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 left its outlook for 2016 unchanged, as the engine maker cut its dividend and reported a drop in underlying pretax profit. Underlying pretax profit fell to GBP1.43 billion in 2015, from GBP1.62 billion in 2014, coming in ahead of the GBP1.3 billion expected by analysts, as underlying revenue fell to GBP13.35 billion from GBP13.86 billion. "Our outlook for 2016 is unchanged. Despite steady market conditions for most of our businesses it will be a challenging year as we start to transition products and sustain investment in Civil Aerospace and tackle weak offshore markets in Marine," Chief Executive Warren East said.
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The UK Competition & Markets Authority said it has fined a number of pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, for anti-competitive conduct and agreements in relation to the supply of anti-depressant paroxetine. The bulk of the fine was imposed on London-listed GlaxoSmithKline, which shouldered GBP37.6 million of the GBP45.0 million total. Merck, the former parent of Generics (UK), was fined GBP5.8 million. The fines were imposed due to conduct and agreements between 2001 and 2004. Glaxo, which supplied paroxetine branded as Seroxat, agreed to make payments and other value transfers worth more than GBP50.0 million to suppliers of the generic versions of the anti-depressant, which according to the CMA were aimed at delaying the potential entry of generic competitors into the UK market.
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Property developer Hammerson said it had completed the acquisition of Grand Central shopping centre in Birmingham, and confirmed it has entered into a joint venture with investment management organisation Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board for ownership of the shopping centre. Hammerson, who had announced the acquisition of Grand Central on January 22, said it had entered into a 50:50 joint venture agreement with the Canadian investor, with Hammerson acting as asset manager on behalf of the joint venture.
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The UK Serious Fraud Office is looking at the activities of a Barclays hedge fund, The Times reported, after allegations that it profited from using confidential information profit on Libor "low-balling" during the financial crisis of 2008-09. The report said the fraud investigators are looking at the Cayman-registered Ricardo Master Fund as part of a broader investigation into Libor rigging. Both the SFO and Barclays declined to comment to The Times.
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SuperGroup said Product & Brand Director Julian Dunkerton sold 4.0 million shares in the company at 1,200 pence each via an accelerated bookbuild on Thursday. After the sale, Dunkerton holds 22.1 million shares in the company, equivalent to a 27% stake in the fashion retailer.
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Countryside Properties said its initial public offering on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange was priced at the lower end of its range. The housebuilder and regeneration company said its shares were priced at 225 pence each, at the bottom end of its previously stated 225p to 275p range, giving it a market capitalisation of approximately GBP1.01 billion. The offer comprised 135.0 million shares, equivalent to a total offer size of GBP304.0 million.
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Millennium & Copthorne Hotels said it expects to recognise a net charge of around GBP43 million against its pretax profit for 2015. The net charge includes GBP76 million of impairment losses relating to four of M&C's properties located in New York, Rest of Europe and Rest of Asia, offset by net revaluation gains of GBP33 million on its investment properties. M&C will release its full-year results on February 19.
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SEGRO confirmed it is in talks over a possible deal with Roxhill Developments, in a move to strengthen the real estate investment trust's presence in the UK big box logistics market. "The arrangement would involve SEGRO and Roxhill working together over a period of years to develop a number of land sites in the Midlands and South East regions of the UK, which are currently held under option by Roxhill," SEGRO said.
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MARKETS
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UK indices were in the green, rebounding after heavy losses incurred on Thursday during a global equity rout. Rolls-Royce were the standout gainer and finance stocks were staging somewhat of a recovery. Wall Street was pointed to a higher open.
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FTSE 100: up 1.6% at 5,621.75
FTSE 250: up 0.6% at 15,276.56
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 664.66

GBP: up at USD1.4552 (USD1.4444)
EUR: down at USD1.1289 (USD1.1354)

GOLD: down at USD1,240.40 per ounce (USD1,252.73)
OIL (Brent): up at USD31.14 a barrel (USD30.09)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen downplayed the possibility the central bank might soon cut interest rates in a reversal of December's long-awaited tightening. "I have not thought that a downturn sufficient to cause the next move to be a cut was a likely possibility," Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee in her second day of Congressional testimony. Heavy recent losses in the stock market are not the result of the Fed's December rate hike, the first in a decade. Because the Fed reduced accommodation only "by a modest amount," it was "not mainly our policy" that prompted the January swoon. Yellen said the Fed is looking into negative rates, but made no promises that such measures would be taken even if the economy takes a turn for the worse.
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British construction output grew at a slower-than-expected pace in December, after falling in the previous month, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed. Construction output rose 1.5% month-over-month in December, reversing a 1.1% drop in November. The expected rate of increase was 2.0%.
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The euro area economic growth rate remained stable in the fourth quarter, flash estimate from Eurostat showed. Gross domestic product climbed 0.3% sequentially, the same rate of growth as seen in the previous quarter. On a yearly basis, economic growth slowed marginally to 1.5% from 1.6% in the previous quarter. Both quarterly and annual growth rates matched economists' expectations.
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The German economy ended 2015 on a firm footing as it managed to withstand slowing emerging markets, which have triggered concerns about the world economic outlook and prompted a sell-off of global shares. Europe's biggest economy expanded by 0.3% in the final quarter of the year - the same as in the three months to the end of September, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Friday with strong domestic demand helping to offset weaker exports.
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Germany's consumer price inflation accelerated to an eight-month high in January as initially estimated, latest data from Destatis showed. The consumer price index rose 0.5% year-over-year in January, in line with flash data, faster than the 0.3% increase in December. The latest inflation figure was the highest since May last year, when it was 0.7%. The German economy grew by 2.1% in the fourth quarter when compared with the same period in 2014 thanks in part to two extra working days. This compared to 1.7% year-on-year in the third quarter.
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Former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to regain the upper hand over rival Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination during a debate that saw the candidates agree more often than disagree. Sanders, a senator from Vermont and self-identified democratic socialist, sought to expand his political appeal to minority voters who make up a larger share of the electorate in upcoming votes in Nevada and South Carolina, after securing a large victory over Clinton in the predominantly white state of New Hampshire on Tuesday.
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This weekend's Munich Security Conference, an annual event attended by hundreds of senior officials from around the world, will focus on rising global instability with Russia at the centre of two major conflicts: Syria and Ukraine. These are "two of the defining conflicts of our time," says the Munich Security Report 2016, published by the summit's organizers. Russia does not expect any breakthrough in Munich, the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, said this week in comments carried by state media.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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