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LONDON (Alliance News) - With the US Federal Reserve policy meeting getting underway Tuesday, UK company news was providing the main early focus for London.

In the FTSE 100, Sainsbury's shares were 3.3% after the supermarket did well in the latest Kantar Worldpanel UK grocery market survey.

Among mid-caps, Tullow Oil and UBM were top gainers and AVEVA Group easily the biggest loser.

Tullow Oil, up 4.9%, said it has encountered a net oil pay at the Etom-2 well in northern Kenya. UBM, up 3.6%, agreed to sell its PR Newswire business to private equity-owned PR software company Cision and will pay a special dividend with some of the cash.

AVEVA, down 35%, said its proposed acquisition of industrial software assets from France's Schneider Electric has been terminated, as the pair couldn't reach agreement.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.9% at 5,929.07
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 16,846.90
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 717.41
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.2% at 21,274.37
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.7% at 18,565.90
DJIA: closed up 0.6% at 17,368.50
S&P 500: closed up 0.5% at 2,021.94
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GBP: firm at USD1.5144 (USD1.5136)
EUR: firm at USD1.1049 (USD1.1040)

GOLD: down at USD1,063.01 per ounce (USD1,069.19)
OIL (Brent): firm at USD37.65 a barrel (USD37.37)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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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 Consumer, Retail and Producer Price indices
09:30 UK DCLG House Price Index
10:00 Germany ZEW Survey
10:00 EU ZEW Survey - Economic Sentiment
10:00 EU Employment Change
12:00 UK BoE Quarterly Bulletin
13:30 US NY Empire State Manufacturing Index
13:30 US Consumer Price Index
13:30 Canada Manufacturing Shipments (MoM)
13:55 US Redbook index
14:30 UK CB Leading Economic Index
15:00 US NAHB Housing Market Index
16:45 Canada BoC Governor Poloz Speech
21:00 US Net TIC Flows
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EU leaders will have their unity tested this week at a summit replete with political minefields, ending 2016 in much the same way as they started it. A highly controversial bid by Britain to restrict the access of EU citizens to welfare benefits will be discussed, while the always thorny issue of sanctions against Russia is expected to elbow its way in. Migration, terrorism and the economy will round out the agenda. "In times when geopolitics is back in Europe, we need to be united and strong," EU President Donald Tusk wrote in a letter to the 28 national leaders last week. "This is in our common interest and in the interest of each and every EU member state."
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The stepped up US air war and increasing special forces activity against Islamic State targets has Islamic State leaders in the cross hairs, President Barack Obama said. In an appearance at the Pentagon, the US defence headquarters outside Washington, he named eight prominent Islamic State members killed this year in a campaign against the organization's leadership.
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EU lawmakers rejected plans to introduce road tests from 2017 to help evaluate diesel car emissions, arguing that the proposed measures are too weak and would undermine existing EU standards. EU member states want to introduce road testing in addition to the existing laboratory tests, as these often do not accurately reproduce actual vehicle emissions and can be manipulated.
German carmaker Volkswagen has been engulfed in a scandal after admitting that it had installed software in its diesel-powered vehicles to evade emissions tests.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERENBERG RAISES MEGGITT TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 445 (536) PENCE
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GOLDMAN CUTS WOLSELEY TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 4459 (4860) PENCE
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GOLDMAN CUTS TRAVIS PERKINS TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 2307 (2650) PENCE
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GOLDMAN RAISES REDROW TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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HSBC RAISES GREENE KING TO 'HOLD' ('REDUCE') - TARGET 870 (780) PENCE
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GOLDMAN CUTS HOWDEN JOINERY TO 'SELL' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 565 (568) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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J Sainsbury once more emerged the star performer among the big-four UK supermarkets in the latest Kantar Worldpanel figures, with the group achieving a rise in sales and growing its market share as its listed rivals continued to struggle. Sainsbury's sales for the 12 weeks to December 6 rose 1.2% to GBP4.35 billion from GBP4.30 billion a year earlier, helping its market share rise to 16.7% from 16.5%, according to Kantar.
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Rio Tinto said it has secured a USD4.40 billion project financing agreement to back the Oyu Tolgoi underground copper mine in Mongolia. Funding for the project has been provided by a number of international financial institutions and by export credit agencies representing the US, Canada and Australia, along with fifteen commercial banks. Rio Tinto and the other shareholders in the mine will now continue working towards updating the feasibility study for the mine and securing all necessary permits to start work. The mine, located in the South Gobi region of the country, is one of the largest undeveloped high-grade copper deposits in the world.
