Kingfisher Share News (KGF)

LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 100 firms Babcock International and Intertek were rewarded for positive business updates early Tuesday, with their shares rising 4.0% at 1.8%, respectively.

Not so Kingfisher. The DIY retailer's shares were down 2.6% after saying sales fell in the third quarter amid continued subdued markets in France and elsewhere internationally.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.6% at 6,265.75
FTSE 250: down 0.3% at 17,052.61
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 730.63
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.4% at 22,587.63
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.2% at 19,924.89
DJIA: closed down 0.2% at 17,792.68
S&P 500: closed down 0.1% at 2,086.59
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GBP: flat at USD1.5131 (USD1.5127)
EUR: up at USD1.0642 (USD1.0604)

GOLD: up at USD1,072.35 per ounce (USD1,068.60)
OIL (Brent): flat at USD45.28 a barrel (USD45.40)

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

09:00 Germany IFO
09:00 Italy Wage Inflation
11:00 Italy Trade Balance
11:00 UK CBI Distributive Trades Survey
11:00 Ireland Retail Sales
13:30 US Gross Domestic Product Price Index Preliminary
13:30 US Goods Trade Balance
13:30 US Personal Consumption Expenditures Prices Preliminary
13:55 US Redbook index
14:00 US S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
15:00 US Consumer Confidence
15:00 US Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index
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An explosive suicide belt was discovered in a rubbish bin south of Paris, French authorities confirmed to dpa, while the Belgian government ordered the highest security alert for a week. The terrorism threat level for Belgium's capital will be maintained at the maximum level of 4, though schools and the Brussels subway system will start reopening Wednesday, Prime Minister Charles Michel said. The announcement came shortly after Belgian prosecutors said that a fourth person had been placed under arrest on terrorism charges in connection with the shootings and bombings in which 130 people were killed November 13 in Paris.
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French President Francois Hollande met Monday with British Prime Minister David Cameron in Paris as the French leader launched a week of diplomacy to bolster international support for the military fight against the Islamic State group. The two leaders visited the Bataclan concert hall where 89 people were killed in in the November 13 attacks. Hollande is to meet with US President Barack Obama on Tuesday in Washington, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday in Paris and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Moscow.
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The European Central Bank said the introduction of leverage ratio into the Basel III framework would make banks more stable. However, concern has been raised that the non-risk-based nature of the leverage ratio could incentivise banks to increase their risk-taking, a study published by the central bank showed. The ECB noted that although there is indeed an increased incentive to take risk once banks become bound by the leverage ratio, this increase is more than outweighed by the synchronous increase in loss-absorbing capacity attributable to higher capital.
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Germany's economic growth slowed as estimated in the third quarter on weak foreign trade and investment, data published by Destatis showed. Gross domestic product advanced 0.3% from the prior quarter, in line with the preliminary estimate published on November 13. But the pace of growth eased from 0.4% expansion seen in the previous quarter.
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Japan's manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in twenty months in November, as output growth quickened, the latest flash survey from Markit Economics showed. The Markit/ Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, rose to 52.8 in November from 52.4 in October. A score above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.
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Argentinian president-elect Mauricio Macri said he will focus his efforts on ending foreign exchange controls, boosting economic growth and fighting corruption and street crime. The centre-right Macri, 56, sitting mayor of Buenos Aires, is set to succeed Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as president on December 20. In a runoff election Sunday, Macri got 51.4% of the votes, while ruling-party candidate Daniel Scioli got 48.4%. Macri said he will not be appointing a single finance minister, but rather an economic team with six ministers: treasury, finance, energy, production, transport and agriculture.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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NOMURA CUTS BURBERRY TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 1,500 (1,700) PENCE
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GOLDMAN CUTS BIG YELLOW GROUP TO 'BUY' ('CONVICTION BUY LIST')
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TRADERS: HSBC RAISES HOCHSCHILD MINING TO 'BUY' ('HOLD')
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TRADERS: HSBC RAISES FLYBE GROUP TO 'BUY' ('REDUCE')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Engineer Rolls-Royce Holdings said it intends to simplify its business and cut its fixed cost base as it works to restore the business to health following a tough couple of years in which its results have been hit from multiple angles. The jet engines and power systems manufacturer issued a profit warning earlier this month, its fifth in around 18 months. Rolls-Royce said its restructuring proposals will increase its revenue segmentation, its gross margin and its trading cash flow. It intends to simplify its organisational structure, reduce fixed costs in the business and add more pace and accountability to decision-making within the business. The company said the changes it will make will deliver incremental gross cost savings of GBP150.0 million to GBP200.0 million per year, feeding through from 2017.
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DIY retailer Kingfisher said sales fell in the third quarter amid continued subdued markets in France and internationally, both hit by currency translation effects, which offset a solid performance in the UK and Ireland. The owner of B&Q in the UK and Castorama in France, along with the tradesman-focused Screwfix business, said its total sales in the quarter to the end of October fell 2.5% to GBP2.65 billion, hit hard by tough conditions and currency translation issues for its international businesses.
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Testing, inspection and certification services company Intertek Group said it remains on track to meet its expectations for the full year, despite revenue growth slowing in the second half so far. Intertek said revenue for the ten months to the end of October rose to GBP1.78 billion, up 2.8% year-on-year, though revenue for the four months to the end of October was up only 1.7% on a reported basis. On an organic basis at constant currency, however, Intertek's revenue growth for the first ten months was only 1.2%, but rose 1.8% in the four months to the end of October, indicating improved underlying trading.
