LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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UK supermarket chain J Sainsbury has pledged lower prices on its branded products, and said it will now only match its 'brand match' scheme with Asda's prices and not Tesco as well. The move comes ahead of Sainsbury's second quarter trading update next Wednesday, which analysts think will show sales momentum has weakened even further. Sainsbury's, the UK's third-largest supermarket chain by market share, said its brand match coupons will now only compare its prices and deals on brands with Asda, and no longer Tesco. Since launching the brand match scheme three years ago, the grocer had been comparing prices with both Asda and Tesco.
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Lloyds Banking Group raised GBP161 million by selling 57.5 million shares in TSB Banking Group at 280 pence each, a sale that leaves it with about a 50% stake in the business it is spinning out. Lloyds said the latest share sale representing around 11.5% of TSB's issued ordinary share capital. It added that it expects to continue consolidating TSB's financial results in its own accounts.
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London Stock Exchange Group got acceptances for 97.07% of the shares available in its rights issue, and its banker Barclays secured subscribers for the remainder. In a statement, the company said it received valid acceptances for nearly 72.2 million shares in the rights issue, and Barclays then secured subscribers for the remaining 2.2 million shares not validly taken up. Last month, the stock exchange operator announced a GBP938 million, 3 for 11 fully underwritten rights issue to help fund the USD2.70 billion acquisition of Russell Investments, which it had announced in June. It priced the offering at 1,295 pence a share.
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De La Rue has warned that its underlying operating and pretax profit for the current year will be GBP20 million lower than the previous year, and lowered its expectations for next year as a result of deteriorating trading conditions. De La Rue also said that, in light of the difficult trading environment, it intends to "reappraise" the level of its dividend for the full year. It expects to propose an interim dividend of 8.3 pence, down from 14.1 pence a year before.
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Waste management company Shanks Group said it now expects to miss its own full year expectations by about 15%, after trading at its solid waste Benelux business deteriorated even further in the first half of its financial year in the face of stiff competition. "The competitive environment remains intense, with market participants seeking to gain volumes by aggressive pricing in order to offset pressure on gate fees, lower volumes and prices of recyclates. We are broadly maintaining inbound volumes, albeit with an adverse mix," the company said.
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Fyffes and Chiquita Brands International have unanimously approved a revised merger agreement, the latest step in a battle for Chiquita with rival bidders the Cutrale Group and the Safra Group. Under the terms of the new deal, Fyffes shareholders will now get 0.1113 ChiquitaFyffes shares for each Fyffes share they currently hold upon completion of the merger. Chiquita shareholders will receive 1 ChiquitaFyffes share per Chiquita share they hold. Under those terms, Chiquita shareholders are expected to own 59.6% of the combined business, an increase from the 50.7% they would have owned under the terms of the previous agreement. Fyffes shareholders are now expected to own approximately 40.4% of the ChiquitaFyffes business, on a fully diluted basis.
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MARKETS
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UK stock indices are lower amid continued geopolitical fears, US rate rise concerns, and a dearth of fresh market data, and supermarkets are underperforming once again as J Sainsbury made the latest move in a deepening price war in the grocery sector. Investors appear in no mood to add to equity positions ahead of the weekend, with the UK parliament about to sit for a debate over whether to re-join the war in Iraq, and reports emerging that Russia is considering retaliating against western sanctions by allowing the seizure of foreign owned property on its soil.
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FTSE 100: flat at 6,639.21
FTSE 250: down 0.3% at 15,386.60
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.4% at 748.20
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The gold price moved almost USD20 off its lows overnight as the geopolitical concerns led to increased demand for the safe-haven asset. The euro remains near its lowest level for almost two years, while the pound is little moved.
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GBP-USD: flat at USD1.6320
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2745
GOLD: up at USD1,223.15 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD96.85 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The average asking price for a house in the UK was flat on month in September, property tracking website Hometrack said on Friday - snapping a string of 19 straight months of gain. That followed the 0.1% increase in August. Among the individual components of the survey, new buyers with agents, volume of property listings, sales agreed and asking price achieved all moved lower in September. On a yearly basis, prices climbed 5.0%, slowing from the 5.5% increase in the previous month.
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Italy's business confidence declined for the fourth consecutive month to a 13-month low in September, survey data from the statistical office Istat showed Friday. The business confidence index dropped to 95.1 in September from 95.4 a month ago. The score was expected to fall to 95.3.
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Germany's import prices declined at a faster rate in August, though less than the consensus estimate, a report from the statistical office Destatis showed Friday. Import prices dropped 1.9% year-over-year in August following the 1.7% fall in July. Economists had expected import prices to decline 2%.
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Germany's consumer sentiment is set to fall in October, a survey by the market research group GfK, based on responses from 2,000 households, said Friday. The forward-looking consumer confidence index dropped to 8.3 in October from 8.6 in September. It was forecast to drop marginally to 8.5.
This was the second consecutive decline for the indicator, but it continues to be at a good level, the research group said.
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French consumer confidence remained stable as expected in September, survey data from the statistical office Insee showed Friday. The consumer confidence remained at 86 for the third consecutive month in September, in line with the consensus estimate.
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Core consumer prices in Japan gained 3.1% on year in August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That was below forecasts for 3.2% and down from 3.3% in July. Overall inflation was up an annual 3.3% - matching forecasts and slowing from 3.4% in the previous month.
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The US and its Arab allies mounted airstrikes against oil refineries controlled by the Islamic State radical group in eastern Syria for the second straight day, a monitoring group said on Friday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that the overnight strikes into Friday targeted at least two areas housing oil installations in the province of Deir. The targets included the major al-Tanak oilfield on the eastern edge of Deir al-Zour bordering Iraq, according to the Observatory's head, Rami Abdel-Rahman. The Islamic State seized the field along with others in the area in July when the al-Qaeda splinter group established a foothold in eastern Syria. US Central Command has said that hitting the fields successfully choked off a source of revenue, said to generate about 2 million dollars a day.
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday told world leaders at the UN General Assembly that the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group in the Middle East was a "strategic mistake."
Rouhani said his country was prepared to "play our permanent constructive and positive role," in fighting against the terrorism and extremism, but emphasized that Western leadership in the Middle East war was unwelcome. "I believe if countries claiming leadership of the coalition, do so to continue their hegemony in the region, they would make a strategic mistake," Rouhani said.
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Wins and losses were scored Thursday in the battle with Ebola in West Africa, set against the backdrop of world leaders gathering in New York to pledge more than 300 million dollars of additional support. Bright spots came in the form of a World Health Organization (WHO) announcement that infections had stabilized in Guinea, one of the disease's hot spots, as well as the reported recovery of a US doctor. However, a Spaniard airlifted home was reported dead of the disease. Speaking at a UN-organized event, US President Barack Obama said that international cooperation was vital to curbing the disease.
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17 Feb 2017 17:11
