Glaxosmithkline Share News (GSK)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Spain's Banco de Sabadell SA has won the backing of Lloyds Banking Group on the way to agreeing a GBP1.7 billion deal to buy TSB Banking Group likely to mark the end of TSB's brief life as a London listed company. TSB, which was carved out of Lloyds and floated on the London Stock Exchange in June 2014, is valued at 340 pence per share under the deal, which was announced to the market on Friday morning. The move was welcomed by Lloyds Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osório, who was tasked with selling off the bank's holding in TSB by the end of 2015 in order to make good on a commitment made to the European Commission after the FTSE 100 bank required a government bailout during the financial crisis of 2007-09.
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The boards of Holcim and Lafarge said they have reached an agreement on revised terms of their proposed USD41 billion merger, with Holcim getting a more favourable exchange ratio and the heads of both cement companies to be co-chairmen of the merged entity, in news likely to give a boost to FTSE 100 members CRH and Anglo American. Holcim and Lafarge said they had reached an agreement on revised terms, including a new exchange ratio of 9 Holcim shares for 10 Lafarge shares. A new chief executive for the combined group, which will be proposed by Lafarge and accepted by Holcim, will be appointed following the closing of the transaction. Holcim Chairman Wolfgang Reitzle and Lafarge Chairman and Chief Executive Bruno Lafont will be non-executive co-chairmen of the combined company.
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British Land Co said it has completed a GBP733 million property exchange deal with fellow FTSE 100 constituent Tesco. Under the terms of the deal, British Land has sold its 50% stake in a joint venture portfolio of 21 standalone food stores to supermarket chain Tesco and has acquired Tesco's 50% interest in two joint venture portfolios, which primarily comprise Tesco-anchored shopping centres and retail parks. As part of the deal, Tesco will get GBP96 million from British Land.
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Royal Dutch Shell said it has completed the sale of its 30% interest in the oil mining lease 18 in Nigeria, along with related facilities in the Eastern Niger Delta, for USD737 million in cash. The FTSE 100-listed oil company said the sale of the licence has been completed through its Shell Petroleum Development Co of Nigeria business and said the 30% interest in the licence has been assigned to Eroton Exploration & Petroleum Co. The divestment is part of the strategic review of Shell Nigeria's operations and is in line with the government of Nigeria's aim to develop Nigerian companies within its upstream oil and gas sector, Shell added.
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Tullow Oil said it has secured an additional USD450 million of capital under its existing credit facilities. Tullow has completed a reserve-based lend redetermination process, which it completes every six months, which led to a USD200 million increase in lenders commitments after a review of the company's assets. This increased the available debt capacity to USD3.7 billion from USD3.5 billion despite lower oil prices, said the company.
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In a first move for any alcohol company, Diageo plans to display calorie counts and other content information on many of its biggest-selling products, including Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky, Smirnoff vodka, Guinness and Tanqueray gin. The world's biggest distiller said Thursday in an e-mailed statement that it will disclose alcoholic content and nutritional information per serving on its responsible drinking website or on product packaging as soon as possible.
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An asthma treatment co-developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Theravance has been found safe and effective by a FDA review panel in treating adults but not adolescents. The FDA panel voted in favor of Breo Ellipta (fluticasone furoate/vilanterol [FF/VI]) as an once-daily inhaled treatment for asthma in patients aged 18 years and older by a 16-4 vote. However, the panel voted against the asthma drug for treating patients aged between 12 and 17 years, with the panel voting 2 for and 18 against.
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Investec said it expects its wealth and asset management divisions' results for its current financial year to beat last year's numbers, bolstered by higher funds under management and billions of pounds of net inflows, although its view on the specialist banking business is mixed. The Anglo-South African specialist bank said that group results for the year ending March 31 have been hurt by the South African rand's 11% depreciation against its sterling reporting currency. The wealth and investment division's results have been helped by net inflows of GBP2.6 billion, while the asset management side has had net inflows of GBP2.4 billion, according to Investec.
