Kingfisher Share News (KGF)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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RSA Insurance Group PLC launched a GBP773.0 million fully-underwritten, discounted rights issue in order to shore up its balance sheet, as Chief Executive Stephen Hester's recovery plan for the troubled FTSE 100 insurer begins to take shape. RSA, which has battled with increased claims costs and an accounting scandal in its Ireland business, is offering three shares for every eight owned by current shareholders at 56.0 pence each, a 40% discount to Monday's closing price. The rights issue is fully-underwritten by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan Cazenove, and will raise GBP748.0 million net of expenses.
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Royal Mail PLC said it will commence a formal consultation with unions Unite and Communication Workers Union with a proposal to cut 1,600 jobs and create approximately 300 new or enhanced roles as part of its continued efficiency programme. The recently listed postal company said that no frontline staff, i.e. postmen and women, would be affected by the net staff reduction, nor would the services Royal Mail provides to its customers. The cuts will rather affect the Group's operational and head office managerial population. The headcount reduction is slated to deliver annualised cost savings of around GBP50 million. Royal Mail said the charge of around GBP100 million associated with its efficiency programme will be recognised in transformation costs, resulting in a total charge of around GBP230 million for 2013-14.
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Centrica PLC said that, together with Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners LP and iCON Infrastructure Partners II LP, it has agreed to acquire Bord Gais Energy for GBP920 million. The energy company, which owns British Gas Ltd, said that the transaction for the vertically integrated Irish energy business, owned by Irish state energy company Bord Gais Eireann, is expected for completion in the first half of 2014. As part of the deal, Centrica will acquire BGE's gas and electricity supply business in Ireland and the Whitegate gas-fired power station.
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Wolseley PLC said total revenue rose nearly 4% and pretax profit jumped during the recent half year as it recorded good growth in its USA and UK businesses, and a modest uptick in like-for-like growth in Nordics. The multinational building materials distribution company said total revenue for the half-year to January 31, was up 3.9% at GBP6.52 billion from GBP6.28 billion in the comparable period last year. Pretax profit jumped 63.7%, reaching GBP316 million for the six months, up from GBP193 million in 2013. Revenue from ongoing business was up 5.2% to GBP6.41 billion from GBP6.10 billion, a 3.2% like-for-like increase, said Wolseley.
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Europe's largest home improvement retailer Kingfisher PLC delivered an increase in profits and revenues for its recent financial year, while announcing the start of a multi-year capital return programme to shareholders this year and plans for a joint venture partner for B&Q China. Kingfisher said that this year it will start a multi-year programme of additional capital returns to shareholders, starting with around GBP200 million during the current financial year. It also declared a full-year dividend of 9.9 pence per share, a 4.7% increase on the 9.46 pence a year earlier.
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Shares in low-cost airline easyJet PLC have soared after the company said it expects its pretax loss for the first-half to be lower than previous expectations and boosted forecasted revenue per seat growth, after revising figures announced in January due to the timing of Easter. The FTSE 100-listed company was leading the blue-chip index after it said it now expects to deliver a first half performance ahead of the guidance given in its interim management statement on January 23, when easyJet said it expected its pretax loss for the half-year to come in between GBP70 million and GBP90 million. easyJet's revised expectations state that the firm now expects a narrowed pre-tax loss of GBP55 million - GBP65 million, compared to the GBP61 million pretax loss the previous year for the six months to March 31, 2014.
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MARKETS
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UK stock indices trade firmly higher after UK inflation fell to a fresh four-year low.
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FTSE 100: up 1.0% at 6,586.5
FTSE 250: up 0.6% at 16,108.23
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 847.8
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The pound has jumped against the dollar after positive inflation data, while the euro is down after a decline in Germany's business confidence.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6502
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3816

GOLD: up at USD1,314.50 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD107.10 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK inflation slowed as expected to a four-year low on transport prices in February, official data revealed. Consumer prices rose 1.7% year-on-year after increasing 1.9% in January, the Office for National Statistics said. The rate came in line with economists' expectations. The decline in January took the rate below the 2% target for the first time since November 2009. Inflation has slowed for the fifth month in a row in February.
