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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Rolls-Royce Holdings has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish an exclusive long-term joint venture with France's Safran that will develop accessory drive train transmission systems. The new 50:50 joint venture will cover the entire product lifecycle of Rolls-Royce civil aero engine applications, said the company, and will operate in France - where it will be head-quartered - as well as the UK and Germany.
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BT Group said the trustee of the BT Pension Scheme entered into longevity insurance and reinsurance arrangements to protect the scheme against costs associated with potential increases in life expectancy. The arrangements will provide long-term protection and income to the scheme should members live longer than currently expected. The trustee has set up an insurance company, and the scheme has transferred longevity risk to this insurer, who has in turn re-insured the risk with The Prudential Insurance Co of America, a subsidiary of Prudential Finance Inc. The arrangements will not require any additional contributions from BT.
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William Hill has appointed insider James Henderson as its new chief executive, replacing Ralph Topping, who is stepping down at the end of July after more than four decades at the company. Incoming CEO Henderson, who has been with the company for 29 years after starting out at the company as a trainee manager, is currently William Hill's group director of operations, overseeing the UK retail business, online, and William Hill in Australia and the US. Henderson will take over as CEO on August 1, with a base salary of GBP550,000 a year.
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An investigator who was hired to investigate a suspected smear campaign against GlaxoSmithKline said that the allegations that the company systematically bribed doctors in China are "credible," the BBC reported late Thursday. Peter Humphrey's company ChinaWhys was hired in April 2013, after a sex tape featuring China executive Mark Reilly surfaced in an email alleging bribery. ChinaWhys was called to investigate the video. Humphrey was arrested shortly after delivering his report about former staff member Vivian Shi Wen, who was suspected to be the whistle-blower, by Chinese authorities.
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Low-cost airlines easyJet and Ryanair Holdings said passenger numbers in June continued to rise. FTSE 100-listed easyJet said it flew 6.1 million passengers in June, up 10.1% on the 5.5 million passengers flown in June last year. Load factor also rose during the month, rising to 92.0% from 89.9% in the comparable month. Ryanair said traffic in June rose to 8.3 million passengers, compared to the 7.9 million flown in June last year, while load factor rose to 88%, from 84% for the comparable month.
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The UK energy market regulator Ofgem said that it has secured a GBP1 million package from Centrica-owned British Gas over mis-selling practices. Ofgem said that the package has been secured after the company mis-sold to customers in Sainsbury's stores nationwide and in Westfield shopping centre, Shepherds Bush. In addition, staff and branding in Sainsbury's stores did not make clear that British Gas was the supply partner for Sainsbury's Energy, said the regulator. Under the terms of the package, British Gas will deliver GBP566,000 in direct compensation to affected customers and GBP434,000 to help vulnerable customers via the British Gas Energy Trust.
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French transport group Keolis Amey Docklands has been awarded the franchise to run the Docklands Light Railway in London from December 7, 2014, meaning Serco has lost the franchise. Keolis, a joint venture majority owned by French state rail operator SNCF, will operate and maintain the network until April 2021, with an option for this to be extended until 2023. Transport for London said around 100 million passenger journeys are made on the DLR network annually and this new contract, which is valued in excess of GBP700 million, will see Keolis Amey Docklands work with TfL to ensure that passengers continue to see improvements to the service. The French company has won the franchise following a procurement process which saw bids from UK companies including FTSE 250-listed companies Serco, Stagecoach and Go-Ahead.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks are trading mixed amid low volumes, with indices looking unlikely to make any significant moves, as US Independence Day truncates what has been a record week for global equities.
