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LONDON (Alliance News) - AstraZeneca shares jumped Thursday after the pharmaceutical giant maintained its full-year guidance for 2014, even as its pretax profit dropped in the first quarter to end-March, hit by write-downs on the sale of its Alderley Park site and its acquisition of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's share of their diabetes alliance.

The company led the FTSE 100 for much of morning trading after it posted a pretax profit of GBP638 million, down from GBP1.30 billion in the previous year, as revenue edged up to GBP6.42 billion from GBP6.39 billion, damped partly by the weakening of the yen against the dollar. Profit was hit by the write down of USD257 million on the sale of its research and development site at Alderley Park site in Cheshire, the company said, and by its acquisition of Bristol-Myers Squibb's share of the US diabetes alliance for USD2.7 billion in February.

AstraZeneca made no mention in its statement on the reported takeover approach by the US's Pfizer Inc, and on a call with journalists Thursday morning Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said that AstraZeneca would not comment on the speculation.

Asked to address fellow FTSE 100 pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline PLC's recent three-part deal with Novartis International AG, Soriot said that AstraZeneca would be "better off focusing on ourselves".

Meanwhile, Unilever shares have slumped after the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods firm reported another drop in revenues in the first quarter, as currency movements and weakness in emerging markets continued to weigh on its performance.

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FTSE 100: up 0.6% at 6,717.30
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 16,055.77
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 827.02
GBP-USD: up at 1.6793
EUR-USD: up at 1.3825
GOLD: down at USD1,271.66 an ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD109.33 a barrel

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Key UK Corporate News

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FTSE 100: Barclays' strategic cost management programme has partially offset challenging first-quarter for the investment bank's fixed income, credit, and commodities business, and is expected to result in only a small reduction in adjusted pretax profit for the group, Chief Executive Antony Jenkins told shareholders at the bank's AGM, while Chairman Sir David Walker told shareholders that the bank has faced increasingly difficult decisions about its remuneration policy and noted extensive concerns from shareholders as well as media attention on the subject, making pay talks this year "among the hardest to take". Anglo American said production has increased across its major operations in its first quarter, with the exception of platinum production, which fell due to strike action in South Africa, leading the company to revise down its 2014 platinum production guidance. Lloyds Banking Group has appointed Nick Prettejohn as the chairman of Scottish Widows Group, meaning Lord Blackwell, who succeeded Win Bischoff as group chairman earlier in April, can concentrate on his new group role. Travis Perkins said that like-for-like sales in the first quarter came in 13% higher as the firm continued to build momentum after weaker trading comparisons in 2013.

FTSE 250: Cobham PLC said trading for the first quarter has been in line with the board's expectations and it continues to plan for organic revenue to decline by low-to-mid single digits during the course of the year. Henderson Group said assets under management increased by GBP4.0 billion to GBP79.2 billion over the course of the first-quarter, driven by GBP2.99 billion in net inflows. African Barrick Gold said its gold production increased in its first quarter, and it has begun a major operation to further increase production, but pretax profits and revenues fell due to the decline in gold prices during the last year. Its majority owner Barrick Gold has reportedly continued to work toward a merger with Newmont Mining. Pace reiterated confidence in its full-year outlook, as despite seeing lower revenue, it improved margins during the year-to-date. Computacenter expressed confidence in meeting its expectations for the full-year, although it cautioned that there its still a "significant amount of work to be done", as it saw revenue up in the first quarter to end-March. Croda International reported a 3.2% decline in revenue for the first quarter as pretax profit took a hit from adverse currency translation. Centamin announced that a new investment law which came into effect in Egypt on Wednesday could help in its ongoing court appeal against claims made against it. High technology components and systems company Senior maintained its pretax profit expectations for 2014 in a statement ahead of its annual general meeting Friday. Textiles business Berendsen said it has made a good start to its new financial year, and trading in the first quarter was in line with management expectations. Building products specialists SIG has sold its home insulation installation and contracting businesses, Miller Pattison Ltd, to boiler and home heating systems specialist Help-Link UK Ltd for a an initial token fee of GBP1.

