GOG.L Share News (GOG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Barclays PLC was fined GBP26.0 million by UK regulators for failings surrounding the London Gold Fixing, while one of its former traders has been banned for trying to influence the price-setting process just one day after the bank was fined for its role in the London interbank offer rate (LIBOR) rigging scandal. In a statement, the Financial Conduct Authority said it imposed the fine on Barclays for failing to manage conflicts of interest between itself and its customers, as well as systems and controls failings, in relation to the London Gold Fixing. The failings continued from 2004 until 2013, the FCA said, adding that Barclays received a 30% discount on its fine because it agreed to settle at an early stage. Without that discount, Barclays would have been fined GBP37.2 million. Barclays is one of four fixing members, alongside HSBC Holdings PLC, Bank of Nova Scotia Mocatta and Societe Generale.
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Lonmin PLC, in partnership with South African platinum miners Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd and Anglo American Platinum Ltd, a subsidiary of Anglo American PLC, said talks with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union are continuing over major strikes which have crippled the platinum sector in the country. The parties said that the three-day talks, which began on Wednesday, are continuing under the auspices of the South African Labour Court in order to mediate a resolution to the ongoing wage strike, which has now continued for four months. Lonmin said that all of the parties involved have embraced the new talks and they share a common goal to help resolve the dispute.
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The UK government said it had awarded the giant new rail franchise covering a swathe of southeast England to the Govia joint venture majority owned by Go-Ahead Group PLC, meaning FirstGroup PLC lost a key franchise and Stagecoach Group PLC failed in its bid to win the deal. The new franchise combines the current Southern franchise, which runs routes between London and the south coast, with the Great Northern Franchise to the north of London, connecting them with the Thameslink franchise that runs north to south across London. The Thameslink route is currently going through a GBP6.5 billion upgrade.
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Smiths Group PLC saw its shares fall after it warned that its underlying revenue in the nine months to May 3 had been slightly weaker than in the year-earlier period as growth in its John Crane and Flex-Tek units was more than offset by weakness in Detection, Medical and Interconnect. In a statement, the engineering company said that the full year outlook for its headline operating profit is in line with expectations for all businesses except Smiths Detection, where profit is now expected to be GBP25 million lower due to a combination of working capital adjustments, reduced volumes and a higher proportion of lower margin contracts, as well as additional programme delivery costs.
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Tullow Oil PLC saw its shares fall after it said a well it was drilling in a potential oil field in Ethiopia had hit water bearing reservoirs. In a statement, the company said it would now move the rig to drill a new exploration well in a completely separate sub-basin at the South Omo block in Ethiopia. It will drill the Gardim-1 wildcat exploration well in the south-eastern corner of the Chew Bahir basin. "Shimela-1 in the South Omo Block, onshore Ethiopia, was drilled to test a prospect in a north-western sub-basin of the vast Chew Bahir basin. The frontier wildcat well encountered lacustrine and volcanic rocks including almost 100 metres of net sandstone reservoir within siltstones and claystones. Trace thermogenic gas shows were recorded at 1,900 metres," said Tullow, which is the operator of the block and has a 50% equity stake.
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Big shareholders in AstraZeneca PLC have told the UK drugmaker they want the board to reopen takeover talks with Pfizer as early as August, after accepting that a deal is unlikely to be agreed with its US rival before Monday’s bid deadline, the Financial Times reports. BlackRock and Schroders are among those that have told AstraZeneca they want the company to take a fresh look at a possible deal after the three-month cooling-off period required under UK takeover rules, the FT says, citing people familiar with BlackRock's thinking and people close to Schroders.
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Standard Life PLC said it has appointed a new chief financial officer, more than a year after Jackie Hunt resigned to join rival Prudential PLC. In a statement, the FTSE 100 long-term savings and investments provider said it has appointed Luke Savage, who has been the director of finance and operations at insurance market Lloyd's of London since 2004, to take on the role. He will join Standard Life on August 18.
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easyHotel PLC, one of the portfolio of companies owned by billionaire entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said it intends to list on London's AIM market, while insurance provider and travel agent Saga PLC priced its initial public offering at the very bottom of the range it had set, the latest suggestion that demand for new issues may be waning. In a statement, easyHotel said it plans to raise up to GBP60 million in an IPO, money it will use to grow the business further in London and Europe and pursue franchise opportunities elsewhere. "easyHotel is raising money to accelerate growth at a much faster rate than I could have grown it as a private company, whilst enabling me to spend more time on my diversified portfolio of other investments," Haji-Ioannou, or Sir Stelios as he is commonly known, said in a statement. Stelios said he planned to retain a significant minority stake after the IPO.
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Quintain Estates & Development PLC said it swung to profit in its recent full year, after its results in the previous period were hit by valuation losses. The company, which recently sold its stake in student accommodation scheme iQ for GBP106.4 million, posted pretax profit of GBP4.7 million for the year ended March 31, compared with a GBP49.3 million loss a year earlier. Quintain benefited from a GBP22.4 million revaluation gain on investment properties compared with a GBP23.0 million deficit a year earlier. Revenue, however, dipped to GBP32.6 million from GBP39.5 million in the corresponding period, reflecting a change in vacancy level.
