International Airlines Share News (IAG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices have opened flat to marginally higher Friday, as concerns about Greek debt continue to weigh on market sentiment.

Associated British Foods is leading FTSE 100 gainers, up 3.7%, after being raised straight to Buy from Sell by Goldman Sachs.

However, most of the company news has concerned FTSE 250 companies, with M&A announcements from TeleCity, Synergy Health and Carillion.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 7,048.03
FTSE 250: flat at 18,239.73
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 770.00
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Hang Seng: up 0.1% at 27,482.68
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.1% at 20,563.15
DJIA: closed down 0.2% at 18,126.12
S&P 500: closed down 0.1% at 2,120.79
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GBP: down at USD1.5288
EUR: down at USD1.0937

GOLD: flat at USD1,188.57 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD62.81 a barrel

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

09:00 Italy Gross Domestic Product
09:00 EU M3 Money Supply and Private loans
10:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
11:00 Italy Producer Price Index
13:30 US Gross Domestic Product
13:30 US Personal Consumption Expenditures
13:30 Canada Gross Domestic Product
14:45 US Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index
15:00 US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index
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An index measuring consumer confidence in the UK decreased in May, after a 12-year high in the previous month, as all five measures contributed negatively to the index, the latest survey from GfK showed on Friday. The consumer confidence index fell 3 points to +1 from +4. Economists had expected the index to remain at +4.
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A meeting of the world's leading financial officials in Dresden enters its final day on Friday with the Greek debt crisis set to again top the talks. The finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of Seven major industrial nations meeting in the eastern German city will also focus on steps to ease the debt burden facing Ukraine, as well as measures to head off the financing of terrorist groups. The move on terrorist groups comes in the wake of evidence that the Islamic State militants have managed to build up a big war chest of funds as part of their drive to forge a caliphate in Syria and Iraq. While not on the Dresden meeting's formal agenda, the Greek crisis is expected to form part of the discussions at Friday's working session.
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International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde no longer rules out Greece exiting the eurozone. "Greece's exit is a possibility," Lagarde told Germany's daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published on the newspaper's website on Thursday. The IMF chief says that such a move would not be easy but would "probably not mean the end of the euro." Lagarde added: "It is very unlikely that we will reach a comprehensive solution in the next few days."
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British Prime Minister David Cameron met Dutch and French leaders Thursday as he began a Europe-wide trip to drum up support for EU reforms in the face of strong opposition from some of the continent's major powers. "My priority is to make the EU more competitive, while also doing what's best for Britain," Cameron said in Paris after meeting with French President Francois Hollande. While the premier was travelling, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond introduced the EU Referendum Bill to the British parliament, confirming plans to hold a referendum before the end of 2017 on whether Britain should remain a member of the EU.
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France's household consumption grew less-than-expected in April after a slump in March, amid weaker spending on durables, figures from the statistical office INSEE showed. Household consumption edged up 0.1% from March, when it declined 0.7%, which was the biggest fall since January 2014. Economists had forecast 0.4% growth.
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Consumer prices in Japan increased at a slower rate in April compared to the previous month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. The consumer price index were up 0.6% on year in April, slower than the previous month's 2.3 growth. Core inflation, which strips out the volatile costs of food, advanced 0.3%, slower than the previous month's 2.2% increase.
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Japan's unemployment rate dropped unexpectedly to a 18-year low in April, the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs said. The jobless rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.3% in April, down slightly from 3.4% in the previous month. Economists had expected the rate to remain stable at 3.4%.
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Industrial output in Japan increased as expected in April, after declining in the previous two months, preliminary figures from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed Thursday. Industrial production climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.0% month-over-month in April, in line with expectations, reversing a 0.8% fall in March. It was the first increase in three months.
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Beleaguered president Joseph Blatter opened the 65th FIFA congress on Thursday - after crisis meetings and being told by European football boss Michel Platini to step down from the top job at the world ruling body. Platini said that UEFA will attend the congress, despite an earlier boycott threat, and that most of its members supported Blatter's challenger, Jordan's Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein, in Friday's FIFA presidential election. Sponsors increased pressure on FIFA and its president while Olympic supremo Thomas Bach urged FIFA to follow their example toward reform.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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GOLDMAN RAISES AB FOODS TO 'BUY' ('SELL') - TARGET 3120 (2755) PENCE
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GOLDMAN RESUMES AVIVA WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 610 PENCE
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BARCLAYS RAISES OPHIR ENERGY TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL WEIGHT')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Life insurance and asset management group Old Mutual said it has agreed a deal to sell the Swiss arm of its Skandia business for an undisclosed amount. The Anglo-South African group said Skandia Leben, part of its Old Mutual Wealth division, has been sold to Life Invest Holding, a company formed by the German conglomerate Mutschler Group and Hannover Re, the German reinsurer.
