Glaxosmithkline Share News (GSK)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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Hargreaves Lansdown PLC reported record pretax profit and revenue for the half year, as it continues to add new clients amid buoyant stock market conditions in London. In a statement, the FTSE 100 stockbroker said it made a GBP104.1 million pretax profit for the six months ended December 31, 2013, compared with GBP93.7 million for the corresponding period last year, as revenue rose by GBP18.1 million to GBP158.4 million. Hargreaves Lansdown declared a 7.0 pence interim dividend, up from last year's 6.3 pence. Meanwhile, total assets under administration rose to GBP43.4 billion from GBP30.4 billion, boosted by net business inflows of GBP2.80 billion, significantly higher than the GBP1.65 billion reported for the corresponding period in 2012.
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British Land PLC said it plans to increase its shareholding in specialist retail park property group Hercules Unit Trust to 54.2% from 49.2% in a deal which will cost it GBP41 million. It said this holding could rise even higher. Hercules' portfolio comprises 17 retail parks across the UK including Glasgow Fort Shopping Park and 50% of Fort Kinnaird Shopping Park, Edinburgh.
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Troubled RSA Insurance Group PLC late Tuesday said it has appointed former Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC boss Stephen Hester as its new chief executive, as it seeks to recover after discovering a GBP200 million accounting black hole in its Irish business. Hester, who was replaced as RBS chief executive by Ross McEwan in October after five years at the helm, will earn a basic salary GBP950,000 a year at RSA, with a potential for a bonus. RSA said 50% of any bonus award must be deferred into RSA shares for three years. Hester replaces Simon Lee, who resigned in December. Martin Scicluna, who has been acting in an executive capacity since Lee's departure, will revert to his role of non-executive chairman.
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Still to come, GlaxoSmithKline is scheduled to report full-year results at 1200 GMT. Analysts are expecting Glaxo to report a 2013 pretax profit of GBP6.69 billion, according to Morningstar, flat on the 2012 figure. Earnings per share are expected to be 112.44 pence, down slightly from 112.7 pence.
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Three senior executives from the failed Anglo Irish Bank, which cost Irish taxpayers EUR29 billion to bail out, go on trial in Dublin on Wednesday. The bank rescue was a major factor in forcing Ireland into an EUR85 billion international bailout in 2010, after its banking and fiscal crises threatened to destabilize the euro. Former chairman Sean Fitzpatrick and senior executives Pat Whelan and William McAteer each face charges of illegally providing financial assistance to 16 people to buy shares in the bank in 2008, in an apparent attempt to prop up its share price. All three deny the charges.
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Home emergency services provider HomeServe PLC said its expects its full-year pretax profit, excluding exceptional items, to meet market expectations as it said its UK business was starting to stabilise following its recent struggles. The company confirmed that it has set aside a further GBP30 million after the UK financial regulator proposed a higher-than-expected penalty related to certain of the home insurer's past sales and marketing activities and complaints handling. It has set aside GBP34.1 million in total.
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ICAP PLC said third-quarter revenue has fallen by 6% on the previous year, blaming reduced investment banking activity and new regulations in the swaps market. In a statement, the interdealer broker said the new regulatory framework for swaps, under which the derivatives are being driven to swap execution facilities, or SEFs, has been "initially disruptive", but said its expectations for full-year pretax profit on a constant currency basis, excluding acquisition and disposal costs and exceptional items, remain unchanged.
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Daily Mail & General Trust PLC maintained its outlook for the full year as it traded in line with expectations in the first quarter ended December 31, 2013. The company also noted that Zoopla Property Group, a online property search firm in which it has a 52.6% interest, is exploring strategic options for its business. Daily Mail said it was participating in these discussions. The multimedia company saw revenue of GBP472 million in the first quarter, which is said showed underlying growth of 6% from the previous year. However, on a reported basis Daily Mail said revenue had declined 6%.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks are trading higher after a lower open, with the FTSE 100 set to snap a five-day losing streak, as investors look to pare some of the losses recorded in recent sessions.
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FTSE 100: up 11.22 at 6,460.49
FTSE 250: up 44.81 at 15,585.09
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.01 at 857.46
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The pound has been knocked after the UK services PMI fell short of forecasts.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6267
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.3510

GOLD: up at USD1.257.04 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD106.03 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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A strike on the London Underground combined with another severe storm to cause chaos on London's transport system Wednesday morning, with commuters having to take to bus and foot to get to work. The 48-hour strike on the tube network means there will only be a limited service on the network until Friday morning, with 42 stations closed altogether, including several in central London. The Circle line was closed altogether, with limited service on most other lines. The BBC reported that millions of people had been affected by the stoppage. The problems were being compounded by problems on the overland rail network into London as the latest in a series of winter storms to batter the UK caused speed restrictions to be imposed, cancellations and long delays.
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UK services PMI for January missed expectations. The reading fell to 58.3, from December's 58.8, missing expectations of a rise to 59.0.
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House prices are likely to continue rising for at least another ten years, UK Chancellor George Osborne told British lawmakers Tuesday when he attacked local dissenters for slowing down planning reforms, The Times reports, citing Osborne's testimony to a panel of the House of Lords.
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EMU DEC REAL SA RETAIL SALES -1.6% M/M, WDA -1.0% Y/Y
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Chinese poultry producing companies have requested less-detailed news coverage of bird flu, a report said, as losses to the industry reached billions of yuan. The National Association of Poultry Farmers and some provincial counterparts asked authorities in a letter to "stop reporting individual cases" of the latest outbreak, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday.
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Ukrainian opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko has urged the EU to meditate in the country's deep political crisis. "Someone should follow the course of negotiations and mark all commitments and obligations," Klitschko said after a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton late Tuesday in Kiev. Klitschko added that Ashton had assured him that the EU is ready to send high-level mediators to negotiations between opposition leaders and the government.
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A dozen civilians were killed during clashes between Muslim Seleka fighters and Christian vigilante groups in the northern Central African Republic despite the reinforced presence of African peacekeepers in the area, witnesses said. Seleka fighters, supported by mercenaries from Chad and Sudan, attacked residents this week in Bossembele and Boali, about 100 kilometres north-west of the capital, Bangui, witnesses said by telephone. In retribution, Christian vigilante groups killed an unknown number of civilians in the mainly Muslim town of Sibut, also in the north, residents said.
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North and South Korea agreed to hold reunions of families separated by the Korean War later this month, a media report said. The reunions will take place at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea between February 20 and 25, Yonhap News reported citing an official from the Unification Ministry. The deal was reached after officials held talks at the border village of Panmunjom.
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The United Nations said late Tuesday that it would not condone any action that undermines the democratic process in Thailand, following an inconclusive general election at the weekend. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon raised concerns about obstruction of voting in Sunday's general election, and urged all parties to resolve their differences through dialogue.
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