LGO.L Share News (LGO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened fractionally higher Monday following rising markets in Asia and a higher close on Wall Street on Friday. China reported strong trade figures for May on Sunday, lending Monday a positive tone.

Lloyds Banking will price the IPO of TSB Banking at 220p to 290p per share, valuing the UK retail bank at GBP1.28 billion at the mid point, which is below book value of about GBP1.5 billion.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,867.01
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 16,247.04
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 806.76
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Hang Seng: up 0.7% at 23,101.05
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.3% at 15,124.00
DJIA: closed up 0.5% at 16,924.28
S&P 500: closed up 0.5% at 1,949.44
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6822
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3655

GOLD: up at USD1,254.72 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD108.75 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)

All Day Germany, France and Switzerland holiday for Whit Monday
06:00 Japan Consumer Confidence Index
07:00 Japan Eco Watchers Survey
09:30 EU Sentix Investor Confidence
13:15 Canada Housing Starts s.a (YoY)
16:30 US 3-Month and 6-Month Bill Auction
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China's imports fell 1.6% year-on-year to 160 billion dollars in May, the government announced Sunday. Imports in April had risen 0.8%, up from March's 11.3% decline. Exports were valued at USD196 billion, up 7% year-on-year, customs data showed. Exports rose 0.9% in April, recovering from March's decline of 6.6%. Total foreign trade volume increased 3% to USD355 billion, the General Administration of Customs reported. The trade surplus for the month stood at USD36 billion.
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Confidence among Japan households improved more-than-expected in May, monthly survey data from Cabinet Office showed. The consumer confidence index rose to a seasonally adjusted 39.3 in May from 37.0 in April, well above the economists' forecast of 37.6. The survey was conducted on May 15.
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Bulgaria suspended work on its portion of Russia's new South Stream natural gas pipeline, Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski said Sunday, after the EU raised concerns about the way contracts were awarded. "The project will continue after we remove points of contention raised by Brussels," he said in Sofia. South Stream is a 2,380-kilometre pipeline planned to transport Russian natural gas to Italy, with branches to Greece and Austria, via the Black Sea and across the Balkans, from 2015. The move pits the EU further against Russia, which is keen to proceed with the project because it would allow Russian gas to bypass Ukraine. Gas disputes have marred relations between Moscow and Kiev, including during the current crisis in Ukraine.
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Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sissi was sworn in Sunday as Egypt's president, vowing to end unrest after three years of instability. "Vanquishing terrorism and fulfilling security top my priorities," he said in an inaugural speech. "There will be no tolerance or appeasement towards anyone who resorts to violence and seeks to block the march towards the future." Egypt has been gripped by deadly violence since July, when the army toppled Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected leader. The architect of Morsi's overthrow, al-Sissi pledged to achieve social justice and building an investment-friendly environment in Egypt.
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At least 79 bodies were found in northern Afghanistan, which has been hit by torrential rains and flash floods, and many more people were still missing, an official said Sunday. More than a thousand homes in the district of Guzargah-e-Nur were swept away in the flooding that began late Friday, said Javid Basharat, the police spokesman for Baghlan province.
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The Nigerian military barred the distribution of major newspapers citing "grave security implications." Among the newspapers were The Daily Trust, The Nation, Leadership and Guardian, which were stopped from circulation on Friday and Saturday across the country. On Sunday morning in Kano, vendors were still to receive their copies. The military has said that sensitive material concerning security are being dispatched by some newspaper's vehicles across the country.
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Two senior American officials will meet with Iranian nuclear negotiators in Geneva on Monday and Tuesday, the US State Department announced. The US delegation will be led by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman. Iran said Saturday it would also hold bilateral talks with Russia on Tuesday and Wednesday in Rome, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported. The consultations come amid ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - plus Germany. The fifth official round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries will be held June 16-20 in Vienna.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: NUMIS RAISES CAPITA GROUP TO 'BUY' ('HOLD')
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LIBERUM RAISES GREAT PORTLAND TO 'BUY'
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TRADERS: MERRILL LYNCH RAISES BELLWAY TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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PANMURE CUTS AGGREKO TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 1748 PENCE
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TRADERS: NUMIS CUTS API GROUP TO 'ADD' ('BUY')
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TRADERS: EXANE BNP CUTS EUROPEAN TELECOM SECTOR TO UNDERWEIGHT (NEUTRAL)
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TRADERS: EXANE BNP CUTS EUROPEAN RETAIL SECTOR TO UNDERWEIGHT (OVERWEIGHT)
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TRADERS: EXANE BNP RAISES EUROPEAN HOUSEHOLD GOODS TO OVERWEIGHT (UNDERWEIGHT)
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TRADERS: EXANE BNP RAISES EUROPEAN FOODS & BEVERAGE TO NEUTRAL (UNDERWEIGHT)
