H&t Group Plc Share News (HAT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Barclays surprised, and pleased, the market early Wednesday by announcing the removal of Chief Executive Antony Jenkins in order to "accelerate the pace of execution going forward". The bank stock leads the FTSE 100, up 3.1%.

UK shares are generally firm, after a new Greek deadline was kicked down the road by five days to Sunday. Investor also are looking ahead to the UK Budget report at 1230 BST and the minutes of the recent US Fed policy-setting meeting at 1900 BST.

Chinese markets continue to fall despite new measures announced by the central bank, with Hong Kong shares joining losses in Shanghai and dragging down other Asian markets.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.5% at 6,466.76
FTSE 250: up 0.3% at 17,264.49
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 750.69
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Hang Seng: down 7.5% at 23,123.33
Nikkei 225: closed down 3.1% at 19,737.64
DJIA: closed up 0.5% at 17,776.91
S&P 500: closed up 0.6% at 2,081.34
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GBP: down at USD1.5419
EUR: up at USD1.1015

GOLD: down at USD1,148.45 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD56.09 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

12:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
12:30 UK Budget Report
13:30 Canada Building Permits
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks
19:00 US FOMC Member Williams speech
19:00 US FOMC Minutes
20:00 US Consumer Credit Change
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Eurozone leaders gave Greece five more days to reach an agreement that could save Athens from bankruptcy, amid warnings that failure to strike a deal by then could lead to the country's exit from the currency bloc. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met in Brussels with his 18 eurozone counterparts for an emergency summit, after a referendum in which Greeks rejected reform measures proposed by the country's creditors. "We have only five days left to find the ultimate agreement," said EU President Donald Tusk. "Tonight I have to say it loud and clear that the final deadline ends this week." The leaders agreed to hold a special summit with all 28 EU member states on Sunday, to reach agreement based on reform proposals that Greece has been told to submit in the coming days. Tsipras is due Wednesday to address a plenary session of the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg.
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HALIFAX: UK JUNE HOUSE PRICES UP 1.7% ON MONTH, UP 9.6% 3-MO ON YEAR; HALIFAX Y/Y HOUSE PRICE RISE HIGHEST SINCE SEPT 2014
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Shop prices in the UK were down 1.3% on year in June, the British Retail Consortium said - following the 1.9% decline in May. Food prices eased 0.4% in June, the data showed, while non-food prices dropped almost 2.0%. Heavy discounting by furniture and food retailers kept the decline largely in check.
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Permanent job placements in the UK increased at the slowest pace in over two years in June, the Report on Jobs compiled by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG showed. The number of people placed in permanent jobs rose again in June, but the rate of expansion eased to the slowest in 25 months. The rate of growth in temporary and contract staff billings also moderated to an eight-month low in June, although remained marked overall.
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The People's Bank of China will support the stable development of the stock market and actively assist China Securities Finance to provide liquidity, a central bank spokesman said in a statement. The PBoC will help the financial institution through borrowing and issuing financial bonds, mortgage financing, loan refinancing and other means to get sufficient liquidity. In addition, the central bank will pay close attention to market trends, continue to assist the institution to maintain stability in the stock market through multiple channels and guard against systemic and regional financial risk. The statement comes as Chinese stock markets have been falling sharply in recent weeks.
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A measure of peoples' assessment of the Japanese economy declined more-than-expected in June, survey data from the Cabinet Office showed. The current index of the Economy Watchers' survey dropped notably by 2.3 points to 51.0 in June from 53.3 in the prior month. Economists had forecast the index to fall slightly to 53.0. It was the second consecutive decline and the latest reading was the lowest since February, when the it marked 50.1.
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High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said talks between the West and Iran have entered the most difficult and the most real part of the negotiations. Mogherini said: "We have started to discuss at the highest political level the last difficult political issues that we have to solve. We knew it would have been difficult, challenging and sometimes hard. On some things it gets tense, on some others we make progress." The negotiations are expected to continue for the next couple of days, she added.
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Russia is set on Wednesday to host summits for the BRICS emerging economies and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Eurasian economic and military alliance. The dual-summit event gives Russian President Vladimir Putin an opportunity to reassert Moscow's presence on the world stage in the face of floundering ties with the West. Putin is expected to meet with the leaders of China and Iran during the event, which runs until Saturday in the Russian city of Ufa, about 1,200 kilometres east of Moscow. One of the event's highlights is the expected launch of a BRICS bank, seen as a challenge to Western financial dominance.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERENBERG CUTS PEARSON TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - TARGET 1090 (1200) PENCE
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Jefferies Initiates Bank Of Georgia At Buy, 2,517.00p Price Target
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N+1 Singer Upgrades H&T Group To Buy From Hold, Price Target Raised To 220p From 164p
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Barclays said its board has taken the decision to replace Chief Executive Antony Jenkins, with John McFarlane, the newly appointed chairman, to act in an executive capacity until a successor is found, as the banking group looks to accelerate its restructuring and improve returns to shareholders. According to the statement, the non-executive directors led by Michael Rake, who is deputy chairman and senior independent director, concluded that new leadership is required to "accelerate the pace of execution going forward". Despite ousting Jenkins, Barclays said the news isn't indicative of "any major change" in the group's strategy, which has been focused on cutting non-core assets and reducing its reliance on its investment bank.
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Rio Tinto said it is in the process of preparing its first shipments of metal from its Kitimate aluminium smelter in Canada following modernisation work carried out on the facility. The miner said the modernisation work on the smelter will increase its production capacity by 48% and will result in it becoming one of the lowest-cost smelters in the world. The company is now focusing on ramping up production towards it target annual rate of 420,000 tonnes.
