KCOM Share News (KCOM)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices continued lower early Tuesday, but merger and acquisition activity at least gave the London market a welcome distraction from reading Brexit polls.

Premier Farnell said agreed to a takeover offer from Swiss manufacturing company Datwyler Holding, in an all-cash deal that values the London-listed company at GBP615 million.

Datwyler has agreed to buy the technology products distributor for 165 pence in cash per share, which represents an around 51% premium to Premier Farnell's closing share price of 109.3 pence on Monday. The stock was up 49% at 162.31p at the open Tuesday.

The directors of Premier Farnell have said they intend to unanimously recommend shareholders vote in favour of the deal. Datwyler has acceptances for its offer already representing 18.4% of Premier Farnell shares.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
----------
MARKETS
----------
FTSE 100: down 0.7% at 6,004.42
FTSE 250: down 0.6% at 16,478.44
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 729.42
----------
Hang Seng: down 0.6% at 20,392.53
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.0% at 15,859.00
DJIA: closed down 0.7% at 17,732.48
S&P 500: closed down 0.8% at 2,079.06
----------
GBP: down at USD1.4130 (USD1.4262)
EUR: soft at USD1.1256 (USD1.1295)

GOLD: soft at USD1,279.18 per ounce (USD1,283.52)
OIL (Brent): down at USD49.70 a barrel (USD50.62)

(changes since previous London equities close)
----------
ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
----------
Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

