HSBC Holdings Share News (HSBA)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Thursday.
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COMPANIES
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Shire said that it is "considering the current situation" and will make a further announcement, after AbbVie Inc late Wednesday recommended that its shareholders vote against AbbVie's proposed acquisition of Shire. Late Wednesday, AbbVie said it had chosen to withdraw its recommendation after considering the impact of new measures brought in by the US Department of Treasury September 22 to curb so-called 'tax inversion' deals.
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Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has sold more of his shares in Tesco, a regulatory filing showed, having earlier this month described his investment in the supermarket company as a "huge mistake". Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company controlled by Buffett, cut its stake in Tesco to less than 3% on Monday, the filing showed. It now holds 245 million shares in the company. Before the sale, it held a near 4% stake in the company, according to data on Hemscott. Earlier this month, Buffett, speaking during an interview with CNBC, said his investment in Tesco had been a "huge mistake" and he had lost hundreds of millions of dollars on the bet.
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British Sky Broadcasting Group said it is on track to complete its acquisition of Sky Italia and a majority stake in Sky Deutschland, as it saw pretax profit in its first quarter to end-September boosted by the sale of its stake in ITV PLC. BSkyB posted a pretax profit of GBP664 million, up from GBP245 million a year before, boosted by a GBP429 million profit on the sale of its 6.4% stake in ITV to Liberty Global Inc in July and as revenue rose to GBP1.93 billion from GBP1.84 billion.
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Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff maker Diageo reported a 1.5% decline in organic net sales for the first quarter, hit by a fall in volume, on the back of significantly weaker trading in emerging markets, currency rate movements, and de-stocking issues in some of its key markets. The results were in the middle of market expectations. Analysts were expecting between a 1% to 2% decline in group organic sales for the quarter.
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BHP Billiton confirmed that it will seek a London listing for its de-merged company, in addition to the planned primary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. The mining giant is spinning out a new company containing aluminium, coal, manganese, nickel and silver assets, a move it thinks will unlock shareholder value.
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Meggitt confirmed that one of its subsidiaries has been reaffirmed as the supplier of the next generation virtual small-arms trainer programme for the US Army. Meggitt originally won the contract in June, a USD99 million five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Contract from the US Army Program Executive Office for Simulation and Training to provide 1,000-plus new and upgraded systems and simulated weapons for US Army facilities worldwide. The US General Accounting Office has now rejected a protest made by another bidder for the contract, Meggitt said, meaning its Meggitt Training Systems company has been affirmed as the supplier for the programme.
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Bunzl said trading has been in line with expectations since its half-year results were released at the end of August and said it has acquired a new business in the Netherlands. The distribution and outsourcing company said overall trading has been in line in the period since its results in August, with group revenue in the third quarter to September 30 up 6% year-on-year on a constant currency basis. In addition, the group said it will acquired Netherlands-based De Ridder Groep BV, a specialist distribution business focusing on the prisons, police stations and detention centres segments, for an undisclosed amount.
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Packaging and paper company Mondi reported an underlying operating profit of EUR174 million for the third quarter, broadly flat on the year and in line with management expectations, but said it had successfully raised prices for some products which should help support the business going forward. In a statement, the company said its like-for-like sales volumes were broadly in line with the third quarter of 2013.
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First Direct, the online and telephone bank owned by HSBC Holdings, is to pay compensation for selling complex investments without checking if they were appropriate for customers, the Financial Times reports. First Direct is the latest lender to admit offering complex products without having procedures to ensure they were suitable and that investors fully understood what they were getting, breaking financial regulations. The bank also said some information it provided through its share dealing service about certain investments “was unclear” and “could have misled” customers, the FT said.
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Home improvement company entu (UK) said it will list on AIM after its current shareholders sold a stake of up to 50% of the business for GBP32.8 million in a placing. The company, which sells things like energy efficient windows, doors and conservatories, cavity wall products, solar power panels and energy efficient boilers, will not be raising any new money in the placing, but thinks admission to AIM will give it access to equity capital markets to support its growth and allow it to incentivise its management as well giving all employees the chance to own shares through an employee share option plan.
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Bwin.party Digital Entertainment said it is trading in line with expectations and said it is confident on its outlook for the full year after posting a rise in revenue in the third quarter, sending its shares up in early trade. The group said total revenue in the third quarter to September 30 rose 2% to EUR148.7 million, from EUR145.7 million last year. It said that excluding the loss of its Greece business, total revenue would have risen 2%.