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Brewer SABMiller said it has appointed Domenic de Lorenzo as its permanent chief financial officer and an executive director, with effect from the conclusion of its annual general meeting on July 23.
De Lorenzo is currently the director of group strategy and corporate development and a member of the SABMiller executive committee. He has been interim chief financial officer since February.
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The UK Financial Reporting Council launched a formal investigation into individuals involved in the auditing of RSA Insurance Group's Irish accounts, 18 months after the insurer revealed accounting problems in the unit had left it with a GBP200 million black hole. In a short statement published on its website, the UK accounting watchdog said it has "decided to investigate the conduct of certain individual members in connection with financial irregularities at RSA Insurance Ireland Ltd in respect of the year ended December 31, 2012 and relevant prior periods as a result of the identification of issues within the claims and accounting functions" of the FTSE 100-listed insurer at the end of 2013. The FRC had already been examining the role of RSA's former auditor, Deloitte, in the Irish unit problems, but has now expanded this to focus on individual accountants and actuaries who worked for the insurer.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Galliford Try said it expects its pretax profit to come in at the top end of market expectations for the financial year to the end of June, following a robust performance in both its housebuilding and construction divisions. According to Morningstar, brokers had expected the FTSE 250 company to report pretax profit of GBP115.9 million for the year.
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Veterinary products company Dechra Pharmaceuticals said it expects revenue to rise in its financial year to the end of June, despite taking a currency translation hit from the weakness of the euro, on the back of a robust performance in the US. The FTSE 250-listed company said its group revenue for the year will be up 5%, but would have been up 10% at constant exchange rates owing to the weakness of the euro.
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Booker Group reported a rise in sales in the first quarter of its financial year and said it remains on course to meet expectations for the full year. The convenience store chain operator said that total group sales in the 12 weeks to June 19 grew 0.2% on the same period the year before, and 0.4% on a like-for-like basis including British wholesaler Makro which it acquired in 2012.
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Micro Focus International said its pretax profit fell in its 2014 financial year thanks to costs associated with the acquisition of The Attachmate Group Inc, but the same deal also helped to nearly double its revenue in the year as it said the integration of the business is ahead of plan.
The software company said its pretax profit for the year to the end of April was USD91.4 million, down from USD147.8 million, after it booked a USD99.1 million one-off cost related to the USD2.4 billion acquisition of Attachmate, which completed in November. Micro Focus said it would increase its final dividend by 10% to 33 cents per share, meaning its total dividend also rises by 10% to 48.4 cents.
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Great Portland Estates said it had "another quarter of strong activity", with 17 new lettings generating GBP2.4 million of rent per year signed. In a trading update for its first quarter, Chief Executive Toby Courtauld said the group is performing well on all fronts, pointing to its development properties, asset management activities and ability to recycle capital. The group said its vacancy rate stood at 2.4% at the end of June, up from 2.0% at the end of March.
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Online sports betting and gaming company GVC Group has offered just over GBP900 million to acquire larger rival Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, the Financial Times reports. According to people familiar with the matter, GVC's bid, which is backed by Canadian gaming company Amaya Gaming, values Bwin.Party at around 110 pence per share and is split between cash and stock, the FT said. Bwin.Party shares closed at 100.6p on Tuesday. Bwin.Party is currently exploring a potential sale and is also in talks with 888 Holdings, another London-listed online gambling company.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Monitise said that Visa Europe, which owns 5.3% of the mobile banking and payments company, is to cut its shareholding over time. Monitise, which designs the mobile apps banks make available to their customers, said that Visa Europe will continue to work with it for the duration of their three-year commercial agreement expiring at the end of March 2016.
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Fevertree Drinks said it expects a rise in sales in the first half of 2015, boosted by a strong June, and said its results for the full year will be ahead of expectations. The supplier of carbonated mixers for alcoholic spirits said that it continued to perform strongly in the first six months of the year and anticipates that sales will be approximately GBP24 million, up 61% on the first half of 2014.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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The US Federal Reserve ordered the US subsidiary of Spanish-based Banco Santander to fix "deficiencies" in the unit's risk management, under an agreement announced Tuesday. The agreement noted problems in Santander Holdings USA Inc's "governance, risk management, capital planning and liquidity risk management." The unit failed a Federal Reserve stress test in March and must now submit a series of reports to inspectors at the Fed.
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Security software maker Symantec is nearing a deal to sell its Veritas data-storage business to Carlyle Group for USD7 billion to USD8 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Symantec, which has been shopping the unit for several months, is still negotiating the terms of a possible transaction. No agreement has been reached and talks could still falter, the report said.
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JPMorgan Chase is looking to move 2,150 jobs from New York City to Jersey City, the Wall Street Journal reported. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority on Thursday is expected to consider an application by the New York City-based bank for a USD19 million subsidy over 10 years, the second round of tax credits for the firm in about a year as the state seeks to create jobs in the Hudson County city.
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Swiss drug giant Novartis said that its Entresto drug, previously known as LCZ696, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, in which the heart muscle does not contract effectively.
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Active Energy Group
Great Portland Estates
Shires Income
Booker Group
J Sainsbury
UK Mail Group
Biotech Growth Trust
Capital Gearing Trust
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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