Infra.india Share News (IIP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened higher Wednesday, led by FTSE 100 constituents Marks and Spencer and Meggitt and ahead of the release of the final UK service sector PMI for October.

M&S shares are up 7.7% after saying its gross margins have held up well in recently difficult period for all UK retailers. Meggitt shares were up 6.6%, after the engineering firm said its organic revenue increased in the third quarter.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.6% at 6,492.72
FTSE 250: up 0.6% at 15,479.38
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 715.70
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.6% at 23,695.62
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.4% at 16,937.32
DJIA: closed up 0.1% at 17,383.84
S&P 500: closed down 0.3% at 2,012.10
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.5957
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2515

GOLD: down at USD1,146.46 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD81.77 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 GMT)

08:45 Italy Markit Services PMI
08:50 France Markit Services PMI
08:55 Germany Markit Services PMI
09:00 EU Markit Services and Composite PMI
09:30 UK Markit Services PMI
10:00 EU Retail Sales (YoY)
12:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
13:15 US ADP Employment Change
14:30 US Fed's Lacker speech
14:45 US Markit Services and Composite PMI
15:00 US Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Rosengren Speech
15:00 US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks
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Centre-right Republicans took control of the US Senate after victories in Tuesday by-elections that they say reflected a rejection of US President Barack Obama. Republicans picked off seven seats from Democrats: in West Virginia, Arkansas, South Dakota, Colorado, Montana, Iowa and North Carolina. Democrats retained the closely contested states of New Hampshire and Virginia Republican wins came even in states that Obama had won in the most recent presidential elections, including Iowa, which gave him his first win in his 2008 presidential campaign, when voters in the Iowa caucus started him on his path to his party's nomination. Republicans also expanded their control of the lower House of Representatives and won governors' races in several states currently run by Democrats, including Obama's home state of Illinois.
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The National Institute of Economic and Social Research raised its economic outlook for the UK and expects the Bank of England to keep its interest rates unchanged until June. The think tank forecasts the economy to grow 2.5% in 2015, up from the previous forecast of around 2.3%. In 2014, gross domestic product is expected to grow 3%. Although the jobless rate fell below 6% recently, it is forecast to stabilize at around 5.5%, it said.
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Shop prices in the UK were down 1.9% on year in October, the British Retail Consortium said. That missed forecasts for a decline of 1.7% and slid further below the 1.8% contraction in September. Among the individual components, food prices added 0.1% after gaining 0.3% in September - due in large part to heavy discounting from retailers. Overall CPI was at 1.2% in September.
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Service sector activity in Ireland expanded at a slower rate in October, results of a survey by Markit Economics showed. The Investec purchasing managers' index for the services sector fell to 61.5 in October from 62.5 in September. This marked the twenty seventh consecutive month of expansion.
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China's services sector growth slowed from the previous month in October, results of a survey by Markit Economics and HSBC Bank showed. The HSBC services business activity index fell to 52.9 in October from 53.5 in September. This indicated slower growth but the expansion remained solid.
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The 2% target inflation will be achieved at the earliest possible time, Bank of Japan's Haruhiko Kuroda said in his speech following the bank's recent move to expand its massive quantitative easing. He said that the additional measures will influence mainly real interest rates and asset prices and induce an increase in private demand and an improvement in the output gap.
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Journalists and tribesmen reportedly fell victim to the Islamic State group on Tuesday as the extremist group continued to liquidate perceived enemies in territories it holds in Iraq. Local residents in the northern city of Mosul, which fell to the group in June, said the jihadists had executed four journalists. They handed over the bodies of the four people, who were among 12 journalists abducted last month, to medical authorities in the city, the residents said.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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GOLDMAN RESUMES SHIRE WITH 'CONVICTION BUY LIST' - TARGET 5600 PENCE
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BERENBERG INITIATES SABMILLER WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 3,850 PENCE
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S&P CAPITAL CUTS IMPERIAL TOBACCO TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - TARGET 2450 (2780) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Marks and Spencer Group reported a slight dip in its first-half pretax profit, after seeing a slowdown in food sales growth in the second quarter and citing a warm autumn in the UK as the reason for weaker clothing sales. But the high-street retailer said its gross margins held up well in the period, especially in its struggling general merchandise business. M&S said total UK sales were flat in the second quarter, and declined by 1.7% on a like-for-like basis, on the back of weaker sales of clothing and general merchandise and slower sales growth from its normally robust food business.
