Escher Group Holdings Share News (ESCH)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Fashion retailer boohoo.com Friday said it will raise GBP300 million in its initial public offering and have an initial market capitalisation of GBP560 million when it floats next week.

Dundee-based Alliance Trust has warned that the looming Scottish independence referendum is creating uncertainty for the business and it has begun to take action to reduce it.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: Down 0.2% at 6,776.18
FTSE 250: Down 0.04% at 16,664.91
AIM ALL-SHARE: Up 0.06% at 897.82
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Hang Seng: currently down at 22,690.02
Nikkei 225: closed up at 15,274.07
DJIA: closed up at 16,421.89
S&P 500: closed up at 1,877.03
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GBP-USD: Down at USD1.6733
EUR-USD: Up at USD1.3870

GOLD: Down at USD1,348.45 per ounce
OIL (Brent): Down at USD108.10 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come

09:00 Italy Producer Price Index
09:30 UK Consumer Inflation Expectations
11:00 Germany Industrial Production
13:30 US Nonfarm Payrolls
13:30 US Trade Balance
13:30 US Unemployment Rate
17:00 US Fed's William Dudley speech
20:00 US Consumer Credit Change

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A move by the Crimean authorities to rejoin Russia and go ahead with a referendum on the issue next week was dismissed as illegitimate by the US as the crisis in Ukraine continued. US President Barack Obama said the referendum scheduled for March 16 in Crimea would violate the Ukrainian constitution and international law. Obama later spoke with Putin by telephone for one hour, suggesting direct talks between the governments of Ukraine and Russia as a way to diplomatically resolve the situation, the White House said.
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The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a bill allowing the Obama administration to provide for the costs of loan guarantees for Ukraine. The Senate is preparing its own version of the bill, which if passed, would go to President Barack Obama for his signature. Obama, who has pledged USD1 billion in aid for Ukraine, is expected to sign it.
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Job placements in the UK increased at the fastest pace in nearly four years in February, data from a survey by Markit Economics and KPMG showed. Permanent job placements increased at the strongest pace since March 2010, while demand for temporary employees rose at a weaker pace. Meanwhile, earnings of British employees increased in February at the strongest pace since October 2007.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet said that bitcoin, the world's most well-known form of virtual money, is not a currency, but would be taxable. Tokyo defined bitcoin as a product that is not handled by banks and securities houses. It also added that consumption tax would be levied on purchases of the virtual currency and income tax would be imposed on profits from its sale. The decision came a week after the collapse of the Tokyo-based Mt Gox, one of the largest exchanges for the virtual currency.
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The highest-ranking member of the US military said Thursday that the disclosures made by former National Secrurity Agency contractor Edward Snowden will cost the US military billions of dollars to rectify. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey told a congressional committee that "the vast majority" of the thousands of documents taken by Snowden were not related to domestic surveillance, but were concerned with military operations, capabilities, tactics and procedures.
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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is considering banning YouTube and Facebook after local elections at the end of this month, according to remarks carried by local media. Erdogan made the remarks on a late night television interview programme on Thursday, following the leaking of recordings of his private conversations, apparently through wiretaps.
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Germany's wholesale prices declined at the fastest rate in three months in January, figures from the Federal Statistical Office showed. The wholesale price index dropped 1.7% year-on-year, after a 1.3% fall in December. It was the fastest decline since October's 1.8% decrease. Month-on-month, wholesale prices slid 0.1% in January, reversing a 0.3% gain in the previous month.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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UBS ADDS ADMIRAL GROUP TO 'LEAST PREFERRED LIST' INSURANCE
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TRADERS: NUMIS CUTS SPIRAX-SARCO TO 'HOLD' ('ADD')
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CITIGROUP REMOVES BARCLAYS FROM 'FOCUS LIST EUROPE' - 'BUY'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Dundee-based Alliance Trust has warned that the looming Scottish independence referendum is creating uncertainty for the business and it has begun to take action to reduce it, after its net asset value rose in 2013 and it hiked its dividend following strong returns from its equity portfolio.
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COMPANIES - ALL-SHARE AND AIM
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Brightside Group has extended and expanded its partnership with supermarket Asda for a further three years, providing online car and commercial vehicle insurance. The expansion includes a new direct sales channel through the Asda Money website, expected to generate 400,000 quotes a year.
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AGA Rangemaster says AGA Volumes Increased, Rangemaster Orders Ahead, Fired Earth Building Momentum. Expects Improved Trading Performance In 2014; Order Intake Currently 6% Ahead Of Last Year
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Premier Foods Prices GBP500M Dual Tranche Of Senior Secured Notes. Premier Foods To Issue GBP325M 6.50% Notes Due 2021, GBP175M Due 202 3-Mo Libor + 5%
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Boohoo.com To Raise GBP300M In IPO, Market Cap To be GBP560M
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Headlam FY Revenue GBP603.1M Vs GBP586.0M. Pretax Profit GBP21.1M Vs GBP27.9M. Dividend 15.30p Vs 14.85p.CEO Says Final Months 2013 Momentum Carried Forward Into First Two Months 2014. Indications Of Slight Improvement In Market Conditions In UK, And More Stable Market In Continental Europe. Cautiously Optimistic About Resumption Of Profitable Growth In 2014
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Dods Group says Martin Beck, acting Chief Executive, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer on a permanent basis.
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Broadcast products and services company Mirada has appointed Raúl Labrada Neira as Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect.
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MoPowered has secured contracts with 20 new retailers since the beginning of the year. MoPowered said the new contracts are with a broad range of retailers, and includes a deal with multi-chain books retailer The Works, to strengthen its mobile commerce capabilities. The firm said online fashion pure-play Atterley Road has signed up to MoPowered's software-as-a-service platform, in order to drive its sales through smartphones.
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Oilex Says Drilling Operations At Cambay-77H Horizontal Production Well Has Commenced. Rig Is Currently Drilling At 76 Metres Measured Depth.
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Escher Group Holdings has won a contract with food retail chain Just Falafel to provide a loyalty, coupon and pre-payment service for its retail outlets in the UK. Escher will provide a mobile wallet service for Just Falafel, which will launch this month in its Fulham store and be followed by a rollout in all of the retailer's stores throughout the UK. No financial details were provided.
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Redhall Group intends to raise GBP7.5 million before expenses through a placing of 19.2 million shares at 39 pence each with new and existing institutional investors, money it will use to recapitalise its balance sheet and for general working capital.
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Impellam Group has bought education recruitment business Career Teachers Ltd in a GBP22.3 million deal, a deal it expects to boost earnings immediately. It will be kept as a separate unit alongside its existing Celsian Education business.
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Stratex Says Talks Continue On The Disposal Of Hasançelebi, Karaagac, And Doganbey Projects. CEO says Company Should have A Steady Stream Of Important News Flow Relating To Cash Flow Over Next Few Months.
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Manroy says the deadline for a takeover offer from Herstal SA and Beretta Holding SpA has been extended for a third time. The defence contractor said the deadline has now been extended until March 31.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

No events scheduled

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By Steve McGrath; steve.mcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1

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