INFI.L Share News (INFI)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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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 in the UK held up well in the period, especially in its struggling general merchandise business, and it delivered its first rise in underlying pretax profit for four years.
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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 compenents for aerospace, defence and energy markets also cautioned that its organic growth rate is set to slow in the fourth quarter. However, its shares rose after it announced a new share buyback and analysts deemed the third quarter statement to be better than the low expectations reflected in the company's recent share price performance.
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Shares in Centamin fell after the FTSE 250-listed gold miner downgraded its full-year production guidance for the Sukari gold mine in Egypt, its main project. Centamin 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. Though the number is up on its 2013 production at the site of 356,943 ounces, it is a significant cut against the original forecast of 420,000 ounces, at the same cost, which Centamin had previously set out.
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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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Irish packaging giant Smurfit Kappa Group said revenue inched up in the third quarter but its pretax profit declined, after booking bigger exceptional costs in the quarter, although profits for the first nine months as a whole are up. The company said revenue rose 1% in the three months ended September 30 to EUR2.03 billion, compared with EUR2.02 billion the prior year. However its pretax profit declined by 11% to EUR93 million, down from EUR104 million the prior year, having booked EUR52 million in exceptional costs during the period, compared with only EUR17 million last year. Smurfit Kappa also said it started the rationalisation or closure of four corrugated facilities and a recycled containerboard mill in Europe, as part of its plans to cut costs across the business.
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Shares in Howden Joinery Group surged higher after the company said it expects pretax profit to beat market expectations in the full year amid a strong sales performance so far in its 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. On the back of the strong performance so far in the second half, it now expects pretax profit for the full year to be ahead of market expectations, which currently sit at GBP161 million to GBP172 million according to the company.
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Morgan Sindall Group said it has won places on contracts from BAE Systems and Network Rail worth a total of GBP413 million to the company. Morgan said its construction and infrastructure arm is to tender alongside two other contractors on a GBP300 million, eight-year redevelopment programme for BAE which will focus on the FTSE 100 defence and aerospace company's submarine building capabilities at the Barrow-in-Furness site. Earlier Wednesday, Costain Group said it also was appointed as a contractor on the BAE project at Barrow-in-Furness, which is in Cumbria, north west England. In addition, Morgan has won a GBP113 million role on the GBP250 million Edinburgh-Glasgow improvement project being run by Network Rail.
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Aer Lingus Group raised its full-year guidance as it reported a rise in operating profit in the third quarter, boosted by a robust short-haul performance and an expansion of long-haul flights. The Irish airline said it expects full-year operating profit before exceptional items to be above the EUR61.1 million recorded in 2013, despite a larger expected loss in the final quarter of the year because of fleet costs. The raised guidance comes just two days after rival Irish airline Ryanair Holdings PLC, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, raised its guidance for the current financial year, after reporting strong growth in profit and revenue in the first half, driven by higher passenger numbers, average fares and lower fuel costs.
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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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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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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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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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MARKETS
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The major UK stock indices are edging higher, with corporate updates providing a number of stand-out stock movers as markets in general enjoy a rebound from Tuesday's sell-off. Broad market positivity is being supported by the results of the US midterm elections, from which the Republicans gained control of the Senate.
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FTSE 100: up 0.9% at 6,509.89
FTSE 250: up 0.6% at 15,483.90
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 714.33
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The pound has fallen to a three-week low against the dollar after the UK service sector PMI fell to a 17-month low in October.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.5896
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2490

GOLD: down at USD1,144.43 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD82.12 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK service sector growth slowed more than expected to a seventeen-month low in October, survey results from Markit Economics and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply showed. The Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers' index fell to 56.2 in October from 58.7 in September, less than the 58.5 score expected by economists.
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Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell easily won a sixth term on Tuesday - becoming US Senate Majority Leader in the process as the GOP rolled to victory in most of the state contests that were up for grabs. With most of the 100 seats decided, the GOP won a 52-45 advantage in the Senate. The GOP also held a 237-167 advantage in the House, with 31 seats yet to be decided. Heading into the day, there were 435 seats up for grabs in the House of Representatives, 36 seats in the Senate and 36 governorships. CNN called it the largest Republican majority in Congress since World War II, and a voter indictment of US President Barack Obama.
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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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IRELAND SEP INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT RISES 3.3% ON MONTH, 21.3% ON YEAR
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IRELAND OCT JOBLESS RATE 11% VS. 11.1% IN SEPTEMBER
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Eurozone retail sales declined more than expected in September on a notable decrease in non-food product sales, data revealed. Retail sales fell 1.3% in September from last month reversing a 0.9% rise in August, Eurostat said. Sales were expected to fall moderately by 0.8%.
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The Eurozone private sector expanded slightly less than initially estimated in October, final data from Markit Economics showed. The final Markit composite output index rose to 52.1 in October from 52 in September. The reading was slightly below the flash estimate of 52.2. The headline index has now remained in expansion territory for 16 successive months. Meanwhile, the services Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 52.3 from 52.4 in September. The index was estimated to remain unchanged at 52.4.
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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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