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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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EasyJet has cancelled hundreds of flights as strike action by French air traffic controllers moved into its second day on Thursday, the BBC reports. The budget carrier did not operate 331 flights on Thursday, having cancelled 248 on Wednesday. A spokesman for easyJet told the BBC the "unnecessary" strike has caused "considerable and disproportionate disruption for passengers and airlines across Europe".
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Shire said late Thursday its new drug application for lifitegrast, a treatment for dry eye disease in adults, has been granted a priority review designation by the US Food and Drug Administration. This designation means that the new drug application has a review target of eight months, compared to the standard twelve months. The FDA is expected to provide a decision on October 25, 2015.
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Vedanta Resources said its oil and gas production and its zinc production for the full year were both hit by disruptions, though it said its fourth quarter oil and gas production stabilised and it reported better zinc production in the quarter. Vedanta said its oil and gas production for the full financial year to the end of March was 220,876 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down 3% from the 226,808 barrels produced a year earlier. In the fourth quarter, production fell to 224,294 boepd from 232,884 boepd, though Vedanta said oil and gas production has now stabilised following maintenance work carried out in the second quarter, which dragged on its production.
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Tritax Big Box REIT said it has struck a deal with FTSE 250-listed LondonMetric Property to acquire the Brake Bros Distribution Centre in Harlow in a GBP37.2 million deal. Tritax said the acquisition of the site reflects a net initial yield of 5%. It expects the deal to complete in June 2015.
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Hays said it expects to see strong operating profit growth in its full year, as it saw group net fee growth of 5% in its third quarter to end-March. The recruitment company said it expects its second half operating profit to be slightly ahead of its first half level of GBP81.5 million. At constant currency, and excluding acquisitions, net fees rose 8% in the quarter compared to the previous year, as the depreciation of the euro and Australian dollar against sterling held back performance at actual exchange rates.
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Acacia Mining said it has signed a deal to expand its land holdings in the Houndé belt in Burkina Faso via two earn-in agreements. The FTSE 250-listed miner has signed earn-in deals with Canyon Resources and Thor Explorations Ltd. The deal with Canyon will give Acacia a 75% earn-in interest in the Pinarello and Konkolikan projects, and the Thor deal will give it a 51% interest in the Central Houndé project. Acacia said the deals have cost around USD1 million and are part of its USD20 million exploration budget for 2015.
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Majestic Wine said it will acquire online wine retailer Naked Wines International for up to GBP70 million in cash and shares, with founder and chief executive officer of Naked Wines Rowan Gormley to head up the enlarged group. Majestic will pay GBP50 million in cash, funded by new debt facilities, and up to GBP20 million of contingent consideration in shares. In order to reduce its leverage and ensure it has sufficient working capital resources to invest in the business, Majestic said it has decided to withhold its final dividend for the its current financial year 2015, and its interim dividend for the financial year 2016. It said it expects to progressively re-instate dividends by the financial year 2018.
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MARKETS
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The FTSE 100 trades higher led by Shire, after UK industrial production data rose by less than expected in February while manufacturing production data came in line with economists' expectations.
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FTSE 100: up 0.3% at 7,039.04
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 17,790.27
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 732.93
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The pound fell to USD1.4623 against the dollar for the first time since June 2010, from an early high of USD1.4724, following the release of the disappointing UK industrial production data.
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GBP: down at USD1.4650
EUR: down at USD1.0610

GOLD: up at USD1202.70 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD56.39 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK industrial production expanded for the first time in three months in February, the Office for National Statistics said. Industrial output rose 0.1% on a monthly basis in February, offsetting January's 0.1% fall. But the rate was weaker than a 0.3% rise forecast by economists. At the same time, manufacturing output advanced 0.4% reversing a 0.6% drop a month ago. The monthly increase came in line with expectations.
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Job placements in the UK increased at a stronger pace in March, while salaries rose at the fastest rate in six months, data from a survey by Markit Economics and KPMG revealed. Permanent job placements in March rose at a rate unchanged from the previous month's considerable pace. Meanwhile, temp billings growth was only slightly slower than the five-month high of February. The number of job vacancies climbed to a five-month high in March, underpinned by robust demand for staff.
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The Conservatives pushed into the lead in both the ComRes and YouGov polls but lost ground and the lead to Labour in the latest polls from TNS, Panelbase and Survation, as the Populus Election Outcome Predictor moved slightly in Labour's favour, even as the Scottish National Party extended its lead over Labour north of the border. The Daily Mail/ITV News/ComRes poll saw the Tories retain their lead at 34%, albeit down two percentage points, a fall which allowed Labour to gain ground on the Tories, adding a percentage point to be at 33%. The biggest gain came for the Liberal Democrats, up three percentage points to 12%, drawing level with an unchanged UKIP.
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The Conservatives outlined plans for volunteering leave and rail fare freezes, as businesses started to indicate the impact election uncertainty is having in the UK and doubts were raised about the details of the Scottish National Party's public spending plans. Prime Minister David Cameron said a Conservative government would offer up to 15 million workers in the UK three days' paid leave per year for volunteering. The move has been announced alongside a pledge to extend the freeze on some rail fares to 2020 in real-terms, meaning going up only in line with inflation.
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Chinese inflation remained unchanged in March and producer prices continued to remain in negative territory, giving room for the central bank to adjust its policy to spur economic growth. The consumer price index gained 1.4% in March from last year, the same rate of growth as seen in the prior month, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. Inflation was forecast to ease marginally to 1.3%. In a separate report, the NBS said producer prices declined for the 37th consecutive month in March. The decline largely reflects lower mining and raw material prices. Producer prices slid 4.6% from the prior year, which was slower than a 4.8% fall seen in February. Economists had forecast prices to drop 4.8% again in March.
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Switzerland's jobless rate remained unchanged in March, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs reported. The unemployment rate held steady at a seasonally adjusted 3.2% in March, in line with expectations. On an unadjusted basis, the jobless rate fell to 3.4% from 3.5% in February.
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