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(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Ocado Group has signed an agreement with Aeon to develop the Japanese grocer's online business using the Ocado Smart Platform. Aeon has about 100 million customers and operates over 21,000 stores across various businesses, with operations in 14 countries. Aeon will be launching its new online business with the help of Ocado's platform. The agreement plans for the development of a national fulfilment network to serve the whole of the Japanese market, with expected sales capacity of around JPY600 billion by 2030, growing to approximately JPY1 trillion by 2035, the company said. Initial fulfilment centres will serve the Kanto region in Japan, with the first planned centre to go live in 2023. By 2025, Aeon expects to have a sales capacity in this region in excess of JPY200 billion.
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The UK Competition & Markets Authority said that HSBC Holdings and Banco Santander have agreed to refund customers after they broke a new rule requiring them to alert customers for unarranged overdrafts. The monopoly regulator said the lenders failed to send customers text alerts before charging them for going into unarranged overdraft. HSBC has been found to have broken the rule twice and has agreed to refund GBP8 million to 115,000 customers. Santander was found to broke the rule six times and has also agreed to issue refunds, but is yet to confirm the number of customers affected and how much it will refund. The CMA said the refunds paid by the banks will cover all fees incurred by customers from going into unarranged overdrafts where they had not been warned beforehand by the required text alerts.
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Drugmaker AstraZeneca said its key cancer treatment drug Imfinzi has been granted priority review approval by US regulators after positive late-stage clinical trial data. The US Food & Drug Administration accepted the supplemental biologics license application and granted priority review for Imfinzi - the brand name of durvalumab - for the treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. The approval was based on the positive results of the phase three Caspian trial. The trial recently released test results in the Lancet journal which showed "statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement" in survival rates from the drug. Imfinzi is already approved for unresectable stage three non-small cell lung cancer in 54 countries after the phase three Pacific trial results.
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Real estate agent Countrywide will sell its commercial real estate consultancy and transactional business Lambert Smith Hampton Ltd for GBP38 million in cash. Countrywide also announced a share consolidation on the basis of 1 new share for every 50 existing shares. The reduction in the number of overall issued shares is expected to improve market liquidity by reducing the volatility and spread. The company currently has 1.64 billion shares in issue. Countrywide will sell Lambert Smith Hampton to John Bengt Moeller, who is chair of Great Global Holdings, a holding company for several UK and international companies. Both the sale and the share consolidation is subject to shareholder approval at an upcoming general meeting. If approved, the transaction is expected to be completed on December 31. The sale itself is expected to improve Countrywide's capital structure, and proceeds from the sale will allow the group to materially reduce its net debt. In addition, Countrywide on Thursday agreed to an amended credit facility with its lenders, which includes provisions for a minimum facility of GBP95 million until September 2022.
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Daily Mail & General Trust said it has agreed to by the i newspaper from JPI Media for GBP49.6 million in cash, though it expects the deal to be review by UK competition regulators.
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MARKETS
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Stocks in Europe were lacklustre at the end of the week amid low volumes as the US returns from the Thanksgiving holiday for just a half session on Friday. Hong Kong led losses in Asia as pro-democracy activists vowed to hold fresh rallies and strikes following the end of a two-week police siege of a university campus. Sentiment in Asia was further knocked after Japan saw a sharp fall in industrial production for October, with output slumping 7.4% on a year ago.
In the US, markets are pointed down, with US President Donald Trump's signing of the Hong Kong Bill earlier in the week expected to dent sentiment.
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 7,402.20
FTSE 250: down 0.2% at 20,978.69
AIM ALL-SHARE: down slightly at 923.41
GBP: softer at USD1.2894 (USD1.2904)
EUR: flat at USD1.1003 (USD1.1002)
GOLD: slightly higher at USD1,456.60 per ounce (USD1,455.02)
OIL (Brent): slightly higher at USD62.98 a barrel (USD62.72)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Eurozone consumer inflation accelerated more than expected in November, according to preliminary data from Eurostat. Consumer price index was estimated to be 1.0% higher in November from a year before, accelerating from the 0.7% annual rise reported in October. The inflation figure also was higher than the 0.9% forecast by economists, according to the consensus provided by FX Street.