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6858.72
FTSE 250: up 0.3% at 16076.3
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.04% at 790.35
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The euro has slid to an eight-day low against the dollar after data showed that German factory orders fell more-than-forecast in May. It was also weighed down by comments from the European Central Bank President Dragi that the key interest rates will remain at present levels for an extended period of time in view of the current outlook for inflation.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.7140
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3588

GOLD: up at USD1321.56 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD110.75 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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German factory orders declined more than expected in May as both domestic and foreign orders decreased from April. New orders in manufacturing fell by seasonally adjusted 1.7% month-on-month in May, provisional data from Destatis showed Friday. Economists had forecast a 1.1% fall in new orders after rising revised 3.4% in April. Domestic orders slid 2.5% and foreign orders by 1.2% in May.
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Andy Coulson, former press secretary to British Prime Minister David Cameron, was sentenced to 18 months of jail after being found guilty of conspiring to hack phones while editor of a national newspaper. The 46-year-old, who edited the Sunday tabloid News of the World from 2003 to 2007, was convicted last week of conspiracy to intercept phone messages, following a high profile, eight-month trial. Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch was forced to close the paper in 2011, after revelations that its journalists had hacked the phones of celebrities, politicians, sports personalities and even a murdered school girl. In sentencing, the judge said he did not agree there should be any mitigation based upon Coulson's claim that he had not known phone-hacking was illegal.
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At least 150 pro-Russian separatists and two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine, the government said. The army targeted six separatist positions and surrounded the town of Nikolajevka, a spokesman for the anti-terrorist unit said in Kiev. Four soldiers were wounded, he said.
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A ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists is possible only if both sides commit to honouring the agreement, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Thursday in a phone call with US Vice President Joe Biden. Conditions for such a ceasefire would be the release of hostages and cooperation of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Poroshenko said, according to a statement from his office. Poroshenko briefed Biden on discussions Wednesday in Berlin held by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin with the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Russia. At the meeting the ministers agreed to start talks by Saturday on another ceasefire between Kiev and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
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Arthur was declared the first hurricane of the US season Thursday, prompting evacuation orders for an island off the coast of North Carolina and threatening to ruin Independence Day festivities along much of the US east coast. Arthur was blasting sustained winds of 160 kilometres an hour, and was promoted from Category 1 to Category 2 late Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm was 35 kilometres off the coast at 10 pm (0200 Friday GMT) and moving north by north-east at 24 kilometres per hour, the center said. Arthur was expected to weaken Friday after making landfall as it travels north along the coast from Virginia to New England and Canada, tapering back down to a tropical storm by Saturday or Sunday. The Fourth-of-July holiday weekend normally sends people pouring onto Atlantic Coast beaches, but meteorologists warned swimmers of heavy rip currents as far south as Florida through the coming days.
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The US will not sign a no-spying agreement with Germany as it attempts to settle the diplomatic fallout from the US National Security Agency's surveillance on Chancellor Angela Merkel, a White House official said Thursday. "We're not going to have a no-spy agreement," deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes said in response to a question from dpa, during a White House briefing with foreign media. "We don't have no-spy agreements with any country."
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A specific terrorist plot against Uganda's Entebbe Airport has been uncovered by Ugandan Police, the US embassy in Uganda said Thursday. According to the announcement, the Uganda Police Force had information from intelligence sources that an operation by an unknown terrorist group would take place at the country's major airport between 9 and 11 pm (1800-2000 GMT). The embassy warned people planning to travel through the airport to "review their plans."
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would try to win over Kashmiris with the promise of faster development, during his first visit to the troubled region. Security was tight in the Jammu and Kashmir state that has seen an anti-India insurgency since the late 1980s. Modi inaugurated a railway link in the Jammu region before travelling to the Kashmir valley to launch a hydro-electric project. "My aim is to win the heart of every citizen in Jammu and Kashmir through development. This is my priority," Modi said at the Katra town after flagging off a new train to the Indian capital, expected to be used heavily by Hindu pilgims.
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Cambodian Prime Minister Hun said his administration is every bit as legitimate as the Thai junta that seized power in May, in a speech reported Friday. He was encouraging the opposition to take up their seats in parliament, which they have been boycotting since an election last year that they said was marred by fraud.
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