Kingfisher Share News (KGF)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Thursday.
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COMPANIES
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The initial public offering of B&M European Value Retail SA, the discount retailer chaired by former Tesco PLC Chief Executive Terry Leahy, was well received Thursday, as it became the biggest London IPO of the year so far. The company priced its IPO on the London main market at 270 pence a share, giving it an initial market capitalisation of GBP2.7 billion. However, it was trading at 283.50 pence in early conditional dealings. B&M was joined Thursday by online retailer Mysale Group PLC, part owned by the wife of UK retailer Philip Green, in pricing its IPO. MySale is listing on London's AIM market. Its placing price was set at 226 pence per share, which will give it an initial market capitalisation of about GBP340 million when it starts trading on June 16.
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AstraZeneca PLC said it has signed a global licence agreement with AIM-listed biotechnology company Synairgen PLC for its SNG001 compound for the treatment of infections that exacerbate asthma. The compound is used to treat respiratory tract infections in patients with severe asthma, by correcting a deficiency that makes patients vulnerable to the infections. Under the terms of the deal, AstraZeneca will pay Synairgen an up-front free of USD7.25 million, with potential milestone payments of up to USD225 million possible.
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Separately, AstraZeneca and Amgen Inc said late Wednesday that phase II study results of psoriatic arthritis drug brodalumab showed that the treatment showed significant improvement in clinical symptoms. The results, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and will be presented at the 2014 European League Against Rheumatism congress in June, also showed that many patients continued to improve and saw sustained improvements. The companies said that the encouraging data from the study was why they had opted to continue developing brodalumab as a potential treatment for psoriatic arthritis.
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Home improvement retailer Kingfisher PLC said Philippe Tible, chief executive of its Castorama & Brico Dépôt brands, will step down at the end of July, although he'll stay with the company until the end of the year to assist with the company's exclusive talks to buy Mr Bricolage. The company's Chairman, Daniel Bernard, said the company had decided to change the leadership of its European operation given the changes that are being undertaken in that business. Group Chief Executive Ian Cheshire said he was promoting both Véronique Laury, CEO of Castorama France, and Alain Souillard, CEO of Brico Dépôt brand International, to the company's executive team.
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Imperial Tobacco Group PLC is considering a deal to buy assets that are likely to be sold by US tobacco companies Reynolds American Inc and Lorillard Inc if they go ahead with a proposed merger, Reuters reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The two US tobacco companies are in advanced talks about a deal and have discussed selling some brands to address antitrust concerns, the report said.
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Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail Group PLC Thursday said sales growth accelerated in both its businesses in the first quarter of the year, driven by strong sales of seasonal and electrical products and of big-ticket items such as kitchens. "At this early stage of the financial year, we expect to deliver full year group benchmark profit in line with current market expectations," said Chief Executive John Walden in a statement. Home Retail said it is now forecasting a benchmark pretax profit for the full year of between GBP122 million and GBP135 million, compared with a market consensus that the company put at GBP129 million. Benchmark pretax profit strips out costs such as amortisation of intangibles, store impairment charges and exceptional items.
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Engineering and consulting firm WS Atkins PLC reported an increase in profit and revenue for its recent full year, following a strong performance in Asia Pacific and the UK and Europe. The company, which has operations around the world including the Middle East, posted pretax profit of GBP114.2 million for the year ended March 31, up 17% from GBP98.0 million a year earlier, as revenue crept up to GBP1.75 billion from GBP1.71 billion a year earlier.
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Premier Oil PLC said the UK government has approved its development plan for the Catcher oil and gas field area in the North Sea, meaning it can press ahead with developing oil fields within the area for first production, expected in mid-2017. The Premier-operated Catcher area, located in the UK Central North Sea, is expected to produce 96 million barrels of oil equivalent with a peak production rate of around 50,000 barrels of oil per day, the company is forecasting.
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Halma PLC upped its total dividend for the year to end-March and expressed confidence for further growth in the year ahead, as it saw pretax profit rise, boosted by strong revenue growth in the US, UK and mainland Europe. The technology company proposed a total dividend of 11.17 pence, up 7.1% from 10.43 pence in the previous year. Halma posted a pretax profit of GBP138.7 million, up 15% from GBP120.1 million, as it saw revenue rise 9.3% to GBP676.5 million from GBP619.2 million.