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Housebuilder Berkeley Group Holdings said it is continuing to see good demand for new homes in London and the South East, is making progress on its land holdings, and reiterated its earnings guidance for the current financial year, along with the following two. Berkeley said that as trading conditions returned to normal in the housing market, following the highs seen in 2013, it is still seeing good demand for new homes in London and the South East of England. The company is in construction on 64 sites across the two regions and said all of its sites with implementable planning consent are in construction.
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Alliance Trust struck back in the battle against Elliot Advisors (UK), calling the activist investor's move to make changes to its board "completely unacceptable" and advising other shareholders to vote against the proposals. Elliot, which has built up a 12% stake in Alliance Trust, wants the company to appoint former SG Warburg executive Anthony Brooke, ex-CEO of Legal & General Investment Management Peter Chambers, and Rory Macnamara, previously of Morgan Grenfell, to the board of Alliance Trust.
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Vedanta Resources said it has cut its 2015 capital expenditure budget by USD400 million and halved its budget for 2016 in order to reach its desired gearing of 25% and to ensure it can maintain a "progressive dividend policy". The mining company said it has slashed its capital expenditure budget for 2015 to USD1.5 billion from the previous USD1.9 billion budget, while its capital expenditure budget for 2016 has been halved to USD1.0 billion from USD2.0 billion. Vedanta is aiming to increase copper equivalent production from its assets by 59% in the near-term.
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FirstGroup said it has agreed a deal with the UK Department for Transport to operate the First Transpennine Express rail franchise for a further year. The transport company said the deal will mean the franchise will operate beyond its current end date of March 31, 2015 to April 1, 2016, in line with the UK government's anticipated start of the new Transpennine Express franchise. FirstGroup said it is shortlisted for the new franchise and intends to submit a bid later in the year.
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MARKETS
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London main stock indices are mixed, with CRH leading the FTSE 100 after the on-again, off-again merger between Switzerland's Holcim and France's Lafarge appeared to be back on.
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,791.21
FTSE 250: up 0.3% at 17,484.34
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 714.29
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GBP-USD: flat at USD1.4753
EUR-USD: up at USD1.0692

GOLD: up at USD1172.61 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD53.99 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The UK budget deficit decreased in February from last year, the Office for National Statistics showed. Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks declined by GBP 3.5 billion to GBP 6.9 billion in February. It was forecast to fall to GBP 8.4 billion. This decrease in net borrowing was predominantly a result of a fall of GBP 4.1 billion in central government net borrowing.
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A majority of the households in the UK perceived that the value of their houses increased in March, after moderating in the previous month, results of a survey conducted by Knight Frank and Markit Economics showed Friday. The house price sentiment index, or HPSI, rose to 57.5 in March from 56.5 in February. This marked the twenty-fourth consecutive month of the index remaining above 50. A reading above 50 signals a rise in house prices, while a figure below 50 indicates a decline. The overall reading remains well below its record high of 63.2 achieved in May last year.
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Germany's producer prices dropped more-than-expected in February, figures from Destatis showed. The producer price index fell 2.1% year-over-year in February, exceeding economists' expectations for a 2.0% drop. In January, prices had fallen 2.2%, which was the sharpest decline since February 2010, when the prices declined 3.0%. Prices have been falling since August 2013.
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As urged by EU leaders, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras agreed to submit a list of reforms within days. EU leaders sought more concrete steps on reforms and efforts to overcome the standstill on the aid programme. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and European Council President Donald Tusk, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met Greece premier Alexis Tsipras in Brussels. "In the spirit of mutual trust, we are all committed to speed up the work and conclude it as fast as possible," the leaders said in a statement on Friday.
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EU leaders agreed to maintain economic sanctions against Russia until a ceasefire deal for eastern Ukraine is fully implemented - a move not expected before the end of 2015. The measures, which aim to hamper Russian imports and Russian banks' access to European capital markets, are among the most controversial steps taken to influence Moscow's course in Ukraine, as they inflict economic pain not only on Russia but also on the EU. Thursday's decision in Brussels prepares the ground for the EU to extend its economic sanctions beyond July, when they are currently set to start lapsing.
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