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The former chief executive of drinks giant Diageo may be set for a return to the beverage industry amid reports he will team with private equity house TPG Capital to consider a GBP2.0 billion bid to acquire the Grolsh and Peroni beer brands set to be sold as part of the merger of Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, The Times reported. Paul Walsh is likely to become chairman of the business should a bid for the assets emerge, adding to his existing role as chairman of catering and outsourcing giant Compass Group.
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Education publishing company Pearson has been forced to backtrack on plans to raise the price of e-books it sells to academic libraries following a revolt by university groups, The Times reported. The company has entered into talks with Jisc, a not-for-profit agency which represents the Society of College and University Libraries and Research Libraries UK, over the plans it had tabled to increase the price of downloading e-books for students to share. The libraries said Pearson had been planning to raise the price of the downloads by more than 100-times over.
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Sports Direct International faced further criticism, according to The Guardian, as both MPs and investors turned on the company following the newspaper's report last week which accused the company of effectively paying its temporary warehouse workers less than the UK minimum wage.
The newspaper said HM Revenue & Customs, the UK's tax authority, is now facing increasing pressure to launch an inquiry into the allegations, made in a Guardian report last week.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group has received interest from bidders for its Williams & Glyn UK retail bank and is considering an outright sale in place of a stock market flotation, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing two people with knowledge of the plans. RBS has been working towards separating Williams & Glyn from the rest of the group in the summer of 2016, with an initial public offering targeted by the end of 2016.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Engineering software and IT systems provider AVEVA Group said its proposed acquisition of industrial software assets from France's Schneider Electric has been terminated. AVEVA and Schneider reached a non-binding agreement in July, under which AVEVA would acquire industrial software assets from Schneider in cash and shares, giving Schneider a 53.5% stake in the company. The deal had been valued at around GBP1.3 billion. But on Tuesday, AVEVA said the pair had been unable to reach a definitive agreement and said the talks had been terminated. The non-binding nature of the agreement means no break-fees will be paid by either side. AVEVA said trading remains in line with its expectations for the full year to the end of March 2016.
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Events and media company UBM said it has struck a deal to sell its PR Newswire business to private equity-owned PR software company Cision for USD810.0 million in cash and USD31.0 million in preferred equity. Following completion of the deal, which is in line with UBM's decision to focus on its events business, the FTSE 250 company intends to return GBP245.0 million to investors through a special dividend, with the remainder to be held to provide financial firepower for bolt-on acquisitions.
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Petrofac said its engineering, construction, operations and maintenance division will deliver results for 2015 in line with expectations, but warned its integrated energy services division will book a "modest" loss. The company said its order intake from the construction, operations and maintenance division since the start of 2015 has totalled USD8.80 billion, with a backlog of USD18.50 billion at the end of November. At the end of 2014, Petrofac had a backlog of only USD15.60 billion, giving it better revenue visibility going forward. Petrofac said the engineering, construction, operations and maintenance division will deliver a net profit in line with expectations for the full financial year, but warned its integrated energy services division will deliver a "modest trading loss" for the full year.
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The UK Department of Transport said eleven companies have become the first to be awarded new Pre-Qualification Questionnaire Passports designed to simplify the rail franchise bidding process. The PQQ Passports remove the need for companies to complete the resource-intensive sections of the PQQ each time a bidder expresses an interest in taking part in a franchise competition, the department said. All four of London's listed transport companies have been awarded the new passports, the department said, including FirstGroup, Go-Ahead Group, Stagecoach Group and National Express Group.
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Tullow Oil said it has encountered a net oil pay at the Etom-2 well in northern Kenya and said its Ngamia well in the country has produced thousands of barrels of oil per day under test conditions.
The oil producer said the Etom-2 well on Block 13T encountered 102 metres of net oil pay in two columns after being drilled to a total depth of 1,655 metres.