09:30 UK consumer, retail and producer price indices
09:30 UK DCLG house price index
10:00 EU industrial production
10:00 EU employment change
11:00 US NFIB business optimism index
13:30 US retail sales
13:30 US export and import price indices
13:55 US Redbook index
15:00 US business inventories
21:30 US API weekly crude oil stocks
----------
More than 500,000 public sector jobs could be lost if Britain votes to leave the European Union, senior Labour figures are warning as the party steps up efforts to persuade its traditional supporters to back Remain. As a series of polls put Leave ahead, former shadow chancellor Ed Balls and shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander were among 28 Labour politicians and trade unionists warning the public sector will be hit if - as some economic experts predict - a vote for Brexit results in a recession.
----------
Some 150 Russians were behind most of the violence around their country's Euro 2016 match against England in Marseille, a prosecutor said. Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said the "highly trained" hooligans had come to the port city to cause trouble. He was quoted by AFP news agency as saying the group was prepared for "hyper-fast, hyper-violent operations." No Russian fan was arrested in Saturday's clashes, in which 35 people were injured, Robin said.
----------
Australia technically started its parliamentary elections with pre-poll voting on Tuesday, ahead of the July 2 elections. About four million voters are expected to cast their ballots in the early votes. In 2013, more than 3.7 million people voted early, representing 27% of votes. In Australia, voting is compulsory. Around 16 million people are enrolled to vote, almost a million more than the 2013 elections. Australian political parties have been running their election campaign since May 9. Latest polls have put the ruling coalition level with the opposition.
----------
The gunman in a terrorist attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, appeared to have been self-radicalized from Islamist material online, US President Barack Obama said. Obama told reporters that there is "no clear evidence that he was directed externally" or that the attack on the Pulse nightclub was part of any broader terrorist plot. The president will travel Thursday to Orlando "to pay his respects to victims' families. Law enforcement officials in Florida said Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old US citizen who lived in the state, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group in an emergency call while the attack was under way. The FBI said 48 of the 49 people killed in the massacre on Sunday had been identified.
----------
US presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism" in the wake of a terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida. The presumptive nominee of the conservative Republican Party renewed his inflammatory call for a ban on Muslims entering the US and warned that large-scale immigration from Muslim countries could be a "Trojan horse" for terrorists to gain entry. Trump took to Twitter within hours of the shooting in Orlando to lambast Hillary Clinton and accused her of refusing to condemn "radical Islam" in her initial statements. Clinton argued that labeling the problem was not the real issue. "I think Donald Trump's rhetoric is quite dangerous," she told broadcaster CNN.
----------
Japan's industrial production increased more than initially estimated in April, final data published by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed. Industrial production climbed 0.5% in April from March instead of 0.3% reported initially. However, it was much slower than the 3.8% gain in the preceding month. On an annual basis, industrial production fell 3.3% in April compared to a 3.5% decline previously reported.
----------
BROKER RATING CHANGES
----------
UBS RAISES CENTRICA TO 'BUY' ('SELL') - TARGET 255 (185) PENCE
----------
BERENBERG CUTS AVEVA GROUP TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 1,800 PENCE
----------
EXANE BNP CUTS HENDERSON GROUP TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OUTPERFORM') - TARGET 240 (270)P
----------
BARCLAYS CUTS KCOM GROUP TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('OVERWEIGHT') - TARGET 110 PENCE
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 100
----------
Specialist equipment rental company Ashtead Group said it will return GBP200.0 million to shareholders via a share buyback in the current financial year as it reported surging profit and revenue and a higher dividend for the year just ended. The company said pretax profit for the financial year to April 30 was GBP616.7 million, up 24% from the GBP473.8 million made a year earlier ,as Ashtead benefited from a rise in revenue to GBP2.55 billion from GBP2.04 billion. Ashtead said it will start a GBP200.0 million share buyback in the 2017 financial year. This comes in addition to a final dividend of 18.5 pence, which means its total dividend payout for the year rises 48% to 22.5p from 15.25p the year before.
----------
Direct Line Insurance Group said the UK Prudential Regulation Authority has approved its partial internal model for the Solvency II regulatory regime. Direct Line said this will allow the group to operate under the partial internal model from July 1. The insurer said further details on its Solvency II capital position will accompany its interim results, due on August 2.
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 250
----------
Ted Baker reported growth in revenue in the 19 weeks to June 11 and said it is on track to meet the board's expectations for its full financial year to January 2017. The luxury fashion retailer said group revenue in the recent 19 weeks rose by 11% year-on-year, with 13% growth in retail sales, 7.3% in wholesale sales and 32% in e-commerce sales.
----------
Transport operator FirstGroup said pretax profit pushed higher in the year to the end of March, despite changes to its rail portfolio knocking revenue. The bus and rail services provider said its pretax profit grew to GBP113.5 million in the year to the end of March, though revenue was down 14% to GBP5.22 billion from GBP6.05 billion, reflecting the end of the First Capital Connect and First ScotRail franchises. Stripping out the impact of the end of those two franchises, underlying revenue declined 0.3% to GBP5.22 billion from GBP5.23 billion.
----------
Crest Nicholson Holdings posted strong growth in profit and revenue for its first half, and hiked its interim dividend by 42%, noting that purchaser demand remains strong despite the disruption caused by the lead-up to next week's UK vote on European Union membership. The housebuilder posted pretax profit of GBP72.6 million for the six months ended April 30, up 25% from the GBP58.3 million reported for the same period a year earlier, after revenue rose 22% to GBP408.1 million from GBP333.2 million. Crest Nicholson said it will pay an interim dividend of 9.1 pence per share, up from the 6.40p offered a year earlier.
----------
Safety, health and environmental technology company Halma posted growth in profit for its recently-ended financial year, with organic revenue growth across its operations. The company, which makes gas detectors, security sensors and environmental monitoring products, said pretax profit for the 53 weeks to April 2 rose 2.0% to GBP136.3 million from GBP133.6 million in the comparable period a year earlier. Halma will pay a final dividend of 7.83 pence per share, taking its total payout up to 12.81p from 11.96p.
----------
Healthcare real estate investment trust Assura said Chief Executive Graham Roberts is stepping down from his role in order to focus on his treatment for cancer. Roberts has been taking leave of absence since March after being diagnosed with cancer in February. He will now step down with immediate effect and Assura will commence a process to find a replacement. Chairman Simon Laffin will remain in an executive role until a new CEO is appointed.
----------
COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
----------
China National Chemical and New Hope Group are among companies considering bids for McDonald's Corp operations in the world's most populous nation, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. The report indicated that buyout firm KKR & Co is considering teaming up with a Chinese firm to make a joint bid for the mainland China franchise rights, which could fetch about USD2 billion. Potential suitors were asked to submit first-round offers by next week.
----------
Baidu, the Chinese-language Internet search provider, said it cut its revenue guidance for the second quarter of 2016. Baidu currently expects estimated second quarter 2016 revenue to be in the range of RMB18.100 billion, or USD2.807 billion, to RMB18.200 billion, or USD2.823 billion, compared to the previously stated range of RMB20.110 billion, or USD3.119 billion, to RMB20.580 billion, or USD3.192 billion.
----------
Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Premier Farnell
Ted Baker
City Merchants High Yield Trust
ICG Enterprise Trust
TP Group
Velocys
JPMorgan Income & Growth IT
Synairgen
Pro Global Insurance Solutions
Inspired Energy
Jupiter Dividend & Growth Trust
----------
By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.