Finsbury Growth Share News (FGT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have opened higher in London Tuesday, with resources shares leading the FTSE 100 after crude oil prices continued to be supported overnight. Investors also are welcoming a potential path of compromise between Greece and its international lenders.

BP leads FTSE 100 gainers, up 4.2%, after reporting earnings above expectation and further cuts to its capital expenditure budget for 2015.

Capita shares lead blue-chip losers, down 3.0%, after unveiling a EUR210 million deal to acquire Swiss customer contact management services company avocis.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.7% at 6,830.94
FTSE 250: up 0.5% at 16,438.86
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 692.30
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Hang Seng: closed up 0.3% at 24,554.78
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.3% at 17,335.85
DJIA: closed up 1.1% at 17,361.04
S&P 500: closed up 1.3% at 2,020.85
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.5016
EUR-USD: down at USD1.1335

GOLD: up at USD1,283.13 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD55.42 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 in GMT)

09:30 UK PMI Construction
10:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
10:00 EU Producer Price Index
13:30 Canada Industrial Product Price and Raw Material Price Index
13:55 US Redbook index
14:45 US ISM New York index
15:00 US Factory Orders
15:00 US IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism
16:45 US Fed Minneapolis's Narayana Kocherlakota speech
n/a US Total Vehicle Sales
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The newly-elected Greek government outlined proposals for ending the confrontation with its creditors by swapping outstanding debt for new growth-linked bonds, running a permanent budget surplus and targeting wealthy tax-evaders, the Financial Times reported. The country's new finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, told the FT the government will no longer call for a headline write-off of Greece's EUR315 billion foreign debt and would instead request a "menu of debt swaps" in order to ease the burden on its finances.
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Australia's first cut in interest rates in some 17 months took the cost of borrowing to a low last seen in the 1990s. The Reserve Bank announced a cut of 25 basis points, which brings the interest rate to 2.25%. Glenn Stevens, head of monetary policy at the central bank, said the cut came in light of the Australian dollar's poor performance against the US dollar.
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The Reserve Bank of India retained its key benchmark rates unchanged as widely expected but lowered its statutory liquidity ratio to create space for banks to expand credit. The central bank retained its key repo rate at 7.75% and its reverse repo rate at 6.75% at its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy review on Tuesday. The RBI lowered its key rate by a quarter basis point in an unscheduled review last month.
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US President Barack Obama confronted the opposition-controlled Congress with a proposal Monday for a USD4 trillion dollar budget. The 10-year measure proposes tax increases on businesses and the highest-earning individuals and boosts spending on infrastructure and social programmes without eliminating the federal budget deficit. The presidential budget proposes higher defence spending but has few other provisions that would garner support from Republican legislators.
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The top leader of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine announced an all-out mobilization, after the latest efforts for peace talks foundered. Alexander Zakharchenko said that the separatists would mobilize "as many people as necessary" to boost their forces to 100,000 in both the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, according to video of his comments released on the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic website. The New York Times reported Monday that the US was now "edging toward" supplying weapons to Kiev, but a White House spokesman denied weapons would be delivered "in the near future."
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN CUTS SHELL TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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TRADERS: PANMURE INITIATES MEGGITT WITH 'BUY'
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TRADERS: NOMURA RAISES HUNTING TO 'NEUTRAL' ('REDUCE')
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BARCLAYS RAISES BRITVIC TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('EW') - TARGET 800 (725) PENCE
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GOLDMAN CUTS NMC HEALTH TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 575 (578) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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BP reported a drop in earnings during the fourth quarter of 2014, and reacted to the recent steep fall in oil prices by announcing further cuts to its capital expenditure budget for 2015 and significant impairment charges. Underlying cost replacement profit for the fourth quarter ended December 31 was USD2.2 billion, significantly lower than the USD2.8 billion reported a year earlier, but higher than analysts' expectations of around USD1.57 billion. Full year underlying replacement cost profit totalled USD12.1 billion, down from the USD13.4 billion reported in 2013. BP has slashed its capital expenditure for 2015 to USD20 billion compared with its previous budget of USD24 billion to USD26 billion. The reduction reflects BP's decision to postpone "marginal projects" in its upstream division and to reduce exploration expenditure.
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BG Group reported significant impairment charges driven by low commodity prices and said it will slash its capital expenditure budget by up to USD7 billion in 2015, as it reported fourth-quarter earnings that outperformed analysts' expectations. The company reported profit excluding impairment charges of USD915 million in the fourth quarter ended December 31, down 19% from the USD1.13 billion reported a year earlier, but higher than analysts' estimations of only USD576 million. The company booked a USD2.33 billion pretax loss for the full year, which includes significant impairment charges, compared to a USD3.88 billion profit in 2013. Revenue for the full-year remained fairly flat at USD19.28 billion.
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Royal Dutch Shell said it will launch a first public consultation regarding plans to decommission the company's Brent oil and gas field in the UK North Sea, which will potentially pave the way for further consultations to decommission the entirety of the field. The first consultation will last for 30 days and will begin on February 16 and will discuss the decommissioning of the Brent Delta platform, which is one of four installations on the Brent oil and gas field and in which Shell holds a 50% stake in alongside Esso Exploration and Production UK, part of the US's ExxonMobil.
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Capita said it has agreed to buy customer contact management services company avocis for EUR210 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis. The FTSE 100-listed outsourcing company said it was buying the company from an unnamed private equity owner and said avocis has a leading position in the customer contact management sectors in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
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Aberdeen Asset Management said assets under management dropped slightly in the first quarter of its financial year as weak investor sentiment hit inflows in December, although it said flows returned to more normal levels in January. The asset manager said assets under management stood at GBP323.3 billion at the end of December, down from GBP324.4 billion at the end of September, after it booked gross inflows if GBP11.3 billion for the fiscal first quarter as a whole but outflows also increased as the emerging market backdrop remained tough.