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Healthcare company BTG PLC said that the US Food and Drug Administration had cleared the use of its EkoSonic endovascular system for the treatment of pulmonary embolism. In a statement, the company said the clearance for the use of the system for the ultrasound facilitated, controlled and selective infusion of physician-specified fluids, including thrombolytics, into the vasculature for the treatment of pulmonary embolism was an expanded indication for the system. Pulmonary embolism is the sudden blockage of an artery in the lung. It most commonly results from deep vein thrombosis, when a blood clot in the deep veins of the legs or pelvis breaks off and migrates to the lung.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks are trading mixed with investors finding little reason to significantly add to positions at the end of a relatively muted week for equity trading and ahead of a long weekend.
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 6804.01
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 15686.64
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 798.48
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The pound has hit a two-day low against the dollar, while the euro is also down after data showing German business confidence missed analyst expectations.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6848
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3620

GOLD: down at USD1291.25 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD110.31 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK house prices continued to rise in May, as households expect the price of their property to rise at the strongest pace since early 2009, a combined survey by property consultancy Knight Frank and Markit Economics showed. The house price sentiment index climbed to new record high 63.2 in May from 62.7 in the previous month. Any reading above 50 indicates the rising trend of prices. This was the fourteenth consecutive month of increase.
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The UK government is expected to announce that the Weald Basin in southern England contains billions of barrels of shale oil, delivering a potentially huge boost to an embryonic industry in the UK, the Financial Times reports, without saying where it got the information. The government will unveil the results of a study by the British Geological Survey, the latest in its reports on unconventional oil and gas potential, the FT said, adding that it will focus on the Weald, an area spanning Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Surrey.
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The anti-EU UK Independence Party has made strong gains in local elections, according to results published, a strong indication that it may also have done well in the European Parliament elections. After a third of councils had been declared, UKIP had gained almost 100 seats, while Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party had lost around 110. Voters elected representatives in 161 English counties and 11 Northern Irish counties on Thursday, as well as Britain's 73 members of the European Parliament in Brussels. The European results are not expected till Sunday, but UKIP is widely predicted to be on course for victory. It follows unprecedented gains in local elections for UKIP last year.
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Thirteen Ukrainian government troops were killed overnight while trying to protect the eastern city of Volnovakha from pro-Russian separatists, interim President Oleksandr Turchynov said. The casualties were believed to be the highest death toll that Ukrainian troops have suffered since the launch of military operations in mid-April against separatists. The soldiers died facing "grenade launchers and heavy automatic weapons," Turchynov said.
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Remarks reportedly made by Britain's Prince Charles comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler are "outrageous," the Russian embassy in London said Thursday. But British Foreign Office official Sian MacLeod told Russia's deputy ambassador Alexander Kramarenko that "the Foreign Office could not be expected to comment upon reports of private conversations," according to an FCO spokesperson.
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Germany's economic growth rebounded as previously estimated in the first quarter driven by domestic demand, the detailed report from Destatis showed. Gross domestic product grew 0.8% sequentially in the first quarter, up from 0.4% in the fourth quarter. The quarterly rate came in line with the provisional estimate published on May 15. On a calendar-adjusted basis, GDP grew 2.3% year-on-year, faster than the 1.4% rise seen in the fourth quarter. This was the largest increase in over two years.
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The leading index for Germany, measuring perceptions about future economic conditions in the country, increased month-over-month in March, though at a slower rate, the Conference Board announced. The coincident index also rose in March. The Conference Board's leading economic index rose 0.3% in March after a 0.6% increase in February. Four of the seven components making up the headline number improved in the month. Consumer confidence, new residential construction orders, the yield spread and inventory change contributed positively to the overall index. However, new orders in investment goods industries and stock prices dragged down the rate of increase of the leading index.
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Spain and Greece sovereign ratings were upgraded on by major rating agencies as remedial measures taken by both nations over the last few years started to support economic recovery and revamp fiscal positions. Citing improved economic growth and competitiveness, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised the long-term sovereign ratings of Spain to 'BBB' from 'BBB-'. The 'stable' outlook on ratings suggest that the risks to the ratings remain balanced over the next two years. Elsewhere, Fitch Ratings lifted Greece rating by one notch as the nation posted a primary surplus amid easing near-term sovereign liquidity risks. Although the ratings were raised to 'B' from 'B-', it still remain in junk territory. Reflecting the effects of labor and other structural reforms, Spain's economy is set to grow more than previously estimated, S&P said.
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Thailand's ruling junta barred 155 politicians, protest leaders and activists from leaving the country and summoned them to appear in Bangkok. The move came a day after the military staged a coup when its effort to bring rival factions together to hash out a solution to the country's political impasse ended in failure. The country has been under martial law since early Tuesday, and army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha assumed the powers of the premiership on Friday. The military's National Peace and Order Maintaining Council has summoned 155 politicians and activists to the Army Auditorium in the capital for still undisclosed reasons.
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