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Irish airline Aer Lingus Group PLC became the second European airline in two days to issue a profit warning, with the country''s flag carrier blamed the threat of further strike action by cabin crew for hitting bookings. Airline stocks across Europe fell sharply Wednesday after German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG reduced its profit expectations for this year and next, warning that it was having to reduce prices on European and US routes due to weak demand, and it had also been hit by a recent pilots strike. Aer Lingus said that the threat of strike action by the Impact union had caused "significant" damage to its trading and forward bookings for several months into the future. The hit had been particularly noticeable in recent days following increased media coverage and commentary, it said. "Aer Lingus now expects that its 2014 operating profits (before net exceptional items) will be 10% to 20% lower than last year. The outcome will depend in part on the speed with which we can win back customer confidence," it said.
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MARKETS
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UK stock indices are trading mixed, with the mining stocks underperfoming and the price of oil rising, as investors continue to react to the lower global growth forecast from the World Bank and the deteriorating situation in Iraq.
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,847.10
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 16,119.85
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.6% at 794.66
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The price of Brent crude oil has risen to more than a three-month high on the back of supply concerns and the uncertainty in Iraq.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6826
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3537

GOLD: up at USD1,261.60 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD110.66 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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House prices in the UK were higher in May, the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors revealed on Thursday with an index score of 57%. That's up from 55% in April, and it topped forecasts for 52%. RICS now expected house prices to rise 3.6% in the next year.
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Ireland's EU measure of inflation held steady in May, after accelerating in the previous two months, a report from the Central Statistics Office showed. The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 0.4% annually, same as in April. In March, inflation was 0.3%. The latest figure is the highest since July last year, when the rate was 0.7%.
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Wholesale prices in Germany declined at a slower year-over-year rate in May, a report from Destatis showed. Wholesale prices fell 0.9% in May over last year, following a 1.3% decline in April. This marked the eleventh consecutive decline in wholesale prices. On a month-over-month basis, wholesale selling prices fell 0.1%, partially reversing the 0.2% rise in April.
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France's EU measure of inflation was stable in May, in line with economists' expectations, figures from the statistical office INSEE showed. The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 0.8% year-on-year, same as in April. On monthly basis, the index remained flat, also similar to the previous month. Both outcomes were in line with economists' expectations. The consumer price index climbed 0.7% annually, repeating April's gain and matched economists' consensus.
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The Iraqi army has retaken full control of the central city of Tikrit, a day after militant jihadists seized it, state-run Iraqiya TV reports.
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The Iraqi parliament is to meet Thursday to consider imposing a state of emergency as Islamist militants attempt to push south towards Baghdad after having seized swathes of northern and western Iraq. The meeting comes in response to a request by outgoing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talibini to grant the government increased powers to take on the jihadists.
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Iraq has said it would allow the US to launch airstrikes against al Qaeda-linked militants in the north of the country, the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing unnamed US officials. The Obama administration was considering a range of options, including airstrikes carried out by drones or manned aircraft, senior US officials said.
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US drones killed 16 Islamist militants at their hideouts in north-western Pakistan, in the first strikes by the unmanned aircraft in almost six months, officials said. Drones fired around 20 missiles at two separate locations in North Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border, destroying compounds and vehicles allegedly used by militants, security officials said. At least 10 suspected members of the Haqqani group of Afghan Taliban were killed in strikes early Thursday in the Dandy Darpa Khel area. Overnight, six militants, including Uzbek members of the Taliban, were killed in a separate drone attack in the Ghulam Khan area of North Waziristan, officials said. The attacks occurred after Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) - a group of Central Asian militants affiliated with al-Qaeda - said its fighters staged a siege of country's busiest airport on Sunday night.
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The world must act to contain the risk of another devastating housing crash, the International Monetary Fund warned as it published new data showing house prices are well above their historical average in many countries, according to the Financial Times on Thursday. The paper quotes Min Zhu, the IMF’s deputy managing director, saying that the tools for containing housing booms were “still being developed” but that “this should not be an excuse for inaction”.
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Chinese fighter jets buzzed Japanese military planes in airspace that both countries claim as their identification zone, prompting Tokyo to summon the Chinese ambassador Thursday in protest. A Chinese SU-27 fighter flew to within 30 metres of a Japanese YS-11 EB plane, and an OP-3C reconnaissance plane was also approached by another fighter in the same airspace, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters late Wednesday.
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All 32 World Cup teams are now in Brazil after the arrivals Wednesday of the last three squads on the eve of the tournament opener. Ghana, South Korea and Portugal completed the line-up following Nigeria's arrival late Tuesday. The World Cup kicks-off Thursday when hosts Brazil play Croatia in Sao Paulo.
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