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Compass Group said its pretax profit edged up in the first half despite the group booking restructuring costs, as revenue increased thanks to a strong performance in North America. The catering services and outsourcing company said its pretax profit for the year to the end of September was GBP1.16 billion, up from GBP1.14 billion a year earlier, as restructuring costs restrained its bottom line. Revenue for the period was GBP17.6 billion, up from GBP16.86 billion, driven by strong growth in Compass's North American business. Compass said its expectations for 2016 are unchanged and said it will pay a total dividend for the year up to 29.4 pence, a 10% rise year-on-year.
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Engineering support services company Babcock International Group said its pretax profit and revenue both improved in the first half thanks to a robust performance in its marine and technology division. Babcock said pretax profit for the half to the end of September was GBP146.3 million, up from GBP137.0 million a year earlier. Revenue for the period rose to GBP2.35 billion from GBP2.10 billion. The group will pay an interim dividend of 6.05 pence per share, up from 5.50p a year earlier.
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A number of major asset managers, including Aberdeen Asset Management and Old Mutual Global Investors, have said they would support HSBC Holdings should the bank decide to move its headquarters to Hong Kong amid increasingly onerous regulation on the sector in the UK, the Financial Times reported.
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HSBC Holdings will cut 2,000 jobs in its commercial banking unit within a two-year period as part of its efforts to cut costs, according to media reports on Monday. The Asia-focused bank is already said to have started the job cuts last week, including hundreds of UK-based positions. In June, HSBC had said it was undertaking a significant reshaping of its business portfolio, and targeting a reduction of group risk weighted assets of about USD290 billion. The company said at that time that it expects these actions to eliminate 25,000 jobs globally and also intended to sell its operations in Turkey and Brazil.
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The government of Eastern Libya has said it will stop any tankers operating on behalf of Glencore from loading oil at ports in the nation should the company do business with a rival political leadership in the west of the divided country, Bloomberg reported. Mohammed Elharari, a spokesman for the western administration of the National Oil Corp, confirmed to Bloomberg by phone that it had made a deal with Glencore to help market oil.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Cinema operator Cineworld Group said its pro-forma revenue rose in the first 46 weeks of its financial year, with good performances for its UK and Ireland and Central and Eastern Europe divisions. The company said its total pro-forma revenue growth for the 46 weeks to November 19 was 12%, with box office revenue up 11%, retail revenue up 13% and other sales up 16%. The pro-forma numbers include Cinema City, the central and eastern Europe-based business that Cineworld acquired in February 2014.
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Paragon Group of Companies reported higher pretax profit in its last financial year, lifted its dividend, and raised its share buyback programme by up to GBP50.0 million and extended it into 2016. The buy-to-let mortgage lender and consumer debt purchaser said pretax profit increased to GBP134.2 million in the year to September 30, compared with GBP122.8 million the prior year. The total dividend for the year increased to 11.0 pence from 9.0p.
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AO World reported that it swung to a loss in the first half as it invested in its German operations, booked start-up costs in other parts of Europe and revealed plans to launch in the Netherlands. The online retailer of domestic appliances said it made a GBP8.0 million pretax loss in the six months ended September 30, compared with a pretax profit of about GBP800,000 in the corresponding half the prior year. Revenue rose by 22% to GBP264.3 million.
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The UK's Takeover Panel said late Monday that a hearing will take place on Thursday after Irish businessman Dermot Desmond, a shareholder in Ladbrokes who has criticised the bookmaker's GBP2.3 billion merger with rival Gala Coral, requested a review of a decision made by the panel's executive arm in regards to the deal. Desmond, who owns less than 3.0% of Ladbrokes, has said the merger is "the wrong deal" and called on other shareholders to reject it at a vote to be held on Tuesday. Last Thursday Ladbrokes reiterated its recommendation that shareholders vote in favour of the proposed merger.
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Electra Private Equity late Monday revealed that activist investor Richard Bramson, who earlier this month convinced enough of the trust's shareholders to secure himself a seat on the board, has become the chairman of its so-called management engagement committee, which is responsible for reviewing the performance of investment manager Electra Partners. Geoffrey Cullinan, the former chairman of the management engagement committee, has resigned as a director of the trust with immediate effect.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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The corporate takeover wave continues to roll along, with Viagra producer Pfizer announcing its acquisition of Botox-producer Allergan for a record USD160 billion on Monday. If regulators allow the merger the resulting company would be the largest in the industry with annual revenue of about USD60 billion, far outpacing competitors. For tax reasons the deal has been structured so that Ireland-based Allergan would purchase the larger New York-based Pfizer. US regulators have recently begun to pursue measures to curtail such corporate tax-saving manoeuvres, known as "tax inversion." White House spokesman Josh Earnest, while declining to speak specifically to the merger, noted that "just last week" the US Treasury Department had announced a "handful of administrative steps to try to reduce incentive and lower the benefit for those companies seeking to engage in corporate inversion."
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German automaker Audi, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, admitted that engines it manufactures contained software considered illegal in the US. The company says it told US regulators that its 3-litre diesel cars held three software programmes that it had not previously revealed when obtaining regulatory approvals. One of those programmes could be considered to be a "defeat device" under US law. Volkswagen has previously maintained that the emissions scandal was confined to its 2-litre diesel engines, which it manufactures, while denying that larger engines manufactured by sister company Audi were similarly suspect.
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Google parent Alphabet is moving to make its disparate parts more accountable internally for spending, in an effort to ensure that its more speculative projects are self-sustaining the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. As per the new system, "bet" companies such as Google X, Google Fiber and Google Life Sciences will be charged for using corporate services such as computing, recruiting and marketing, the report said.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Ladbrokes (re Gala Coral merger)
Dunelm Group
Vinaland
Pantheon International Participations
Surface Transforms
Avanti Communications
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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