Legal & General Share News (LGEN)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares opened firm in London Thursday, as the pound and euro remained firm against the dollar and both oil and gold prices continued to rise.

Ahead of announcements by the Bank of England on interest rates and its inflation outlook, market participants were digesting earnings from FTSE 100 heavyweights Royal Dutch Shell, AstraZeneca and Vodafone.

Despite reporting an 80% fall in earnings in 2015, Shell met expectations and the stock was up 4.0%. Shares in AstraZeneca were down 3.2%, however, after reporting a rise in profit in 2015 but forecasting a decline in revenue and earnings per share in 2016. Vodafone confirmed its full-year guidance, and the stock was up 0.8%.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 1.0% at 5,897.74
FTSE 250: up 0.7% at 16,095.74
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 692.57
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Hang Seng: closed up 1.0% at 19,183.09
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.9% at 17,044.99
DJIA: closed up 1.1% at 16,336.66
S&P 500: closed up 0.5% at 1,912.53
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GBP: flat at USD1.4587 (USD1.4580)
EUR: up at USD1.1115 (USD1.1052)

GOLD: up at USD1,142.90 per ounce (USD1,138.90)
OIL (Brent): up at USD35.00 a barrel (USD34.34)

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

09:00 EU Economic Bulletin
12:00 UK BoE Interest Rate Decision, Meeting Minutes, Quarterly Inflation Report
12:30 US Challenger Job Cuts
12:45 UK BOE Governor Carney speech
13:30 US Continuing Jobless Claims
13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims
13:30 US Unit Labor Costs Preliminary
13:30 US Nonfarm Productivity Preliminary
15:00 US Factory Orders (MoM)
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage
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Britain has pledged another GBP1.2 billion in aid to Syria and the region, the UK government said Thursday ahead of an international donors' conference in London. The promise came as representatives from 70 countries and organizations were scheduled to meet to discuss ways to ease a humanitarian and migration crisis caused by four-and-a-half years of conflict and civil war in Syria. The latest pledge will take Britain's total for the region to more than GBP2.3 billion.
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said he would hand himself in to British police on Friday in the event of an unfavourable decision from a UN investigation. "I will accept arrest by British police on Friday if UN rules against me," the 44-year-old Australian said on Twitter. A UN working group is set to publish a determination on whether Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, is in effect illegally detained there.
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Thousands of protesters caused traffic chaos in the streets of Auckland as trade ministers from 12 Pacific Rim countries, including the US and Japan, met to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal. The trade pact will see the elimination and reduction of about 18,000 tariffs on the trade of industrial and agricultural goods between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam. Opponents claim the agreement undermines domestic sovereignty.
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The field of Republicans seeking to become the next US president got a little less crowded, while the candidates jockeying for top position slung mud over allegations against Ted Cruz's campaign. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul announced he is dropping out of the Republican presidential race and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was expected to do the same later Wednesday. The campaign has been dominated by the antics of billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who came in second to Texas Senator Ted Cruz in Iowa, and on Wednesday accused his rival of campaign fraud.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: MACQUARIE INITIATES LEGAL & GENERAL WITH 'NEUTRAL' - TARGET 189 PENCE
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GOLDMAN CUTS TALK TALK TELECOM TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 271 (312) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Royal Dutch Shell reported a dramatic fall in earnings during 2015, but the results did meet expectations. The oil and gas major said current cost of supply (CSS) earnings excluding items more than halved year-on-year in 2015 to USD10.67 billion from USD22.56 billion, which is at the top end of Shell's guidance provided last month. CSS earnings including items fell 80% during the year to USD3.84 billion from USD19.04 billion a year earlier, whilst income attributable to shareholders fell at an even steeper rate to USD1.93 billion from USD14.87 billion, representing an 87% fall. That USD1.93 billion result also was at the top end of Shell's guidance range of USD1.60 billion to USD2.00 billion. Shell, as expected, maintained its dividend for the year of USD1.88 per share and has also said its dividend next year will remain flat.