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Associated British Foods said it will write down its investment in wheat-fed bioethanol joint venture Vivergo Fuels, and will book an exceptional charge of GBP98 million in its first-half results as a result. The joint venture is with BP and DuPont in the UK. It has been hit by the steep fall in crude oil and bioethanol prices, and the further weakening of the euro against sterling.
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ICAP faces an EU fine this week for allegedly facilitating cartels on yen-denominated inter-rate benchmarks, as Brussels tackles the holdouts in rate-rigging probes that have already resulted in about EUR1.7 billion in penalties, the Financial Times reported. The world’s largest interdealer broker has strongly denied wrongdoing, refused to settle, and has informed the European Commission that it will appeal any fine as wrong in fact and law, the FT said, citing people involved in the case.
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Inspection and testing services company Intertek Group said it has acquired Adelaide Inspection Services for AUD12 million in cash. AIS provides non-destructive testing services primarily to the power generation sector, along with support services to construction, oil, gas and mining industries.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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TalkTalk Telecom Group said it expects its full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be at the lower end of market expectations as a result of buying Tesco's loss-making Blinkbox business, and of lower cost savings than planned. The telecommunications firm said its revenue was up 4.2% to GBP449 million in its third quarter to end-December from GBP431 million a year before. TalkTalk said that cost savings in its current year are likely to be GBP10 million to GBP15 million lower than it had previously planned.
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Melrose Industries confirmed it will return GBP200 million, or 18.7 pence a share, to its shareholders, using part of the net proceeds it received when it sold its Bridon business for GBP365 million. The company had already indicated it would return some of the proceeds to its investors, using the rest to pay down borrowings. Its shareholders will get one B share or one C share for every existing share they hold, as well as 13 new shares for every 14 existing shares in an associated share capital consolidation.
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St Modwen Properties reported a surge in pretax profit for its recent financial year, prompting a hike to its dividend as its net asset value and property profits both rose over the period. The FTSE 250-listed property company said its pretax profit for the year to November 30 was GBP138.1 million, up 68% from the GBP82.2 million reported last year. The group hiked its total dividend for the year to 4.6 pence per share, up from 4 pence per share last year.
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Ocado Group said it swung to a pretax profit in its recent financial year, on the back of a jump in revenue over the year, boosted by a rise in total sales and a higher number of customers which offset a fall in the average price of a basket over the period. The FTSE 250-listed online grocery delivery service said its statutory pretax profit for the 52 weeks to November 30 was GBP7.2 million, compared to a GBP12.5 million loss posted a year earlier. The company said its revenue for the year rose 20% to GBP948.9 million from GBP792.1 million in 2013.
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National Express Group said it has been named the preferred bidder for contracts to provide all services on the Nuremberg S-Bahn public transport system in Germany. National Express said it won the two 12-year contracts to run the services following a competitive tender and said the deals are worth a total of EUR1.4 billion over the length of the contract.
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UDG Healthcare said it expects to see its constant currency earnings per share, adjusted for amortisation and exceptional costs, to rise between 5% and 8% in its current year. The healthcare services provider said that if current exchange rates are sustained for the year to end-September, its reported earnings per share will be higher than this range. UDG said its first quarter to end-December 2014 was "well ahead" of the previous year.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Vectura Group said Chief Executive Chris Blackwell has informed the company he intends to step down from his role. He has been with the company for 12 years and will remain in the position until June 2015 to assist the board in identifying his replacement.
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Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings said it has appointed Patricio Lacalle as its chief executive officer. He will join the company on April 1 and moves from his current position as the chief executive of medical technology company Pulsion Medical Systems SE. Upon his appointment, Executive Chairman Burkhard Wittek will revert to his role as non-executive chairman.
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1Spatial said Chairman Steve Berry has stepped down from his position at the company, effective immediately. He will be replaced by Deputy Non-Executive Chairman David Richards on an interim basis. The company said it will appoint a permanent replacement for Berry "in due course".
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Office supplies retailers Staples and Office Depot are in advanced talks to merge, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The value of the proposed deal is not clear yet. Staples has a market value of about USD11 billion, while Office Depot, which acquired OfficeMax in 2013, has a market value of about USD4 billion. The two companies together have about 4,000 stores and annual sales of over USD35 billion.
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Verizon Communications is close to selling a package of assets including cellphone towers and parts of its wireline business, a group of deals whose value could top USD15 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced that Apple will be expanding in Arizona, with a USD2 billion investment in Mesa on a command centre for the company's global networks. The facility is expected to employ 150 full-time Apple employees, with 300-500 construction and trade jobs.
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Media and information services company News Corp revealed in a regulatory filing that the US Department of Justice has declined to prosecute it or Twenty-First Century Fox related to the phone hacking scandal in the UK The DoJ has closed its investigations without filing any charges.
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Spanish lender Banco Santander said fourth-quarter profit attributable to the group climbed to EUR1.455 billion from EUR864 million. Net interest income advanced to EUR7.714 billion from EUR6.930 billion in the previous year. Gross income rose to EUR11.040 billion from EUR10.017 billion.
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Chinese personal computers maker Lenovo Group reported a profit for the third quarter that decreased five percent from last year, hurt by merger and acquisition related accounting charges. Stripping down the charges, profit grew eight percent, reflecting improved gross margins and double-digit revenue growth amid strong growth across all geographic regions and product lines.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Redhall Group
Gulfsands Petroleum
Dewhurst
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust
UDG Healthcare
Aberdeen Asset Management
Numis Corp
Invesco Perpetual Enhanced Income
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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