Legal & General Share News (LGEN)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices in London are flat to slightly higher early Wednesday, with blue-chips outperforming, led by Legal & General, London Stock Exchange and miners.

L&G and LSE shares are up 3.6% and 2.4%, respectively, after providing positive half-year results. Miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Glencore are up more than 2% each, after being upgraded to Hold from Sell by Liberum.

Still ahead, emerging markets-focused bank Standard Chartered is due to provide its interim results at 0915 BST.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.3% at 6,706.51
FTSE 250: flat at 17,728.86
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 754.91
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Hang Seng: up 0.3% at 24,489.08
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.5% at 20,614.06
DJIA: closed down 0.3% at 17,550.69
S&P 500: closed down 0.2% at 2,093.32
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GBP: up at USD1.5584
EUR: down at USD1.0872

GOLD: up at USD1,086.90 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD50.44 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

08:45 Italy Markit Services PMI
08:50 France Markit Services and Composite PMI
08:55 Germany Markit Services and Composite PMI
09:00 Italy Industrial Output
09:00 EU Markit Services and Composite PMI
09:30 UK Markit Services PMI
10:00 EU Retail Sales
12:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
13:15 US ADP Employment Change
13:30 US Trade Balance
13:30 Canada International Merchandise Trade
14:45 US Markit PMI Services and Composite
15:00 US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI
15:30 US EIA crude oil stocks
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The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has said the economy is ready for its first increase in short-term rates and added it would take a significant deterioration in economic data to convince him not to push for a rate hike in September, The Wall Street Journal reported. Dennis Lockhart, speaking in an interview with the WSJ, said: "I think there is a high bar right now to not acting, speaking for myself."
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The UK economy is set to see a reasonable pace of growth in the second half of the year driven by consumption and business investment, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said. The growth outlook for 2015 was retained at 2.5%. The think tank said growth will remain close to this rate throughout the forecast period. The NIESR said the increase in unemployment rate in three months to May was only temporary. It will be reversed in the coming quarters as the jobless rate gradually falls to its long-run level of 5% to 5.5%. Further, it assessed inflation to continue to hover around zero throughout the remainder of this year.
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Shop prices in the UK were down 1.4% on year in July, the British Retail Consortium said, after slipping 1.3% in June. Food prices were up 0.1% on year, following the 0.4% decline in June, but non-food prices tumbled an annual 2.3%. Home entertainment prices were down 5.5% on year, while clothing prices dipped 4.9%. On a monthly basis, prices were down 0.8%, marking the 27th consecutive month of decline.
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The services sector in China continued to expand in July, and at an accelerated pace, the latest survey from Caixin showed, with a PMI score of 53.8. That's up from 51.8 in June, and it moves further above the level of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The composite index came in with a score of 50.2, down from 50.6 in the previous month.
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The services sector in Japan continued to expand in July, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed on Wednesday with a PMI score of 51.2. That's down from 51.8 in June. The composite index came in with a score of 51.5, unchanged from the previous month.
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US State Secretary John Kerry said he had a "good meeting" on Wednesday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, amid tensions over territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Kerry was later to meet with foreign ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, assembled in Kuala Lumpur this week. Several ASEAN members have expressed concern over Chinese construction to build up shoals or expand islets in areas disputed with neighbouring countries.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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Liberum Upgrades BHP Billiton To Hold From Sell, Price Target At 1,250p
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Liberum Lifts Glencore To Hold From Sell, Price Target At 200p
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Liberum Ups Rio Tinto To Hold From Sell, Price Target At 2,380p
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CREDIT SUISSE RAISES ROLLS-ROYCE TO 'NEUTRAL' ('UNDERPERFORM') - TARGET 845.0 (784.3) PENCE
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SOCGEN RAISES MEGGITT TO 'HOLD' ('SELL') - TARGET 495 (502) PENCE
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BARCLAYS RAISES CINEWORLD TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL WEIGHT')- TARGET 580 (325) P.
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BERENBERG CUTS THOMAS COOK TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - PRICE TARGET 100 (130) PENCE
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TRADERS: NUMIS CUTS MELROSE INDUSTRIES TO 'HOLD' ('ADD')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Legal & General Group reported an 18% increase in first-half operating profit, driven by growth in four of the insurance and investment company's six divisions. Legal & General increased its interim dividend by 19% to 3.45 pence per share from 2.90p, as operating profit increased by 18% to GBP750 million in the six months to the end of June, ahead of the 3.36p interim dividend and GBP692 million operating profit analyst forecast provided by the company. Operational cash generation increased to GBP624 million from GBP578 million, which was ahead of the GBP618 million forecast by analysts.
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London Stock Exchange Group reported a 17% increase in first-half operating profit, driven by higher revenue from the acquisition of Frank Russell Co. In a statement, the company said it made a GBP239.4 million operating profit in the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP205.7 million in the corresponding half of 2014. Revenue increased by 90% to GBP1.16 billion when including the acquisition of Frank Russell. Revenue from continuing operations was up 9%, the group said. The group increased its interim dividend by 11% to 10.8 pence, and said it wants to provide an update on capital allocation, including its longer-term dividend policy, in March 2016.
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Glencore said the directors of its Optimum Coal Holdings and Optimum Coal Mine have started business rescue proceedings in South Africa amid an ongoing dispute with local utility Eskom on the coal supply agreement between the two. Glencore said Optimum has spent the past six months taking a number of steps to restructure its operations and cut costs, including downscaling its operations and reducing its production, but has continued to face financial difficulties due to the supply agreement it has in place with Eskom.