AIM All-Share: Shares in Bahamas Petroleum Co have gushered in morning trading after the oil and gas exploration company announced changes to its board as developments in oil drilling legislation in the country and increased activity in ongoing farm-out discussions help the company. ServicePower Technologies is up; the firm has entered into a partnership with Bosch Software Innovations Corp to enhance its connected services products with Bosh Software's intellectual property. Shares in Leni Gas & Oil are trading higher after the company said it has decided not to appeal the recent UK court ruling against it in the case it brought against Mediterranean Oil and Gas. GB Group is also up; the identity intelligence company said it has raised GBP11 million in a share placing and has agreed to acquire Australian fraud detection and risk management company DecTech Solutions Pty Ltd for GBP20.5 million. Shares in DDD Group have also risen. The company licensed its Tridef 3D Mobile content technology to Chinese manufacturer Dongguan Longfar Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd for its glasses-free 3D tablets. At the other end of the market sits EU Supply after the firm reported a widened pretax loss after making "significant investment" in its software and operations.
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Top Economics And General

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UK retailers expect sales to expand at a faster pace next month, the latest monthly survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed. According to Distributive Trades survey, retailers report sales growth for the fifth consecutive month in April. A balance of 30% reported higher sales in April, which was a significant improvement from 13% seen in March and above the 17% forecast by economists.
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British car production posted a double-digit growth in March, underpinned by robust demand from Europe, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. Car manufacturing advanced 12% in March from last year to more than 142,000 units. Production for exports climbed by around 10%, the society said.
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Confidence among German firms improved unexpectedly in April, reports said citing Ifo survey. Business confidence rose to 111.2 in April from 110.7 in March, while it was forecast to fall to 110.4. The current conditions index, at the same time, improved less than expected to 115.3 from 115.2 in March. The expected score was 115.6. Expectations among businesses strengthened unexpectedly to 107.3 from 106.4. Economists had forecast the index to fall moderately to 105.8.
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Clashes broke out between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, as Russia called for new talks on solving the crisis. Up to five pro-Russian militants were killed during a raid in the eastern town of Sloviansk, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said Thursday. One government soldier was injured during the operation to disband three checkpoints, the ministry said. Earlier, pro-Russian militia said that at least one man was killed and another severely wounded when gunmen attacked a checkpoint outside the town.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to convene his security cabinet on Thursday to discuss Israel's response to the decision by rival Palestinian movements Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government. Hamas, the radical Islamist group ruling Gaza, does not recognize Israel's right to exist. The unity pact announced Wednesday comes as floundering US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas of the West Bank's Fatah party, are set to expire on April 29.
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Visiting US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were to hold a summit meeting Thursday, when they were expected to discuss regional issues, including North Korea's nuclear threat and China's military buildup. Obama, one of whose strategic initiatives is much-heralded "pivot to Asia," and Abe will reaffirm that the two countries will play a "leading role" in ensuring peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region in a joint statement to be issued after the meeting, Japanese media reported.
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The death toll in the South Korean ferry sinking reached 159 early Thursday, the Yonhap News Agency reported. Another 143 people were still unaccounted for, the report said. One hundred and seventy-four people of the 476 on board when the ferry sank on April 16 survived.
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times British Summer Time)

13:30 US Durable Goods Orders
13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims
13:30 US Continuing Jobless Claims
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage change
16:00 US Kansas Fed manufacturing activity

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Friday's Key UK Corporate Events

William Hill Interim Management Statement
Aon Q1 Results
Colt Interim Management Statement
WPP Trading Statement
Spectris Interim Management Statement
Harvey Nash Full Year Results
Rotork Interim Management Statement
Egdon Half Year Results

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

00:30 Japan National Consumer Price Index
00:30 Japan Tokyo Consumer Price Index
05:30 Japan All Industry Activity Index
09:30 UK BBA Mortgage Approvals
09:30 UK Retail Sales
14:45 US Markit Services PMI Preliminary
14:55 US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index


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

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