Lpa Share News (LPA)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened lower Thursday following a sharp in US stocks Wednesday and weak Asian trade.

London Stock Exchange Group shares comfortably lead FTSE 100 fallers at the open, down 8.0%, after Borse Dubai confirmed it has sold it has sold its entire 17.4% stake.

In fact it has been a day for share sale news. The UK government has sold a further 1% of Lloyds Banking Group, reducing its holding to 21.99%. Lloyds shares are down 0.7%.

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 shares are down 1.0%.

Finally, Etihad Airways 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.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.6% at 6,951.19
FTSE 250: down 1.0% at 17,327.45
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 717.61
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.1% at 24,497.08
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.4% at 19,471.12
DJIA: closed down 1.6% at 17,718.54
S&P 500: closed down 1.5% at 2,061.05
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.4937
EUR-USD: up at USD1.1017

GOLD: up at USD1,218.64 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD59.50 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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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 M3 Money Supply and Private Loans
09:30 UK Retail Sales
11:00 UK CBI Distributive Trades Survey
12:30 US Jobless Claims
13:00 US Fed's Lockhart speech
13:45 US Markit PMI Composite and Services Preliminary
14:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage change
15:00 US Kansas Fed manufacturing activity
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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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French unemployment increased in February following a decline in the prior month, the labor ministry reported. The number of people out of work rose by 12,800 from January to 3.49 million. It increased by 0.4% on a monthly basis and 4.6% from last year. In January, unemployment declined for the first time since August.
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One of the two pilots of the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps was apparently out of the cockpit at the time, news reports said, citing officials involved in the investigation. A spokesman for Lufthansa, which owns the airline operating the ill-fated Airbus A320, said early Thursday it had "no information that can confirm" the reports. "At the start of the flight, you can hear the crew talking normally, then you hear one of the seats being moved back, a door opening and closing, and then the noise of someone knocking on the door," a person with knowledge of the content of the recordings was quoted as saying by French news agency AFP.
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Saudi Arabia says 100 of its warplanes are participating in the military operation it is leading against Houthi rebels in Yemen, Saudi television reported. Around 150,000 army and navy troops were also deployed, it said. Air strikes destroyed ammunition depots of the Houthi rebels and killed several of its leaders, the Dubai-based Al Arabiya agency reported.
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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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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: INVESTEC CUTS ANTOFAGASTA TO 'SELL' ('HOLD')
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DAVY CUTS WOLSELEY TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OUTPERFORM')
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BARCLAYS INITIATES STAGECOACH WITH 'OVERWEIGHT' - TARGET 412 PENCE
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BARCLAYS INITIATES NATIONAL EXPRESS WITH 'OVERWEIGHT' - TARGET 331 PENCE
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GOLDMAN RAISES POLYMETAL TO 'CONVICTION BUY LIST' ('BUY') - TARGET 690 (670) PENCE
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TRADERS: GOLDMAN CUTS BOOKER GROUP TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY')
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TRADERS: JEFFERIES RAISES OPHIR ENERGY TO 'BUY' ('HOLD')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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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.
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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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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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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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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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Euromoney Institutional Investor said it expects to post a fall in pretax profit before amortisation and other exceptional items related to acquisitions in its first half to end-March, as challenging market conditions have not improved since its first quarter and it experienced a lower operating margin. The publishing, events and information company expects to post an adjusted pretax profit of not less than GBP46 million for the half year, compared to GBP53.4 million a year before, as a result of a decline in its adjusted operating margin due to higher property and investment costs, as well as its acquisition of a stake in Dealogic late last year.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Auto Trader Group late Wednesday said Deutsche Bank, the stabilising manager of its initial public offering, has exercised its over-allotment option of 85.5 million shares in the company. The over-allotment shares will be sold at the offer price of 235 pence per share. That means the total size of the offer was 678.5 million shares, 67.85% of the company.
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Daily Mail and General Trust reiterated its revenue and profit outlook for its full year as it traded in line with expectations in the five months to end-February, with revenue adjusted for the timing of events at Euromoney Institutional Investor up 1%. Daily Mail, which holds a 67% stake in Euromoney, said that adjusted for constant exchange rates, sales, closures and non-annual events, total revenue for the five months was flat as growth in its dmg events, and information arms were offset by declines in its media and risk management solutions arm.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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The US Treasury Department announced a USD7.7 million settlement with PayPal, the online payment unit of Ebay, over alleged sanctions violations by the electronic payments company. The alleged violations included processing payments for a man allegedly involved in the black market for nuclear-weapons technology as well as thousands of dollars' worth of transactions involving goods and services going to and from Cuba, Sudan and Iran. In all, about 500 PayPal transactions, worth almost USD44,000, potentially violated US sanctions.
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Airbus Group said it has completed the sale of about 1.61 million shares in Dassault Aviation, corresponding to around 17.5% of the company's share capital for a total amount of around EUR1.64 billion. The sale price determined in the bookbuild offering to institutional investors was EUR1,030 per share and the sale price to Dassault Aviation EUR980 per share.
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Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Schlumberger, has agreed to enter a guilty plea and to pay a USD232.71 million penalty to the US for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act or IEEPA by willfully facilitating illegal transactions and engaging in trade with Iran and Sudan. SOHL's monetary penalty includes a USD77.57 million criminal forfeiture and an additional USD155.14 million criminal fine. The criminal fine represents the largest criminal fine in connection with an IEEPA prosecution.
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Thursday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Henderson Opportunities Trust
Independent Investment Trust
Jarvis Securities
LPA Group
Moneyswap
BlackRock Throgmorton Trust
WH Ireland
Aviva
IP Group
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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