HSBC Holdings Share News (HSBA)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Vodafone Group outlined a series of changes to its European management structure, with the chief executives of its four largest European markets to join the telecommunications group's executive committee and report directly to Chief Executive Vittorio Colao. Philipp Humm, the chief executive of Vodafone's European operations, will leave the company to "continue his CEO career outside Vodafone", the company said. Vodafone said that, with effect from October 1, Hannes Ametsreiter in Germany, Aldo Bisio in Italy, Jeroen Hoencamp in the UK and Antonio Coimbra in Spain will all join the group executive committee and report directly to Colao in a bid to simplify its organisational structure.
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Royal Mail said its group revenue was flat in the first quarter of its current financial year, with a good performance in its parcels and logistics businesses but weaker revenue from its letters business. The postal service operator said its group revenue for the three months to June 28 was flat. Royal Mail said revenue in its UKPIL division, which covers its UK parcels and letters delivery business, was down by 2%, as revenue in its UK parcels arm rose by 2% but revenue from its letters business fell by 4%. UK parcels volume rose by 3% in the quarter, while letters volume fell 5%.
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Information services and credit reports company Experian said it has struck a deal to sell its retail intelligence business FootFall for GBP38.5 million. The FTSE 100-listed company is selling the business, part of its Marketing Services division, to Tyco, the Switzerland-based security systems company. FootFall monitors and analyses in-store customer behaviours to help retailers and shopping centres to understand their customers better.
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Banco Bradesco entered exclusive talks late on Monday to acquire the Brazilian arm of HSBC Holdings, Reuters reported, citing a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The source told Reuters that should HSBC accept the offer from Bradesco, the second-largest private sector bank in Brazil, a deal could be announced before the end of July. The bid values HSBC Bank Brasil Banco Multiplo at around BRL12 billion, or USD3.75 billion, the source added.
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AO World said that it is on track with its long-term strategic process as it continues to build brand awareness and plans to expand its services in Europe. The online domestic appliances retailer said that sales continue to "build satisfactorily" in Germany. In the UK, AO World said revenue grew 6.5% in the three months to June 30, with orders up 13.9%, while AO.com experienced revenue growth of 11.2%. It said it had a strong start to trading in July and is encouraged by the indications of growth in housing transactions and disposable income in the broader market.
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IG Group Holdings said it is seeking a new chief executive as Tim Howkins is set to retire after nearly nine years in the role and 16 at the group as a whole. The London-listed spread betting and contracts-for-difference company, which gives retail traders access to financial markets, said Howkins is to step down at its annual meeting of shareholders in October. Peter Hetherington, currently the group's chief operating officer, has put himself forward to replace Howkins and will take the top job on an interim basis until a permanent successor is confirmed. Separately, the group said it made a GBP169.5 million pretax profit in the year ended May 31, compared with GBP194.9 million in the prior year. The company maintained its dividend at 28.15 pence per share.
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PZ Cussons reported a drop in profit in its recently-ended financial year, although this was in line with its own and market expectations, as it continues to be hit by currency headwinds. The personal healthcare products provider, which makes bath products including Imperial Leather and Original Source, reported a 32% drop in pretax profit in the year ended May 31 to GBP84.0 million from GBP123.7 million the year before. Revenue slipped to GBP819.1 million from GBP861.4 million. PZ Cussons will pay a total dividend of 8.00 pence, up 3.1% on the 7.76p paid the prior year.
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SSP Group said that revenue fell in the third quarter of its financial year due to the strength of sterling against other European currencies, but trading was consistent with its expectations. FTSE 250-listed SSP, which operates food and drink concessions such as Upper Crust in airports and train stations, said that total group revenue fell 0.1% in the period from April 1 to June 30, but would have grown 4.1% and 3.2% on a like-for-like basis had exchange rates remained constant.
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Specialty chemicals company Croda International said its pretax profit rose in the first half of 2015 on the back of better revenue across its operations, prompting it to hike its interim payout. Croda said its pretax profit for the six months to June 30 was GBP135.6 million, up from GBP125.1 million a year earlier. Croda said it will pay an interim dividend of 31.0 pence per share, up from 29.5 pence per share a year earlier.
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Car and home insurance premiums are set to increase due to an upcoming increase in the UK's insurance premium tax, the AA said. The roadside assistance company said it thinks that premiums could go higher due to the UK government's move to increase the standard rate of insurance premium tax to 9.5% from 6%. The new tax rate will apply from November.
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MARKETS
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London share prices are mixed as mining stocks push higher, rebounding after declines in commodity prices dragged down stocks across the sector on Monday, while AO World leads the FTSE 250 after the online white goods retailer reported it is on track with its expansion plans.
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,782.90
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 17,800.62
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 758.95
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The price of gold has recovered after slumping Monday morning to USD1,073.40 an ounce, a level it hasn't seen since early 2010. The precious metal traded at USD1,144.17 an ounce on Friday before its recent sell-off.
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GBP: flat at USD1.5555
EUR: up at USD1.0852

GOLD: up at USD1107.99 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD56.59 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK public sector net borrowing decreased in June from last year, the Office for National Statistics said. Excluding public sector banks, PSNB dropped GBP 0.8 billion to GBP 9.4 billion in June. It was equivalent to 0.5% of gross domestic product. This decline in net borrowing was largely due to an increase of GBP 0.1 billion in central government net borrowing, combined with a decrease of GBP 1 billion in local government net borrowing.
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Greece cleared its first hurdle in the bailout crisis by repaying the money due to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank with the European Commission's EUR7.16 billion bridge-loan, and banks in the crisis struck country opened partially despite stock exchange closure. In addition, the Greek government also paid money owed to the Greece's central bank. In total, the government repaid EUR6.8 billion to its creditors. Meanwhile, banks in Greece reopened partially on Monday after a three-week closure, helped by ECB lifting the emergency lending assistance by EUR900 million for a week. The Greeks can now withdraw up to EUR420 a week as opposed to the previous withdrawal limit of EUR60 per day. Yet, capital controls largely remain in place, including a block on foreign banks money transfers and a ban on new accounts opening.
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The US central bank finalized new rules to require the largest, most systemically important US-based banks to strengthen their capital reserves and reduce dependence on volatile, short-term credit. The Federal Reserve, which regulates banks in addition to its high-profile role in monetary policy and setting benchmark interest rates, suggested that the rules could create an incentive for banks to remain smaller, presenting less systemic risk in the event of a failure.
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Members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board said that the country's economic recovery continues to grow at a satisfactory pace, minutes from the board's June 18-19 meeting revealed. The recovery is expected to continue, the board said, although downside risks include the European debt situation and the state of commodity exporters. "Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately. Overseas economies - mainly advanced economies -- have been recovering, albeit with a lackluster performance still seen in part," the minutes said.
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EU interior ministers agreed to accommodate close to 55,000 asylum seekers within their bloc, but some member states refused to open their doors to refugees who have already reached European shores - thwarting a pledge to help 60,000 people. Austria refused to accept any redistributed asylum seekers from Greece or Italy, while Hungary - which has been a vocal opponent of the refugee scheme - refused to take anybody from within or outside the EU.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the opening of embassies between the US and Cuba, calling it a "historic day for removing barriers" but noting that differences remain between the long-time foes. The resumption of relations between the neighbours after more than half a century does not eliminate US concerns about human rights and other issues, but "does reflect the reality that the Cold War ended long ago," he said after talks with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Washington.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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