Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened flat to lower Friday, with attention on UK GDP figures due at 0930 BST.

Mergers and acquisitions were the talk of the market once again as British Sky Broadcasting said it will acquire 21st Century Fox Inc's holdings in Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland for a total of GBP4.9 billion in cash, plus BSkyB's 21% stake in the National Geographic Channel.

Balfour Beatty and Carillion confirmed they are in preliminary talks for the creation of a construction services powerhouse via a GBP3 billion merger.

Meanwhile, the pound has moved firmly back below USD1.70, a level it had held above for about a month.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,812.66
FTSE 250: marginally lower at 15,742.22
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 774.16
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Hang Seng: up 0.2% at 24,199.03
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.1% at 15,457.87
DJIA: closed flat at 17,083.80
S&P 500: closed up 0.1% at 1,987.98
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6980
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.3465

GOLD: flat at USD1,292.37 per ounce
OIL (Brent): flat at USD107.13 a barrel

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

09:00 Germany IFO - Business Climate
09:00 EU M3 Money Supply and Private Loans
09:00 Italy Wage Inflation
09:30 UK Gross Domestic Product
09:30 UK Index of Services
13:30 US Durable Goods Orders
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UK house prices rose at the slowest rate in more than a year in July, the results of a survey by Hometrack showed. House prices increased 0.1% month-on-month in July, which was slower than the 0.3 rise in June. The results of a survey by Markit Economics and Knight Frank released last week showed that current house price sentiment rose at a slower pace in July.
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Germany consumer confidence is set to improve in August to the highest level recorded since December 2006, survey data from market research group GfK showed. The forward-looking consumer sentiment index rose to 9 in August from 8.9 in July. This was the highest value registered since December 2006, when the indicator was at 9.1 points. The score was expected to remain unchanged at 8.9. Despite the escalation in the situations in Israel and Ukraine, German consumers continue to be exceedingly optimistic this summer, GfK said.
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Consumer prices in Japan climbed 3.6% on year in June, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. That topped forecasts for 3.5%, also slowing from 3.7% in May. Core CPI, which strips out the volatile costs of food, advanced 3.3% on year - matching forecasts and down from 3.4% in the previous month.
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Ukraine's government stepped down Thursday, announced Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, clearing the way for elections in October as the country finds itself in the grip of events threatening to tear it apart. The news came hours after the coalition that had supported Yatsenyuk's Fatherland party dissolved, a move that all coalition members had sought. The Udar (Punch) party of former heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko and the radical nationalist Svoboda party of Oleh Tyahnybok called for fresh elections as they withdrew from the coalition. Yatsenyuk said his resignation comes in response to parliament's failure to pass legislation that would have eased the country's gas dependency on Russia.
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The Japanese government was to consider imposing additional sanctions on Russia following the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a news report said. The move was endorsed at a National Security Council meeting attended by top officials including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Kyodo News agency reported, citing a government source. Japan will decide details of additional sanctions after the EU steps up its own sanctions against Russia, Kyodo reported.
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A piece of the fuselage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and more bodies have been found in a wooded area at the crash site in Ukraine, Australian media reported. "We found human remains yesterday and more again today," Michael Bociurkiw, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe spokesman, told the Sydney Morning Herald. Bociurkiw visited the site in Donetsk with investigators from the Netherlands, Malaysia and Australia. The visit was the first for the team from Australia. Thirty-seven Australian nationals and residents were on the plane.
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French soldiers stationed in Mali have found wreckage belonging to an Air Algerie plane that disappeared from radar, airport officials said overnight, with all on board feared to have been killed. The Air Algerie plane disappeared from radar 50 minutes after take-off Thursday while flying over Mali's restive Gao region.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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CITIGROUP CUTS KINGFISHER TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 340 (420) PENCE
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SOCGEN CUTS PETROFAC TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 1220 (1480) PENCE
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UBS CUTS GLAXOSMITHKLINE TO 'SELL' ('NEUTRAL') - PRICE TARGET 1380 (1500) PENCE
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BERENBERG RAISES BODYCOTE TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 776 (759) PENCE
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BARCLAYS INITIATES TELFORD HOMES WITH 'EQUAL WEIGHT' - TARGET 364.6 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC said it will acquire 21st Century Fox Inc's holdings in Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland for a total of GBP4.9 billion in cash, plus BSkyB's 21% stake in the National Geographic Channel, to form a new enlarged business, as it also reported a fall in pretax profit in the year to end-June. The much anticipated acquisition will consist of GBP2.07 billion in cash and the transfer of the National Geographic stake, valued at GBP382 million, for Fox's 100% ownership of Sky Italia, plus GBP2.9 billion in cash for Fox's 57.4% stake in Sky Deutschland. BSkyB also will make an offer to the minority shareholders in Sky Deutschland at EUR6.75 per share. BSkyB said that the acquisitions are expected to be at least neutral to earnings per share in the second full financial year of ownership, and will strongly add to earnings thereafter. To part-fund the acquisitions, BSkyB announced plans to place 156.1 million new shares, around 9.99% of its existing issued share capital. The placing price will be decided at the close of the book-building process, it said. Fox, which has a 39.14% shareholder in BSkyB, will subscribe for 61.1 million shares to maintain its existing shareholding in the company.
