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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Lloyds Banking Group upped its guidance for 2015 and said its underlying performance in the first three months of the 2015 was strong as first-quarter pretax profit fell. Lloyds has sold off assets, exited international operations and focused on the UK, where the bank expects GDP growth of between 2.5% to 3.0% this year. The group's gradual return to full private ownership had been given a boost when the bank resumed dividends at a token 0.75 pence per share for 2014, as its pretax profit jumped to GBP1.8 billion from GBP415 million. Lloyds said a GBP660 million net charge related to the disposal of its stake in TSB Banking Group played a big part in causing the group's first-quarter pretax profit to fall to GBP1.21 billion from GBP1.80 billion.
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Engineering company Smiths Group said it has hired Chris O'Shea as its new finance director, poaching him away from FTSE 250-listed molten flow engineering company Vesuvius. O'Shea will join Smiths Group on September 18. He joins from Vesuvius and formerly held senior positions at BG Group and Royal Dutch Shell. Vesuvius said the process of identifying a successor to O'Shea as chief financial officer is underway.
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GlaxoSmithKline said Theravance said the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Breo Ellipta for the treatment of asthma in patients over the age of eighteen. The efficacy and safety of the treatment was studied in a clinical trial with over 12,000 subjects in 23 studies of patients aged twelve and over, Glaxo said. Breo is a fixed-dose combination of the inhaled corticosteroid fluticasone furoate and the long-acting beta2-agonist vilanterol, administered using the Ellipta dry powder inhaler.
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Virgin Money Holdings said profitability improved in the first quarter as mortgage lending increased. It grew its gross mortgage lending in the first quarter of the year, and said it received a "high number" of applications in the three months. In a statement, Virgin Money said it it grew mortgage lending by about a third in the three months ended March 31, compared with the corresponding quarter of the prior year, equivalent to a 3.6% share of the market.
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Telecommunications, IT managed services, and data centre services provider Colt Group said it expects to deliver modestly positive cash flows for 2015, as it posted a 1.3% decline in revenue for its first quarter. Colt posted a decline in revenue to EUR394.6 million in the quarter to end-March, down from EUR399.8 million a year before, as a contribution from its acquisition of KVH Co Ltd last December failed to offset a hit from its exit from low-margin carrier voice trading contracts.
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Capital & Counties Properties said it is continuing to make progress on its Covent Garden and Earl's Court projects in London and said it is on track to meet its targets in the former. The property company, which owns assets in London's Covent Garden and Earl's Court areas, said it is on track to meet its estimated rental value target of GBP100 million for its Covent Garden properties by 2017, with good leasing momentum in the business and investment plans for the King's Court and Carriage Hall sites on track.
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Business services company Rentokil Initial said revenue rose in the first quarter, with solid performances in most of its regional operations offsetting continued weakness in parts of Europe. The company, which provides pest control, hygiene services and supplies workwear, said its revenue in the quarter to the end of March was GBP417.8 million, up 1.4% year-on-year.
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Irish paper packaging company Smurfit Kappa Group said it has named a new chief executive designate as it posted a fall in profit in the first quarter due to currency headwinds and an accounting change. Smurfit said it has appointed Tony Smurfit, currently president and chief operating officer of the company, as its chief executive designate. He will take over from current chief Gary McCann on August 31, when McCann will retire from the role. The move comes as the group said its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation in the first quarter to the end of March fell 1% to EUR266 million from EUR269 million.
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MARKETS
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London stock indices are trading slightly lower Friday recovering from a weaker open after a heavy sell-off on Wall Street on Thursday, while the pound is lower against its major counterparts after the UK Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index came in well short of expectations.
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,953.62
FTSE 250: down 0.2% at 17,443.56
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 752.52
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GBP: down at USD1.5288
EUR: up at USD1.1235

GOLD: down at USD1179.28 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD66.39 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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British manufacturing sector growth eased unexpectedly in April, as intermediate goods sector fell back into contraction, survey figures from Markit Economics showed. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply Purchasing Mangers' Index, or PMI, fell to 51.9 in April from 54.0 in March, which was revised down from 54.4. Economists had expected the index to rise to 54.6. However, any reading above above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. The PMI remained above neutral 50.0 mark for the twenty-fifth consecutive month in April.
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UK mortgage approvals unexpectedly declined in March, after rising in the previous three months, data from the Bank of England showed Friday. The number of loan approvals for home purchase fell to 61,341 from a six-month high of 61,523 in February. Economists had expected a higher figure of 62,500. In January, mortgage approvals were 60,503. Consumer credit grew by GBP1.2 billion from the previous month to GBP170.2 billion. That exceeded the GBP0.8 billion increase forecast by economists.
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Leaders of the three main UK parties clashed on Thursday night in separate interviews a week ahead of the UK General Election, as the Tories sought on Friday to continue their push to win northern votes by pledging more economic prosperity for the region, while Labour sought to defend its credentials to the City of London. Party leaders clashed during a Question Time grilling of the three main parties. A snap ICM/Guardian poll found Prime Minister David Cameron emerging as the victor, with 44% of viewers saying he performed best on the night. Cameron, Labour lead Ed Miliband and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg all were subjected to questions from a BBC audience. Miliband was adjudged to have come second, with 38% support, while Clegg had 19%.
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With less than a week to go before the UK General Election, the Conservatives took the lead in the latest Ipsos Mori poll, but the parties continued to switch places in the daily YouGov survey. The latest Ipsos Mori Political Monitor poll saw the Conservatives swing into the lead against the same survey a fortnight ago, with the Tories gaining two points to 35% to overtake Labour, which saw its support plunge five points to 30%. In the daily YouGov/The Sun poll, the two main parties continued the seesaw pattern seen all week as Labour pushed back into the lead on 35% to the Tories 34%.
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Ireland's manufacturing sector growth slowed in April, as new work increased at a slightly weaker pace, survey figures from Markit Economics showed. The seasonally adjusted Investec purchasing managers' index, dropped to 55.8 in April from 56.8 in the previous month. However, any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.
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The latest data from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed that the manufacturing sector in China continued to barely expand in April, with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.1. That beat expectations for 50.0, and was unchanged from the March reading. The bureau also said that its non-manufacturing PMI came in at 53.4 - down from 53.7 but still well into expansion territory.
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A Nepalese woman was rescued on Thursday after being buried under a guest house in Kathmandu since the massive earthquake which hit the country on Saturday, claiming thousands of lives, police and Interior Ministry officials confirmed. Krishna Kumar Khadka, who was in a serious condition, was the second survivor recovered on Thursday, Interior Ministry spokesman Laxmi Dhakal, said. The rescues came as efforts to find more people were hampered in many areas of Nepal due to torrential rain, government officials said. The death toll climbed to 6,155 people, police said. Injuries mounted to 13,402, according to the latest official figures.
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