Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Thursday.
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COMPANIES
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Borse Dubai said it has sold its 17.4% stake in London Stock Exchange Group in a block sale managed by BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Bank and Nomura International. Borse Dubai had been the biggest shareholder in London Stock Exchange Group but said it will no longer hold any shares in the company on completion of the deal. LSE shares were down 8.7% at 2,317.00 pence Thursday, at which price the sale would have a value of about GBP1.40 billion.
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The UK government has sold a further 1% stake in Lloyds Banking Group, with the state-backed lender continuing its slow return to full private ownership. The government's stake has now fallen to 21.99% from 22.98% previously, after selling at 0.99% stake. Lloyds' profitability and return to paying dividends in 2014 has given the government further impetus to selling its shares in the lender. The government is selling through a trading plan managed by Morgan Stanley.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group sold an approximate 25% stake in Citizens Financial Group in the US, raising a total of USD3.21 billion. RBS sold 135 million shares in Citizens, around 25% of its issued share capital, for USD23.75 per share. The amount of shares sold was more than RBS had indicated when it first announced the share sale on Monday, when it said it would sell 115 million shares, plus an over-allotment option. Upon closing of the offer, RBS ownership of Citizens will be cut from around 70.3% to 45.6%. If the over-allotment option is taken up the underwriters on the issue, RBS's remaining stake would be around 41.9%.
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Etihad Airways has said it will sell its stake in Aer Lingus Group should the Irish government back the EUR1.35 billion takeover bid for the carrier from International Consolidated Airlines Group, the Financial Times reported. Etihad is the third largest shareholder in Aer Lingus with a 4.9% stake. "Our investment in Aer Lingus has been a sound one and we are heading for a great return if the IAG bid is approved by the Irish government," said Etihad Airways Chief Executive James Hogan. "If IAG are successful, I would expect us to divest."
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EasyJet said raised its profit guidance for the first half of its financial year thanks mainly to favourable exchange rate movements, with raised revenue per seat guidance offset by an increase in its cost per seat expectation as it was forced to do more de-icing and due to disruptions. The low-cost airline said it now expects to report between a pretax loss of GBP5 million and a pretax profit of GBP10 million for the six months to end-March, compared with the forecast for a loss of between GBP10 million and GBP30 million it gave in January. This is mainly because it now expects a GBP20 million boost from favourable exchange rate movements, compared with the GBP10 million favourable impact it had previously expected.
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The sale of UK government research unit the Food and Environment Research Agency to Capita could undermine essential work on food safety and lead to commercial concerns being put before the public interest, Professor Tim Lang, a Westminster adviser, told The Independent. Lang, who heads City University London’s food policy unit, told the newspaper he thinks the agency, which led the way in identifying horsemeat in the UK food chain, is now doomed to failure. The global contractor has already outlined plans to almost double sales by making the unit’s work more commercial, according to the Independent. Lang warned that once the agency is privatised, it will be under pressure to ignore low-paying projects vital to public safety and the environment in favour of more lucrative research.
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GlaxoSmithKline said that its Encruse Ellipta product, or umeclidinium, has been approved for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Additionally, its Duac gel for the treatment of acne vulgaris and its pneumococcal conjugate paediatric vaccine Synflorix were also approved in Japan. Glaxo expects to launch Encruse Ellipta in Japan during 2015.
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UK power grid operator National Grid said it is intending to sign an agreement with Norwegian electricity transmission system operator Statnett SF for the proposed UK-Norway interconnector project. The 730 kilometre interconnector between the two countries will be the first electricity link between the pair, with a planned capacity of 1,400 megawatt. The estimated cost of the project is around EUR2 billion, with National Grid and Statnett to share the investment.
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SuperGroup maintained its profit guidance for the year as it outlined the outcome of its strategic review, including the acquisition of its North American distribution licence and plans to start paying dividends in its 2016 financial year. SuperGroup said it expects its profit for the 2015 financial year to be in the GBP60 million to GBP65 million range, in line with its previous guidance. SuperGroup said it plans to starts paying dividends to its shareholders starting in its 2016 financial year. The company also said it has signed a collaboration with actor Idris Elba to produce a premium clothing line which will sold as part of the autumn/winter 2015 season.