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Meggitt said its organic revenue increased in the third quarter, buoyed in particular by growth in its civil aerospace markets, but its total revenue declined as it took a hit from currency movements and as sales declined at its energy business. The engineer of components for aerospace, defence and energy markets also cautioned that its organic growth rate is set to slow in the fourth quarter. In a statement, Meggitt said its organic revenue, which excludes acquisitions, disposals and currency movements, rose 5% in the third quarter of 2014, as 18% growth in Civil original equipment, 4% growth in civil aftermarket and a return to 5% growth in military offset a 7% decline in energy revenue.
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Anglo-South African financial services group Old Mutual reported a rise in funds under management to the end of the third quarter, bolstered by growth within its wealth division. In a statement, the investment, savings, insurance and banking group said it had GBP307.6 billion of funds under management in its core operations at the end of September, an increase from the GBP300.5 billion reported at the beginning of the quarter.
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The UK government plans to oblige mobile operators to improve their coverage, possibly by sharing rivals' networks, although a series of talks held with the operators has so far failed to find a solution, the BBC reports. Partial 'notspots', where there is coverage from some but not all of the mobile networks, affected a fifth of the UK, leaving people unable to make calls or send texts, the BBC quotes the government as saying. One possible solution would see people transferred to rival networks when they lose signal, it added. The BBC cites a report compiled by OpenSignal, a company that crowd sources phone signal strength, which showed that Three had the best 3G coverage and Vodafone the worst, but Vodafone offered the fastest 4G speeds.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Bus and train operator FirstGroup reported a rise in underlying earnings in the first half of the year, boosted by its UK bus and rail operations, and said its restructuring program is on track. Underlying pretax profit, which excludes certain exceptional items, was GBP33.3 million in the six months to September 30, up from GBP19.6 million a year earlier, even though revenue fell 11% to GBP2.94 billion due to structural changes in rail revenues, UK bus operations that have been sold or closed, and foreign exchange movements.
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Drax Group said its expectations for the full year remain unchanged despite challenging conditions as it continues to progress with its transition to becoming a biomass-fuelled electricity generator whilst evaluating further investment opportunities. As at October 27, power sales in 2014 have totalled 25.9 terra-watt hours. For 2015, it said power sales are expected to total just 15.6 terra-watt hours.
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Howden Joinery Group said it expects its pretax profit for its recently-ended financial year to beat market expectations, after it put in a strong sales performance in the second half. The FTSE 250-listed kitchens and joinery products supplier said sales performed well in the second half of the year, including during October, and it noted that about 10% of annual revenue is typically generated in the last two months. Total revenue for the company's UK depots in the second half to November 1 increased 16.2%. For the first 44 weeks of the year to November 1, total revenue rose 14.1%, up 10.6% on a same depot basis.
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Lancashire Holdings said it will pay a special dividend of USD1.20 a share for the current financial year due to its strong capital position, as it reported a rise in pretax profit in the third quarter. "With no meaningful change in our outlook for the coming renewal season, we don't need as much capital as we are currently carrying. The announcement of our special dividend and dividend equivalent payments of approximately USD250 million brings our total capital return since inception to just under USD2.2 billion, or 99.5% of total comprehensive income since inception," Chief Financial Officer Elaine Whelan said in a statement.
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British pub chain JD Wetherspoon said like-for-like sales rose 6.3% in the first quarter of its new financial year, but warned that growth in October decreased, and its operating margin declined year-on-year on the back of salary increases for its staff and higher supplier costs. JD Wetherspoon said total sales were up 11.3% in the 13 week quarter ended October 26, and up 6.3% on a like-for-like basis.
