capital purposes.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Samsung Electronics expects its third-quarter operating profit to fall nearly 60% year-on-year, reports said. The drop in profitability is driven by weakness in the company's information technology and mobile business "amid intense competition", the company said in a regulatory filing. The company estimates operating profits of KRW4.1 trillion (USD3.8 billion), compared to KRW10.16 trillion a year ago and KRW7.19 trillion in the second quarter of 2014, Yonhap news agency said.
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International Business Machines Corp and Globalfoundries Inc have resumed discussions for IBM to sell its unprofitable chip-making unit, Bloomberg reported, quoting a person familiar with the matter. The two firms were engaged in discussions earlier also, but those talks collapsed in July after IBM offered to pay about USD1 billion to Globalfoundries to take the unit. Now, IBM is said to be willing to pay more than that to get rid of the business.
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New York City's iconic Waldorf-Astoria Hotel will be sold to a Chinese insurance company for USD1.95 billion, the luxury hotel's current owner, Hilton Worldwide, said Monday. The Chinese company, Anbang Insurance Group, will renovate the majestic Art Deco hotel, which opened in 1931 and became an international symbol of elegance, to restore it to its "historic grandeur," according to a press release. Under the agreement, Hilton Worldwide will continue to operate the hotel - which the company's founder Conrad Hilton famously called "the greatest of them all" - for the next 100 years.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Irish Residential Properties REIT
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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