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International Public Partnerships, which invests in public infrastructure projects, reported a 27% jump in pretax profit in 2014 as higher investment income and lower expenses more than offset increased finance costs. In a statement, International Public Partnerships said it made a GBP71.2 million pretax profit in 2014, compared with GBP56.1 million in the prior year. The company said that net asset value increased to GBP1.062 billion at the end of 2014 from GBP935.4 million at the end of 2013, representing an increase of 3.3% of NAV per share, which moved to 127.0 pence per share from 123.0 pence per share. International Public Partnerships increased its dividend for the year to 6.30 pence per share from 6.15 pence per share.
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Amec Foster Wheeler reported lower profit for 2014, as the downturn in the oil and mining markets was only partially offset by growth in clean energy, and it warned that reduced spending plans by its customers was likely to further weigh on profit margins in 2015. The recently merged oil services company reported a pretax profit of GBP155 million for 2014, down from GBP255 million in 2013. It raised its full-year dividend to 43.3 pence a share, from 42.0p in 2013, including a final dividend of 28.5p.
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MARKETS
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London shares are trading sharply lower amid a wider European sell-off sparked by a heavy fall on Wall Street on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100: down 1.1% at 6,913.38
FTSE 250: down 1.5% at 17,234.33
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.4% at 714.33
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The pound strengthened to a weekly high of USD1.4993 against the dollar after UK retail sales growth accelerated more than expected in February.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.4917
EUR-USD: up at USD1.1008

GOLD: up at USD1207.16 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD58.41 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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British retail sales growth accelerated more than expected in February, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Retail sales volume increased at a faster pace of 0.7% in February from January, when it gained 0.1%. The monthly growth exceeded a 0.4% increase forecast by economists. Sales excluding auto fuel also increased 0.7% and reversed January's 0.3% fall. It was forecast to rise by 0.4%. On a yearly basis, retail sales including automotive fuel rose 5.7% in February, slower than a 5.9% rise seen in January.
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will attempt to sell a package of economic reforms demanded by creditors to his lefist party in the next few days, reports said. According to a report in the daily Kathimerini, Tsipras will try to win over hardliners within his leftist SYRIZA party to back the reform plan, which could include the continuation of a highly unpopular property tax for another year as well as labour and pension reforms. The government will also only carry out privatizations which will allow it to retain a controlling majority while the country's lenders want the special 30% reduction on VAT enjoyed by the Greek islands to be scrapped.
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The German government's transport committee plans to investigate safety at the airline Germanwings following this week's crash in the French Alps in which more than 150 people died, the committee's chairman was reported as saying. "We will scrutinise everything," Martin Burkert told Die Welt daily. "From Germanwings' concept of safety and its workshop, via intervals between maintenance to the precise technology at Airbus. "Such action has been taken previously with other air-travel incidents, Burkert said.
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Saudi Arabia has launched airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen with the support of Gulf region allies and the US. Saudi ambassador in the US, Adel al-Jubeir said the military action was aimed to defend the "legitimate government" of President Abd rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has taken refuge in the southern port city of Aden. The Saudi diplomat told reporters that GCC members are taking this action in response to a direct request by Hadi. Washington confirmed this.
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The US and its allies launched airstrikes on the Iraqi city of Tikrit, the Defence Department said, in support of an Iraqi government offensive to retake the northern city from Islamist militants. The operation by the US-led coalition had been requested by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the US said.
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Israeli President Reuven Rivlin tasked Benjamin Netanyahu with forming a government, after an election last week won by his right-wing Likud party paved the way for a third consecutive term as prime minister. Netanyahu has been holding talks with other parties and it appears he would be able to pull together a hardline right-wing coalition that has a 67-seat majority in the 120-member Knesset.
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