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Mortgage approvals for house purchase in the UK unexpectedly declined in February from its highest level in nearly six-and-a-half years, latest figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) revealed. The number of home loan approvals decreased to a seasonally adjusted 47,550 from 49,341 in January, which was revised from 49,972. Economists had forecast an increase in the figure to 50,000. The January level is the highest since September 2007, when it was 54,148. In February 2013, approvals totaled 31,073. Total number of approvals, which includes re-mortgages and other secured borrowing, was 78,424 in February versus 81,047 in the previous month.
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UK house prices increased the most since August 2010 with prices in London again showing the highest annual growth. House prices were up 6.8% year-on-year in January, faster than the 5.5% rise seen in December, the Office for National Statistics said. January's growth was the fastest since August 2010, when the increase was 8.1%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices increased 0.6% between December and January.
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Germany's business confidence declined by more than expected in March, reports said citing a monthly survey from Ifo institute. The business sentiment index dropped to 110.7 from 111.3 in February, when the score was expected to fall to 110.9.
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Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) decided Monday to hold a June summit in Brussels, instead of attending a Group of Eight summit hosted by Russia. The decision by G7 leaders, at an emergency meeting to discuss Moscow's actions in Crimea, came hours after Ukraine ordered the complete withdrawal of its troops from the peninsula, which Russia annexed last week.
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An aid package that would provide USD1 billion in loan guarantees for Ukraine cleared its first hurdle in the Senate despite threats by some opposition Republicans to block it. The 78-17 vote to close debate in the Democratic-controlled Senate signalled the measure would sail through final passage this week in the 100-member upper chamber. The aid legislation faces a stronger resistance in the lower House of Representatives, where Republicans hold the majority.
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The World Bank advised China to tackle environmental degradation and other strains of rapid urbanization by systematically changing how it allocates land, people and capital across the nation. In a report released Tuesday, the lender said China should build denser, rather than larger, cities to cut down on traffic congestion, air and water pollution and the maintenance costs for infrastructure services.
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A survey monitoring the Chinese economy continued to expand in February, the latest leading index from the Conference Board revealed, adding 0.9% on month to a score of 282.4. That follows the 0.3% increase in January and the 0.4% gain in December.
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Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of Brazil, citing fiscal slippage and subdued growth prospects over the coming years. The long-term bond rating was lowered by one notch to 'BBB-', the lowest investment grade, from 'BBB'. The outlook on the rating remains 'stable' as institutions and balance sheet remain strong.
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North Korea's recent missile tests and continued nuclear programme were in response to provocations by the US including joint military drills with South Korea, a North Korean official said Monday at the United Nations. Ri Tong Il, Pyongyan's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said that the US continues to drive a wedge between North and South Korea by holding military drills with South Korea and releasing "manipulated" reports of human rights abuses in North Korea, which disrupt improving relations on the divided peninsula.
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Angry relatives of passengers from the lost Malaysia Airlines flight demonstrated in Beijing Tuesday, as bad weather suspended the search for debris in the Indian Ocean that could help explain what happened to flight MH370. The Malaysian government announced late Monday that the plane went down in the southern Indian Ocean with all 239 lives lost, mostly Chinese. Hundreds of relatives of those aboard the flight marched through Beijing demanding a fuller account from the Malaysian authorities of how they died, state media reported. Heavy rain, gale-force winds and low clouds stopped the hunt for the plane in an area 2,500 kilometres south-west of Perth, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.
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Climate scientists and government representatives met behind closed doors in the Japanese city of Yokohama to draw up the second part of a key assessment of the global climate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will finalize its report on the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems, and possible methods of adaptation during the five-day conference. "Climate challenge is a long term challenge, but it requires urgent action," warned Achim Steiner, the head of the UN Environment Programme, in a video message at the opening of the meeting.
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An Egyptian court began trying 683 alleged supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi on capital charges in the southern city of Minya, media reported. Security was strict and police sealed off streets, the independent newspaper al-Shorouk said. Judge Saeed Youssef, who sentenced 529 people to death on Monday, was also in charge of the trial of the 683. They are accused of storming a police station and killing officers in the town of Udwa last August.
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