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AstraZeneca forecast a fall in revenue and its closely watched earnings per share for 2016, including dilutive effects from recent acquisitions, as it reported a rise in pretax profit for 2015. The pharmaceutical company said pretax profit rose to USD3.07 billion in 2015 from USD1.25 billion a year before, despite seeing revenue fall to USD24.71 billion from USD26.55 billion, with the improved profit mostly the result of lower cost of sales and of selling, general and administrative costs. AstraZeneca reported core earnings per share for the year of USD4.26, flat on the previous year at actual exchange rates, although up 7% at constant currency. AstraZeneca declared a second interim dividend of USD1.90 per share, taking its total dividend for the year to USD2.80, maintained from the previous year.
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Vodafone Group confirmed its full-year guidance, as the mobile operator saw its group organic service revenue rise 1.4% in its financial third quarter and it cited continued recovery in Europe. For the quarter to end-December, Vodafone reported a 5.5% decline in total revenue, hit by foreign exchange rate movements. However, on an organic basis, at constant currency and adjusting for merger and acquisition activity, service revenue was up 1.4%. Vodafone highlighted continued recovery in services revenue in Europe, saying its organic service revenue fell only 0.6% in the quarter, compared to a 1.0% fall in the second quarter.
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Medical devices maker Smith & Nephew reported a fall in pretax profit for 2015 on higher costs, but saw earnings per share come in ahead of both 2014 and market expectations. Smith & Nephew reported a pretax profit of USD559 million for 2015, down from USD714 million a year before, as a rise in revenue to USD4.63 billion from USD4.62 billion was offset by higher selling, general and administrative costs. The company said it has taken an accounting charge of USD203 million in relation to settlements for legal claims related to metal-on-metal hip replacements. Smith & Nephew proposed a final dividend of 19.0 cents per share, which takes its full-year dividend to 30.8 cents, up 4% from the 29.6 cents it paid in 2014.
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easyJet reported growth in passengers carried in January but a small decline in load factor, while rival budget carrier Ryanair Holdings posted an increase in both customer traffic and load factor. easyJet said the number of passengers carried rose 6.3% to 4.3 million in January from 4.0 million in the same month the year before, but load factor decreased very slightly by 0.1 of a percentage point to 85.0% from 85.1%. Ryanair said customer traffic grew by a quarter in January to 7.5 million from 6.0 million, as load factor increased by 5 percentage points to 88.0% from 83.0%.
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Compass Group said its outlook for 2016 remains positive after reporting a rise in revenue during the first quarter of the financial year. The catering and support services business said organic revenue grew 5.9% year-on-year in its financial first quarter ended December 31, with like-for-like revenue also increasing thanks to modest pricing and some volume improvement.
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Legal & General Group said Chief Financial Officer Mark Gregory will retire from the group on January 31, 2017. Gregory will remain in the role until a successor is appointed and will ensure a smooth handover, the insurer company said.
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SSE late Wednesday said it is proposing to end commercial operations at its coal-fired power station at Fiddler's Ferry in Cheshire after reviewing its options for the plant. The energy company said all of the four units at Fiddler's Ferry failed to secure a capacity obligation agreement for delivery in the 2019/20 Capacity Market Auction which took place in December, raising further questions about their viability.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Stagecoach Group and FirstGroup were shortlisted by the UK Department of Transport to compete for the next South Western rail franchise. Both FTSE 250-listed companies said they would be bidding for the new franchise, due to start in 2017 when the current contract with Stagecoach comes to an end. Stagecoach currently operates the network under the South West Trains brand. The franchise, which FirstGroup is bidding for under the name First South Western Trains Ltd, covers routes and stations between London Waterloo, Reading, Bristol, Exeter, Weymouth and Portsmouth. The Department for Transport said it has started consulting passengers, businesses and local councils on the specification for the new franchise. The consultation runs until February 9.
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AA said its full year results are expected to meet market expectations as the company continues to strengthen its position as the UK's pre-eminent motoring organisation. The company said its marketing activities have continued to successfully slow the decline in personal member numbers, which is being exacerbated by the adverse price impact of the recent increase in insurance premium tax.