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Baxalta rejected an unsolicited USD30 billion takeover bid from Ireland-based pharmaceutical company Shire, saying that its board of directors determined the all-share offer is not in the best interests of Baxalta or its shareholders. Wayne Hockmeyer, chairman of the board of Baxalta said: "The board today reaffirmed its conclusion that Shire's proposal significantly undervalues Baxalta and its attractive prospects for growth and value creation, and that a merger at this time would be severely disruptive at this very early stage of Baxalta's existence as a public company and presents a significant and real risk to value creation for our shareholders." Baxalta, which was spun off from healthcare company Baxter International in early July, noted that it received this same proposal privately from Shire on July 10.
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A 24-year-old man was killed Tuesday after an oil furnace exploded at a site owned by the UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in Belgium, local media reported. The production technician was seriously injured by the explosion and later died in hospital. Three other workers were treated for shock in an infirmary at the GlaxoSmithKline site, according to the Belga news agency. The vaccine research and development facility is located in Rixensart, about 20 kilometres south of Brussels. Several furnaces located outside production buildings on the property were undergoing maintenance at the time of the blast, Belga quoted a company spokesman as saying. The explosion propelled a lot of debris, injuring the nearby technician, Belga said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Low-cost airlines Ryanair Holdings and Wizz Air Holdings said they grew both passenger numbers and load factor in July on the same month the year before. Ryanair said its customer numbers rose 11% year-on-year to 10.1 million in July from 9.2 million, while its load factor increased to 95% from 91%. It claimed that this was the first time that any airline has carried more than 10 million international customers in one month. Wizz Air said its passenger numbers grew 20% year-on-year to 2.0 million from 1.6 million, while its load factor increased to 92.7% from 91.6%.
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Electra Private Equity said it has agreed to sell its ventilation systems manufacturer Nuaire to London-listed Polypipe Group, which manufactures plastic piping systems, in a deal valued at about GBP145 million in cash. In a statement, Electra said it would receive about GBP72 million on completing the deal, an uplift of GBP24 million on the value it gave to Wales-based Nuaire at the end of March. Meanwhile, Polypipe said it remains confident that its own results for 2015 will be in line with board expectations.
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Unite Group posted a huge rise in pretax profit in the first half of 2015, driven in part by gains made on the revaluation of its property but also by growth in its rental income and revenue, prompting the company to more than double its dividend payout. The student accommodation developer said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of June was GBP227.3 million, significantly higher than the GBP44.6 million it posted a year earlier. Unite said it will pay an interim dividend of 5.5 pence per share, more than double the 2.2p per share it paid out a year earlier.
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Spirax-Sarco Engineering said currency effects dragged down its pretax profit and revenue in the first half, along with costs associated with the start-up of its business in India and with the restructuring of its UK operations. The company said pretax profit in the first half was down by 10% to GBP57.3 million from GBP63.5 million a year earlier, primarily due to the GBP8.2 million in exceptional costs it booked in the half from the start-up of its business in India and from the job cuts it made in the UK. The company said it will pay an interim dividend of 20.8 pence per share, up from 19.5p per share a year earlier.
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BBA Aviation said its pretax profit fell in the first half due to weakness in the European business and general aviation and commercial aircraft markets, which also caused revenue to fall, though it still raised its dividend slightly. The aviation services company said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of June was USD61.7 million, down from USD92.0 million a year before.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Iron ore pellets producer Ferrexpo said its pretax profit slumped in the first half of 2015 as the collapse in world iron ore prices offset a rise in production volumes. Ferrexpo said its pretax profit for the half was USD143.0 million, sharply lower than the USD248.0 million it made a year earlier as its revenue fell by 33% to USD512 million from USD759 million thanks to the 46% fall in iron ore prices since the first half of 2014. The group will pay a flat 3.3 cents interim dividend.
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Devro reported a huge boost in profit and a rise in revenue in the first half of 2015 as it cut down on exceptional costs and benefited from a strong demand for its products. Devro, which manufactures collagen products for the food industry, said that its pretax profit in the six months ended June 30 rose to GBP9.6 million from GBP1.6 million in the same period the year before, as exceptional costs were reduced GBP4.0 million from GBP10.8 million. Devro will pay an interim dividend of 2.70 pence, which is flat year-on-year.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Diversified media and entertainment conglomerate Walt Disney Co said its third quarter profit rose 11% from last year, driven mainly by strong earnings growth at its film and consumer products divisions. The company's quarterly earnings per share came in above analysts' expectations, but its quarterly revenue fell short of analysts' forecast.
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The Travelers Companies announced that Alan Schnitzer will succeed Jay Fishman as CEO, effective December 1. Fishman will become executive chairman following Schnitzer's assumption of the CEO role. Schnitzer is chief executive officer of Travelers' Business and International Insurance, the company's largest business segment. Previously, he headed the company's Financial, Professional and International Insurance segment.
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Dutch banking firm ING Group reported that its net result for the second-quarter 2015 increased to EUR1.359 billion from EUR1.067 billion in the second quarter of 2014. These figures include the net results of the legacy Insurance businesses. Total underlying income rose 10.3% year-on-year to EUR4.171 billion. ING reiterated its intention to pay a full-year dividend of at least 40% of ING Group's total annual net profits.
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Red24
Reabold Resources
Canaccord Genuity Group
Schroder UK Growth Fund
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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