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The Eurozone unemployment rate eased as expected to 7.5% in October from 7.6% the month prior, data from Eurostat showed. The unemployment rate across the 19 countries using the euro currency improved to 7.5% in October from 7.6% in September. In October 2018, unemployment stood at 8.0%. According to a FX Street consensus, the October print was in line with economist expectations.
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Unemployment in Germany fell to its lowest level since the former East and West Germany reunited in 1990, federal employment agency Bundesagentur fur Arbeit said. A total of 2.18 million people were unemployed in the country in November, with the unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 4.8%. In November, 24,000 fewer people were unemployed than in October and 6,000 fewer people than a year ago, according to the data. "The current economic weakness is still noticeable on the labour market," BA Chair Detlef Scheele said. "All in all, however, it is proving to be robust."
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Hong Kong police ended their two-week siege of a university campus that became a battleground with pro-democracy protesters as activists vowed to hold fresh rallies and strikes in the coming days. Renewed calls to hit the streets came after Beijing and city leader Carrie Lam refused further political concessions despite a landslide victory for pro-democracy parties in local elections last weekend. Sunday's district council polls delivered a stinging rebuke to the financial hub's pro-Beijing establishment and undermined their argument that a silent majority were tired of the nearly six months of increasingly violent protests. They also ushered in a rare period of calm following weeks of spiralling unrest, with no clashes or tear gas battles between protesters and police for more than a week.
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The Taliban said it was "way too early" to speak of resuming direct talks with Washington, a day after President Donald Trump suggested negotiations to end America's longest war were back on track during a surprise visit to Afghanistan. "It is way too early to talk about the resumption of talks for now. We will give our official reaction later," the Islamist group's official spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told AFP in a WhatsApp message. Trump on Thursday had said the Taliban "wants to make a deal". "We're meeting with them and we're saying it has to be a ceasefire," he told reporters during his unannounced trip to Bagram Airfield, outside the capital Kabul, to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with the troops.
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A test firing of a "super-large" multiple rocket launcher by North Korea was a final review of the weapon's combat application, Pyongyang has said. It is likely North Korea is preparing to mass produce and deploy the new weapons system soon. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) said leader Kim Jong Un expressed "great satisfaction" over the results of the test-firing. "The volley test-fire aimed to finally examine the combat application of the super-large multiple launch rocket system proved the military and technical superiority of the weapon system and its firm reliability," KCNA said. South Korea's military said North Korea fired two projectiles into its eastern waters on Thursday and expressed "strong regret" over the launches and urged North Korea to stop escalating tensions.
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A row has erupted between the UK Conservative Party and Channel 4, with the Tories saying the broadcaster "conspired" with Jeremy Corbyn to block them from a TV leaders' debate. The party has made a formal complaint to Ofcom's election committee as an ice sculpture was used in Boris Johnson's place in the Channel 4 News debate on climate change. The UK prime minister was again accused of "running scared" when he did not join the other party leaders, with Michael Gove instead turning up and asking if he could stand in for Johnson, before being turned away because he is not a party leader. A letter from the Conservatives, addressed to Ofcom election committee chairman Tim Suter, said it offered Channel 4 the former environment secretary Gove to be the party's representative for the debate.
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UK consumer confidence has "flatlined" in the face of Brexit and election uncertainty, four years since it was last in positive territory, according to a long-running survey. GfK's Consumer Confidence Index remained unchanged at minus 14 in November as consumers continued in "wait and see mode" ahead of the general election. Confidence in the general economy over the coming year rose by three points in an indication that some consumers believe the election might clear the Brexit deadlock, GfK said, but it noted it remains in "deeply negative" territory at minus 34. Confidence in personal finances over the next 12 months is unchanged at positive one, two points lower than November last year.
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