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Beazley said it had performed "very strongly" in 2015, seeing pretax profit rise and proposing both a higher regular dividend and a special dividend. The specialist risk insurance and reinsurance business reported a pretax profit of USD284.0 million for 2015, up from USD261.9 million a year before, as revenue rose to USD2.08 billion from USD2.02 billion. Beazley proposed a second interim dividend of 6.6 pence, taking its total dividends for the year to 9.9p, up from 9.3p a year before. It also proposed a special dividend of 18.4p, up from the 11.8p special dividend it paid in 2014. The Dublin-based company said that during the year it had considered the feasibility of moving its management from Ireland to the UK, returning to its London head office. It intends to present a proposal to shareholders at its annual general meeting March to effect this change via the creation of a new UK domiciled holding company, which it believes will increase its operational efficiency.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's CK Hutchison Holdings, which owns the Three network in the UK, has pledged to freeze prices for five years as part of a GBP5 billion investment drive, in an effort to win over competition watchdogs for its proposed GBP10.5 billion acquisition of Telefónica's 02 network. The deal currently is undergoing an in-depth investigation by European regulators over competition concerns, as it would reduce the number of UK mobile operators to three from four. Hutchison promised to hold prices for five years, whilst also opening up its network to rivals.
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Sharp has agreed to accept a takeover offer from Taiwanese electronics assembler Foxconn, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, and Innovation Network Corp of Japan, a government-backed fund, have been competing for control of Sharp since last year. Reports indicated that Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou met Sharp's board at their Osaka headquarters January 30 to make his case for a raised bid of about JPY660 billion. That compares with an offer from INCJ valued at no more than JPY300 billion.
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Alphabet's Google has appointed the head of its artificial-intelligence research to run its search engine. John Giannandrea, who has run Google's artificial-intelligence efforts since late 2013, will take over from Amit Singhal, who said he is leaving in late February after 15 years at Google.
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Dutch banking firm ING Group reported its fourth-quarter group net result plunged 30% to EUR819 million from last year's EUR1.18 billion. The results reflected the absence of the prior year's income from discontinued operations. The net result from banking climbed 52% to EUR807 million from EUR530 million last year. The underlying net result was EUR822 million, compared to EUR548 million a year ago, reflecting positive momentum across both Retail and Wholesale Banking.
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Swiss telecommunication services firm Swisscom said its net income for fiscal 2015 declined 20% to 1.36 billion Swiss francs from 1.71 billion francs reported in the previous year. Net revenue for the year was 11.68 billion francs, down 0.2% from 11.70 billion francs last year. On an adjusted basis, revenue increased 0.7%.
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Statoil reported a fourth-quarter net loss attributable to equity holders of 9.2 billion Norwegian kroner compared to a loss of 8.9 billion kroner last year. Loss per share widened to 2.89 kroner from a loss of 2.81 kroner. Statoil delivered adjusted earnings of 15.2 billion kroner and adjusted earnings after tax of 1.6 billion kroner in the fourth quarter 2015.
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Cement giant LafargeHolcim, formed by the combination of French Lafarge and Swiss peer Holcim, announced it is considering a divestment of its interest in Lafarge India with an annual cement capacity of around 11 million tonnes. The divestment would require the approval of the Competition Commission of India as an alternate remedy for the merger of the company's legacy companies. LafargeHolcim said it is no longer in discussion with Birla Corp for the sale of the Jojobera and Sonadih cement plants in Eastern India that was announced earlier.
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Attorneys with the Dallas law firm Caldwell Cassady & Curry announced that they have won a USD625.6 million verdict in favor of Nevada-based VirnetX Holding Corp in a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. The jury found that Apple's modified VPN On Demand, iMessage and FaceTime services infringed VirnetX's patents and that Apple's infringement was willful.
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Cisco announced its intent to acquire Jasper Technologies, a privately held company based in Santa Clara that delivers a cloud-based IoT service platform. Cisco will pay USD1.4 billion in cash and assumed equity awards, plus additional retention based incentives.
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Thursday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust
Connect Group
Compass Group
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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