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Royal Bank Of Scotland Group PLC said it expects to report a near doubling in first-half pretax profit, driven by better credit conditions and the performance of the part of the bank tasked with running down non-core assets. RBS published its results a week ahead of schedule, though they are still being finalised, because of better-than-anticipated operating performance. In a statement, state-backed RBS said it expects to report GBP2.65 billion in pretax profit in the first six months of 2014, compared with GBP1.37 billion in the corresponding period last year.
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Lloyds Banking Group PLC confirmed it is in talks with a number of government agencies regarding the setting of Interbank offered rates and other benchmarks, and said that it expects to incur penalties as a result. "Lloyds Banking Group confirms that it is in late-stage settlement discussions with a number of agencies. The settlements remain to be agreed and LBG expects they will include the payment of penalties. Lloyds Banking Group will update the market on these issues as appropriate," the bank said in a statement. The statement comes after the Financial Times reported that the bank is preparing to disclose it will pay GBP200 million to GBP300 million to regulators in order to settle allegations that it manipulated the London interbank offered rate.
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Pearson PLC said it has retained its outlook for the full-year as first-half revenues rose marginally and its pretax loss widened in the first-half as the company was hit by increased restructuring charges and adverse currency movements. In an interim management statement for the first-half The Financial Times owner proposed an increased interim dividend of 17 pence, up 6% on the 16 pence per share paid last year, which the company said reflects its confidence in its prospects.
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Vodafone Confirms Outlook For FY 2015; Says Year Has Started In Line With Expectations; Quarterly Group Revenue GBP10.20B, Up 6.2% Reported, Down 4.4% Organic; Quarterly Group Service Revenue GBP9.45B, Up 6.4% Reported, Down 4.2% Organic
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Anglo American Reaches Binding Agreement To Sell Lafarge Tarmac Holding For At Least GBP885M; Anglo American H1 Underlying Earnings Up 3%, USD1.28B Vs USD1.25B; H1 Pretax Profit Up, USD2.95B Vs USD1.99B; Announces Flat Interim Dividend USD0.32
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Balfour Beatty PLC late Thursday confirmed it is in preliminary talks for the creation of a construction services powerhouse via a GBP3 billion merger with Carillion PLC. A merger of the two FTSE 250 British construction firms, which have flagship projects such as London's Olympics Aquatics Centre and the redevelopment of Liverpool's Anfield football stadium, would put them on track to enter into the FTSE 100 index as a joint entity. The two companies also released a joint statement prior to the open Friday.
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Centrica Subsidiary Sells Ontario Home Services Business To EnerCare For GBP300M
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United Utilities PLC said trading in its second quarter was in line with group expectations as a rise in revenue was offset by higher depreciation and other operating costs, as anticipated. In an interim management statement for the period April 1 to July 24, the company said trading remains in line with internal expectations. Revenue rose in the period, reflecting the regulated price rise for 2014.15, it said, but this was partially offset by the special customer discount of around GBP20 million which has been applied to this year's bills, as previously announced.
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GlaxoSmithKline PLC is facing new allegations of corruption in Syria, where it has been accused of paying bribes to secure business, Reuters reported, citing an email from a whistle-blower. The allegations related to its former consumer healthcare operations in Syria which were closed in 2012 due to the worsening civil war in the country, the report said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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African Barrick Gold H1 Pretax Profit USD62.2M Vs Pretax Loss USD857.3M
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Spectris H1: Pretax Profit Down 10% GBP67.3M Vs GBP75.0M
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Cable & Wireless Q1: Group Organic Revenue Flat At Constant Currency, Reversing Historical Declines; Cost Reduction Plan On Track To Deliver USD100M Run-Rate Savings By Year-End; Overall Trading In Line With Expectations
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Lonmin Q3 No Meaningful Production Due To Strike Action; Says Strike Impact To Mining Of Roughly 192,700 Platinum Saleable Ounces
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AG Barr Says Expects To Deliver Another Year Of Good Growth; Says Good Weather, Strong Sales Programme Underpinning Trading; Says Expects H1 Revenue Of GBP135M, Up 5.6% On Year
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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UK Oil & Gas Investments Raises GBP2M Through Arranged Placing
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Westminster Group Says East African Airport Project Has Taken Longer Than Expected To Finalise; Says Delays Due To Government Processes, Not Complications In Negotiations
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Belgravium Technologies Says Trading In H1 In Line With Its Expectations; Says Trading In Q2 Picked Up Significantly
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Future Exchanges Contracts To Sell Portfolio, Including Auto Titles, Triathlon Plus To Kelsey Publishing; Says Deal Worth GBP2.1M In Cash, Magazine Subscriptions
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Miton Group Net AuM Inflows GBP29M; AuM GBP2.6B At June 30
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Amazon posted a 23% rise in second-quarter revenue Thursday, with sales at the web's largest retailer climbing to 19.3 billion dollars.
But the company's grow-at-all-costs strategy took a heavy toll, with Amazon posting a 126 million dollar loss in the quarter, compared to a loss of 7 million dollars a year earlier. Even worse for Amazon investors was a projected third-quarter loss of as much as 810 million dollars.
The figures sent shares in the giant online store down 6% in after-hours trading.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

United Utilities Group
Richland Resources Limited
JPMorgan Japan Smaller Companies Trust
Helical Bar
Cable & Wireless Communications
Shanks Group
Bellzone Mining
Daily Internet
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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