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WH Smith said its pretax profit rose in its last financial year, despite another fall in revenue, as the company continued to cut costs and it increased trading profits in both its businesses. The stationer and bookseller declared a 14% increase in its total dividend for the year to 35.0 pence per share, and also announced an additional share buyback of up to GBP50 million, after posting a 9% increase in its pretax profit to GBP112 million for the year ended August 31, compared with a GBP103 million profit the prior year.
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Man Group said funds under management grew by a quarter during the third quarter, as its acquisition of Numeric and Pine Grove, and USD1.3 billion of net inflows and performance, offset a USD2.9 billion hit from the rise in the US dollar. Sales slowed at its GLG fund, but AHL performed well, leading to a significant new institutional mandate, it said. In a statement, the fund management group said funds under management were USD72.3 billion on September 30, up 25% from USD57.7 billion at the end of June, with US-based Numeric and Pine Grove adding USD16.2 billion of assets.
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MARKETS
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UK stock indices have fallen back into the red, giving up all of their earlier gains and more by mid-morning. Shire leads the UK's leading index lower for the second consecutive day after AbbVie drove another nail into the coffin of their previously agreed takeover deal.
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FTSE 100: down 1.8% at 6,098.03
FTSE 250: down 1.5% at 14,217.40
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 1.0% at 674.12
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The euro trades against down the dollar after weak eurozone inflation figures came in line with expectations, but revealed a continued economic slump in the region.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.5975
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2771

GOLD: up at USD1243.36 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD83.48 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Eurozone inflation slowed as initially estimated in September to the lowest since late 2009, final data from Eurostat showed. Inflation fell to 0.3%, in line with flash estimate, from 0.4% in August. This was the lowest since October 2009, when prices fell 0.1%. It has been below the 2% ceiling since February 2013. Monthly inflation was 0.4% in September.
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Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said Wednesday he was hoping to jump-start his country's moribund economy with a stimulus package worth EUR36 billion despite warnings it may fall foul of eurozone austerity rules. The budget law for 2015 was approved in a 90-minute cabinet meeting that convened at around 8 pm, five hours later than planned as it went through customary last-minute changes. The package was originally expected to be worth EUR30 billion.
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Western sanctions against Moscow for its alleged involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine are "absurd," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in remarks published Thursday before a visit to Serbia. From Belgrade, Putin will travel to Milan for two days of talks, involving his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko and Western leaders, in a renewed push to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. "It is difficult to understand the logic" behind the decision of the US and EU to impose trade sanctions against Russia, Putin told the Belgrade daily Politika.
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EU health ministers were set to discuss the possible introduction of Ebola screenings at European airports, amid doubts over whether the move can prevent the spread of the virus. The US, Canada, Britain and the Czech Republic are proceeding with such checks, even though it has not been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) or the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). Experts have voiced scepticism about whether such measures can be effective considering the hemorrhagic fever has a 21-day incubation period. Checking for fever among passengers could also produce false positives, as it is a common symptom for other illnesses.
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Chinese bank lending increased more than expected and money supply growth accelerated in September, but the nation's foreign reserves declined in the third quarter, data published by the People's Bank of China showed. Banks lent CNY857.2 billion in September, up from CNY702.5 billion in August. It was also larger than a CNY750 billion lending expected by economists.
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Hong Kong's leader said the government was prepared to start talks with student leaders as soon as next week to try and resolve the political protests in the Chinese territory, now in their third week. "Middlemen were in touch with the Hong Kong Federation of Students over the past few days to express our wish that the two sides can meet as early as possible," Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told a press conference. Leung ruled out any change to the Chinese central government's decision to screen candidates running in the next elections for Hong Kong's chief executive in 2017.
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The Islamic State militia was retreating from areas of western Kobane, a key Kurdish town on the border with Turkey, as the jihadists faced a combination of coalition airstrikes and attacks by Kurdish fighters. But US officials have warned Kobane, where fighting against the Islamic State group has been ongoing for a month, could still be overrun by the jihadists. "It's important for people to understand: Kobane could still fall," Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon spokesman, said on Wednesday.
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The possibility of extending talks about Iran's nuclear programme beyond a November deadline entered into view Wednesday as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held long negotiations in Vienna. Kerry, Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met to tackle the remaining disagreements on a deal that would end the stand-off over Iran's controversial nuclear programme. The three leaders were set to brief senior diplomats from all six world powers involved in the negotiations on Thursday in Vienna.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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