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British Land said that it and its partner Oxford Properties have completed three lettings deals at the Leadenhall Building in the City of London. British Land said the lettings at the building, known as the Cheesegrater, have been made with insurer Brit, Spanish banking group Banco Sabadell and investment manager Kames Capital. The building is now 84% let. Banco Sabadell is in the process of buying TSB Banking Group.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is preparing for the UK government to start offloading shares in the lender by inviting investment banks to pitch for an enlarged corporate broking role, the Financial Times reported. RBS is inviting pitches from banks for an expanded corporate broking role which would include acting as privatisation advisers. Senior figures at the bank told the FT that the government could launch the share sale in the fourth quarter of 2015 after RBS closes a settlement with US regulators over the mis-selling of sub-prime mortgage securities. The UK government still owns about 80% of RBS after injecting it with GBP45 billion to prevent the bank from failing at the height of the financial crisis.
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Aer Lingus Group and International Consolidated Airlines Group late Thursday welcomed the decision by the Irish government - the Dáil - to approve the sale of its shareholding in Aer Lingus to IAG. The Irish government gave its backing to IAG's EUR1.4 billion offer for Aer Lingus on Tuesday. The other obstacle IAG still has to overcome is securing the support of Ryanair Holdings, the budget carrier which holds a 29.8% stake in Aer Lingus.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Construction and support services company Carillion said it has acquired Canadian remote-site accommodation and services business Outland Group for up to GBP63 million in cash in order to boost its operations in Canada.
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TeleCity Group said it agreed terms on a GBP2.35 billion cash and share takeover offer from US peer Equinix, and terminated its previous deal to acquire Dutch data centre company Interxion Holding.
Under the terms of the deal TeleCity shareholders will receive 572.5 pence in cash and 0.0327 shares in the new company per share, which values each TeleCity share at 1,145.0 pence. Following the completion of the takeover, TeleCity shareholders will hold around 10.1% of the combined company.
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Synergy Health and STERIS said they intend to contest the US Federal Trade Commission's attempt to block STERIS's proposed USD1.9 billion cash and share takeover of Synergy Health. The FTC has informed Synergy that it intends to seek to block the acquisition. STERIS and Synergy said in a statement that they welcome "a full judicial review of the competitive effects of the combination".
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Banco Sabadell and TSB Banking Group said they have extended the offer timetable on the Spanish bank's bid for the UK lender. Banco Sabadell agreed a deal in March to acquire TSB for GBP1.7 billion and has secured the backing of key shareholder Lloyds Banking Group. On Friday, Sabadell said the deal remain conditional on the Prudential Regulation Authority in the UK approving a change of control of TSB. Sabadell said the talks are progressing well but said it has agreed that, owing to the regulatory timetable, that the latest date the offer can be declared unconditional has been extended to July 7.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Oil and gas explorer Afren said it has secured a higher-than-anticipated funding commitment from its noteholders, as it said revenue and its operating cash flow in the first quarter of 2015 dropped sharply year-on-year. Afren said that holders of its 2016, 2019 and 2020 nots have agreed to subscribe for new senior notes up to the maximum permitted level of USD369 million, USD93 million more than the company had announced it would received in net cash proceeds at the end of April. Afren also said revenue in the first quarter to the end of March was down sharply to USD103.3 million from USD269 million a year earlier, with its operating cash flow prior to working capital movements down to GBP59.1 million from GBP169.1 million.
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Entu said it has appointed Geoff Stevens as chief financial officer effective from June 1. The home improvement group, which provides energy efficiency products and services, said that Stevens has worked as CFO in a variety of companies, most recently at John Brown Media Group and Protocol Group.
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Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings said it expects revenue to continue to fall in its current year, and revenue in its recently ended financial year to be in line with previous guidance. The company, which provides clinical laboratory diagnostic services, expects to post revenue of GBP45 million for the year to end-March 2015, compared to GBP52 million a year before. It expects revenue to fall further in its current year to end-March 2016 to a range between GBP39 million and GBP42 million.
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Circle Oil said it has poached Mitchell Flegg from fellow AIM-listed oil and gas firm Serica Energy to be its new chief executive. Flegg will join the company on June 1 and moves from his role as chief operating officer at Serica. Serica didn't say if or how Flegg will be replaced.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Chip maker Intel is close to a deal to buy programmable chip maker Altera for about USD15 billion, the New York Post reported.
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Financial services giant JPMorgan Chase & Co plans to cut more than 5,000 jobs as part of its efforts to cut down on costs and boost efficiency, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the company's decision. According to the WSJ report, JPMorgan has already initiated the job cuts and will cut at least 2% of its workforce over the next year. About 1,000 of the 5,000 job cuts have reportedly been carried out.
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The French biotech company Cellectis is in talks about its potential sale, with Pfizer of the US believed to be among the buyers, the Financial Times reported citing people familiar with matter. The report indicated Cellectis was in negotiations over a deal but warned that no outcome was certain. One person said Pfizer had informally approached the company about a deal that could value the target at as much as EUR1.5 billion.
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Defective airbags made by Japanese manufacturer Takata have forced Fiat Chrysler to recall 5.2 million cars worldwide, the company said. The company was just one of several automakers that added more cars to existing recalls, news reports said. Fiat Chrysler expanded its previous recall for driver-side Takata airbags by 1.8 million vehicles, Automotive News said.
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Google unveiled a new payment service and also security upgrades to its Android software, as the tech giant takes on rivals like Apple. At its annual developers' conference in San Francisco, Google unveiled Android M, the new version of its mobile software, and which will include Android Pay. Android Pay allows users of mobile phones equipped with Google's mobile operating system, Android, to upload credit or debit card to a mobile wallet on their phone.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Flying Brands
Richland Resources
Shanta Gold
Immupharma
Lookers
Tekcapital
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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