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Defence and aerospace company Cobham said it has sold its Metelics unit to M/A-COM Technology Solutions Inc in a USD38.0 million cash deal. Cobham acquired Metelics as part of its USD869.0 million acquisition of Aeroflex, the US-based test systems and wireless communications business, in September 2014.
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Industrial property investor SEGRO said it has completed an asset swap deal with Hermes Property Unit Trust. Under the agreement, SEGRO has acquired a 9,800 square metre, single-let, modern distribution warehouse in Hayes in west London for GBP21.9 million. Meanwhile, Hermes has acquired two multi-let industrial estates from SEGRO totalling 29,300 square metres for GBP47.0 million. Both are located close to Heathrow Airport. The balance of GBP25.1 million has been paid to SEGRO by Hermes.
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Construction and housebuilding group Galliford Try said it has won places on two new education sector construction projects worth a total of GBP85.0 million. Galliford said its Morrison Construction arm has been appointed preferred contractor for the new Largs education campus in Ayrshire in Scotland. On the other deal, Galliford's Building division has reached financial close with the Education Funding Agency on the GBP41.9 million Greenwich, Lewisham and Croydon batch of schools under the Priority School Building programme.
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Property developer Great Portland Estates said it has arranged a new GBP90.0 million refinancing agreement for its Great Ropemaker Partnership, its joint venture with BP Pension Fund. The FTSE 250-listed company said it has secured the loan from Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit Agricole for the 50:50 joint venture. The loan is secured against the company's leasehold interests at 200 and 214 Gray's Inn Road in central London.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Carpetright said it remains on track to meet its expectations for the full year after its pretax profit and revenue both edged higher in the first half. The carpets retailer said its pretax profit for the half to the end of October was GBP7.1 million, up from GBP6.7 million a year before, despite including a GBP1.9 million exceptional charge taken on the disposal of property assets. Underlying pretax profit for the group, which strips out exceptional items, rose to GBP9.0 million from GBP6.7 million a year earlier. Revenue increased to GBP231.2 million from GBP227.9 million, with 2.6% growth in the UK offsetting a 5.7% decline in revenue in the rest of Europe, resulting from the weak euro.
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Imagination Technologies said its operating profit before items for the full year will be lower than its previous expectations after reporting a wider pretax loss and a fall in revenue during the first half. The software and intellectual property licensing company said its pretax loss widened in the first half ended October 31 to GBP22.7 million from only a GBP10.7 million loss a year earlier as revenue declined to GBP71.1 million from GBP82.2 million.
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Watchstone Group, formerly Quindell, late Monday said it has received a letter from an unnamed law firm representing hundreds of claimants stating it plans to commence action against the company under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Watchstone said it will "vigorously defend all claims" made against the company, but said the potential claims could amount up to GBP9.4 million. The law firm which has sent the letter is representing a total of 342 claimants, it said.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Boeing announced an agreement with China Postal Airlines for 10 Next-Generation 737 Boeing Converted Freighters or BCFs, pending a program launch. Through its converted freighter programs, Boeing extends the service life of a passenger airplane by modifying it to function as a freighter.
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The US and allied military forces will upgrade their missile defense capabilities under a new USD1.1 billion contract for production and delivery of Lockheed Martin (LMT)-built Patriot Advanced Capability-3 or PAC-3 missiles and PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) missiles. The contract includes PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE interceptor deliveries for the US Army, and Foreign Military Sales of PAC-3 interceptors, Launcher Modification Kits, associated equipment and spares for Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Qatar.
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Samsung Electronics asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a USD399 million patent award it was ordered to pay Apple for copied iPhone designs, according to reports. In a petition filed Monday, Samsung asked the court to consider the scope of design patents and how damages are calculated in such cases. It is challenging an appeals court ruling that Samsung had infringed the design patents and that the law entitles Apple to a cut of Samsung's total profits from smartphones that used patented designs.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Al Noor Hospitals Group (re Mediclinic merger)
Sareum Holdings
Utilitywise
dotdigital Group
Hayward Tyler Group (re share placing)
Tristel
Fidelity Special Values
hVIVO (re share placing)
Northamber
Chelverton Growth Trust
Edinburgh Dragon Trust
Volution Group
Schroder Income Growth Fund
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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