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Lloyds Prices TSB Offer At 220p To 290p Range; Confirms Expected Offer Size Is 25% Of TSB; Says Final Pricing Expected On Or Around June 20
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Sports Direct International PLC said it is once again seeking shareholder approval for a bonus share scheme for executives, including founder and Deputy Chairman Mike Ashley, which could net them up to 25 million new shares contingent on performance targets. Sports Direct were trading up 0.4%% at 816.50 pence, shortly after market open Monday. The new shares would represent about 4.2% of the company and be worth GBP204.1 million in total at current prices. Ashley holds 57.71% of Sports Direct shares, after selling a 4% interest in the company for GBP204 million in April.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's private banking arm, Coutts & Co, may have to pay compensation to thousands of customers for giving unsuitable investment advice, the Guardian reported Friday. According the report, the private bank and wealth manager is reviewing customers files going back to 1967 and said that "if clients have suffered any financial detriment, they will be compensated in full." Coutts said it has agreed with the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct a review of the suitability of advice given in the UK, according to the Guardian.
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Associated British Foods PLC's low-cost fashion retailer, Primark, is set to finalise a GBP60 million deal for an entire shopping centre in Birmingham, which would see it create one of its largest stores in the UK, The Telegraph reports. The discount retailer plans to buy the Pavilions shopping centre in Birmingham from the UBS Triton Property Fund. A deal is expected to be confirmed within days, said the newspaper. The GBP60 million deal will see the company convert the mall into one of the country’s biggest Primark stores; Primark intends to convert half of the 250,000 square foot centre into a Primark store, and the rest of the centre will be sub-let to other retailers, according to the Telegraph late on Sunday.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Man Group PLC said it is to acquire Pine Grove Asset Management LLC, a fund of funds manager with about USD1.0 billion in assets under management, as it seeks to add to its FRM business and grow in the US. Pine Grove Asset Management, founded in 1994 and currently owned by its employees, is a fund of hedge funds manager that specialises in managing credit-focused hedge fund portfolios. The FTSE 250 hedge fund group, which had USD55.0 billion in assets under management at the end of March, did not disclose the financial details of the transaction, which is expected to close in the third-quarter, but a person familiar with the deal told Alliance News it is not material, adding that further information is expected with Man Group's first-half results.
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Carillion PLC said its 50:50 joint venture with Lafarge Tarmac has been chosen as one of the contractors to deliver the Medium Schemes Framework 2, in a deal worth an estimated GBP100 million to the companies. Carillion, a support services company with a portfolio of public private partnership projects, said that the framework has a total value of approximately GBP260 million over a three year period, and has the option to extend the framework by a further year to June 2018.
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COMPANIES - ALL-SHARE AND AIM
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Clipper Logistics PLC said it has been awarded a five-year contract extension with Tesco PLC which will include the development of additional services to support the growth of the retailer's online clothing business. Clipper Logistics, a value-added logistics services provider for the retail sector, said that the contract extension with the supermarket builds on its existing e-fulfilment solutions for the retailer which has been in operation since 2009.
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Leni Gas & Oil PLC said its GY-665 well at the Goudron Field in Trinidad has now intersected 687 feet of gross oil bearing sands in its primary target, the Gros Morne formation, and the company has decided to shorten the planned total depth of the well. The oil and gas exploration and development company said the well, which is the second of 30 new development wells on the site, found the large region of oil sands between 2,006 feet and 2,693 feet in depth.
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Caracal Energy Inc said its proposed acquisition by Glencore PLC has been approved by both its shareholders and the Court of Queen's Bench in Canada, with the takeover expected to close within a month. The oil and gas exploration and development company said that at a special meeting of shareholders to vote on the acquisition, the arrangement was passed by 99.79% of its shareholders and received the minority approval necessary to move the process forward. The company also said that following the meeting, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta granted its final order approving the deal. It said that it now expects the acquisition to close in late June or early July, subject to certain conditions including the granting of an approval under the Investment Canada Act.
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Falkland Island Holdings FY Underlying Pretax Profit Up 10.8% To GBP3.65M Vs GBP3.29M; Revenue Up 7.5% To GBP38.3M Vs GBP35.6M; Total Dividend 11.5P, Flat On 2013; Anticipates "Satisfactory Year" As It Trades In Line With Expectations
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Hunter Resources Proposes Reverse Takeover Of Gold Hunter, Subsidiary Of Management Vehicle Global Pearl; Says Gold Hunter Has Entered JV To Farm Into Pampamali Project In Peru; Will Have GBP2.2M Market Cap, Conduct 1-For-10 Share Consolidation
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Costain Wins Contract With Centrica Energy For Barrow Gas Terminals Project
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Witan Pacific Investment Trust
Hansteen Holdings
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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