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Energy services company Hunting said it set to deliver a further year of growth, as its US business in particular continues to see strong demand and the recent fall in the oil price has yet to weigh on customer demand. In a statement, Chief Executive Dennis Proctor said activity in North America has remained strong since July 1, stayed positive in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, but that the operating environment in Europe had become more challenging because drilling activity has been slow.
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Infinis Energy has secured a GBP52 million project financing facility to back the construction and operation of the A'Chruach Wind Farm in Scotland. The new facilities have been provided by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and National Australia Bank Ltd.
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esure Group warned it expects its combined operating ratio, a measure of underwriting profitability, for the full year to tick up towards 92%, assuming "normal" weather for the rest of the year. The insurer had previously said it was on track to deliver a full-year combined operating ratio "broadly similar" to the 90.9% reported for the first half of the year. A combined operating ratio of 100% represents a breakeven point, while anything above is a loss and anything below a profit.
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Stock Spirits Group warned that third-quarter revenue growth had fallen short of expectations after it was hit by aggressive pricing by competitors and heavy promotional activity in the trade market in the latter half of the quarter, and its full-year results could miss expectations as a result. In a statement, the branded spirits producer in central Europe said trading had become "very tough" in the latter half of the third quarter, particularly in Poland where it continued to see disruption in the supply chain resulting from a duty increase. It also warned the trends had continued into the start of the fourth quarter.
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Centamin downgraded its full-year production guidance for the Sukari gold mine in Egypt, the company's primary project. The FTSE 250-listed gold mining company said its forecast production for the full year in 2014 at Sukari is expected to be between 370,000 and 380,000 ounces at a cash operating cost of USD700 per ounce.
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International Public Partnerships said it intends to launch a tap issuance to raise funding to cut its debt facility. The company said it plans to raise around GBP70 million through the issue of shares to qualifying investors. The deal will be handled by Numis Securities Ltd.
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AMEC said it has extended the acceptance period for its takeover of Foster Wheeler AG until the end of the New York day on November 12, to allow Foster Wheeler shareholders time to review the takeover target's third-quarter results. In a statement, AMEC said it had acceptances for 94.291% of Foster Wheeler shares on November 4.
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Alent shares were given a boost at the open after the company said it is trading in line with expectations despite the impact of the strong sterling on its reported results and said it has appointed a new chief executive from Rolls-Royce. The FTSE 250-listed specialty chemicals and materials company said trading in the second half to November 5 has been broadly in line with expectations.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Dutch banking firm ING Group reported increased profit for the third quarter, saying that it accelerated repayment of final tranche of core Tier 1 securities after comfortably passing the AQR and stress test. Net result for the group surged to EUR928 million from EUR128 million in the prior year. Last year results have been restated.
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German media holding company Axel Springer said it has made EUR87.4 million of consolidated net income for the third quarter of 2014, compared with EUR31.0 million last year. On an adjusted basis, quarterly consolidated net income amounted to EUR47.9 million, versus the previous year's EUR46.2 million. Total revenue for the quarter went up by 8.2% year-over-year to EUR741.1 million from EUR684.8 million.
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Building material company Lafarge reported third-quarter earnings which decreased amid currency headwinds and muted construction activity in France. For the three months to September, net earnings were EUR218 million or EUR0.76 per share, down from EUR304 million or EUR1.06 per share a year earlier.
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French train maker Alstom reported first half group net profit of EUR255 million, down 32% from EUR375 million euros last year. Sales rose 13% to EUR3.06 billion for the period, from EUR2.70 billion in the prior year period. Sales were up by a healthy 13% organically, with more particularly deliveries of suburban, intercity and very high speed trains in France, Germany and Italy as well as high speed trains in Poland and in Morocco, and tramways in Dubai.
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Toyota Motor posted higher net income attributable to the company of JPY1.13 trillion in the first half of fiscal 2015, versus JPY1.0 trillion a year ago. The company clocked half-yearly net revenue of JPY12.95 trillion, compared with the prior-year figure of JPY12.54 trillion.
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Schroder Japan Growth Fund
Infrastructure India
Haynes Publishing Group
Jupiter European Opportunities Trust
Progility
Hargreaves Services
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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