Mineral & Fin Share News (MAFL)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Imperial Tobacco Group Tuesday said it will close factories in Nottingham and in Nantes in France with the loss of up to 900 jobs, in response to the continuing downturn in European cigarette markets.

Companies including GKN, Aggreko and recruiter Michael Page have again warned about the hit they are taking from the strength of sterling or other recent big currency swings, although the shares of all three are performing well as they said they were growing strongly at constant currency rates.

Barclays has chosen Crawford Gillies as successor to John Sunderland as chairman of its remuneration committee, a move that comes after the bank faced heavy criticism from investors after it recently increased its bonus pool despite reporting a slide in its pretax profit. Gillies, who has been on the board of Standard Life since 2007, where he has chaired the life insurer's remuneration committee, and of Mitie Group since 2012, will become a member of the Barclays' remuneration committee from May 1 and succeed Sunderland at a later date.

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FTSE 100: Flat at 6,504.41
FTSE 250: Flat at 15,701.59
AIM ALL-SHARE: Down 0.3% at 822.22
GBP-USD: Down at 1.6720
EUR-USD: Down at 1.3800
GOLD: Down at USD1,303.90 an ounce
OIL (Brent): Down at USD108.47 a barrel

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Key UK Corporate News

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FTSE 100: GKN reported higher sales and profit for the first quarter, although the strength of sterling capped the gains and it said growth would moderate in the rest of the year. The company reported a pretax profit of GBP145 million for the three months to end-March, up from GBP119 million in the first quarter of 2013, as sales rose to GBP1.92 billion, from GBP1.89 billion. Sterling's strength took away 6% of the sales increase and GBP9 million off trading profit. Aggreko's first-quarter revenue grew 5% excluding pass-through fuel and currency movements, although it decreased by 4% on a reported basis. British Sky Broadcasting Group joined FTSE 250-listed TalkTalk Telecom Group in partnering CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings in a joint venture to establish a new broadband services in the city of York, with the aim of building competing infrastructure to BT's Openreach. Rio Tinto's global iron ore production rose 8% on the year in the first quarter, reflecting the continuing ramp-up of mining operations in the Pilbara region, but fell 6% compared with the previous quarter due to bad weather which closed ports and coastal rail operations at and near the Pilbara site. SABMiller said that revenue growth and volume increases in the fourth quarter continued to be driven by its emerging markets businesses. However, it also said that it was hit by dollar strength and continued weakness in North America and Europe. Petrofac has won a contract to connect a North Sea wind farm to the German-Dutch transmission grid in consortium with Germany's Siemens AG. It didn't provide any financial details. Capita has agreed to buy software company AMT-SYBEX Group Ltd for up to GBP105 million, a deal that it hopes will give it an advantage in its key utility and transport markets and allow it to expand AMT's offerings into its other markets. Diageo is launching an offer to buy up to 26% more of India's United Spirits Ltd in a deal estimated to be valued at about USD1.9 billion. If it succeeds, Diageo will have a near 55% stake in United Spirits.

FTSE 250: Debenhams reported a drop in pretax profit for the first-half of its financial year as it again had to heavily discount to pull shoppers into its stores. Revenue for the UK department store chain held up, as it recorded a slight increase in the value of transactions, but its margin was hit by the discounting, which declined by 100 basis points. Group like-for-like sales were up 1.5% in the period. Segro has agreed new and amended bank facilities totaling EUR460 million, or GBP380 million, at lower interest rates than its previous facilities. Kazakhmys has completed an agreement to buy the Koksay project from CCC Mining Construction BV for USD260 million in cash. JD Sports Fashion reported higher profit and revenue for its last financial year, driven by a strong performance from its core sports business in the UK and Ireland. Laird is buying a 51% stake in South Korean prototype design company Model Solution for about GBP20.6 million in cash. Micro Focus International will separate the chairman and chief executive roles that have been held by Kevin Loosemore for the last three years, and will look at internal and external candidates for the CEO role. It thinks its performance over the last three years has vindicated its decision to combine the role, even though it recognises this goes against best practise for corporate governance. African Barrick Gold has received positive results from its exploration programmes in Kenya ahead of more advanced drilling. WS Atkins has been selected as preferred bidder on a contract to rebuild a nuclear waste handling plant at the Sellafield nuclear plant in the UK as part of a three-way joint venture with Areva Inc and Mace Group Ltd. Michael Page International reported an increase in gross profit at constant currency rates, driven by an accelerating recovery in the UK and the US in particular, although overall profit fell due to currency fluctuations. Kentz Corp has extended the scope of its telecommunications contract for the Fort Hills Oil Sands Project in Canada, with a USD64 million order.

AIM All-Share: Mineral & Financial Investments has hit a seven-month high after it reported a third consecutive quarter of increased net asset value after a prolonged period of declines. Victoria is a big gainer after it said it expects its profit before tax and exceptional items to be ahead of market expectations for the year to March 29 thanks to continuing improvements in like-for-like profitability as well as the addition of recent acquisition, Globesign group. CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings is doing well after it partnered with BSkyB and TalkTalk to provide a broadband network in York. Surgical Innovations Group is another gainer after its 2013 pretax profit declined due to the US Dollar exchange rate and as it invested in streamlining its manufacturing operations, but its revenue rose thanks to a 22% increase in sales of its branded products, particularly its Resposable technology. Providence Resources is up after it confirmed that it is in commercial discussions with a number of interested parties about a phased development of its Barryroe oil field. Parallel Media Group is another gainer after insurance company AIA Group Ltd 's Korean subsidiary appointed it as an agency of record and marketing partner for its AIA Real Life: NOW Festival event. Parallel will procure corporate sponsors for the music festival, which is scheduled for August 15 and 15 in Seoul. DDD Group is down after it reported that it swung to a pretax loss in 2013, hit by lower shipments of its 3D imaging technology in the ailing PC market.

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Top Economics And General
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UK consumer price inflation slowed in March, as expected, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. The consumer price index rose 1.6% annually, following 1.7% in February. The figure matched economists' expectations. The Bank of England has an inflation target of 2%.
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Like-for-like retail sales in the UK tumbled 1.7% on year in March, the British Retail Consortium said, falling into the red for the second straight month. The headline figure was shy of forecasts for an increase of 1.0%, following the 1.0% decline in February. Among the individual components of the survey, sales improved for dresses, blouses and slippers, as well as men's shorts and children's clothing, but food sales were a key drag, shedding 2.7%.
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Investor sentiment in Germany in April continued to be damped by the effect of the Ukraine crisis, results of key survey showed. The economic expectations index for Germany dropped to 43.2 from 46.6 in March, the Mannheim-based Centre for European Economic Research said. The score was worse than the 45 forecast by economists, but much above its long-term average of 24.6.
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The European Parliament has approved a landmark scheme to tackle failing banks in the eurozone, seen as a key part of efforts to restore trust in the currency bloc and protect taxpayers against future bank rescues. The bank wind-down mechanism is the second pillar of a crisis-thwarting banking union, alongside a single eurozone bank supervisor that will start work later this year. But it took a long time to reach agreement on the scheme, which critics argue will not go far enough to protect against future problems in the banking sector. The compromise approved follows tough negotations between the parliament and member states, who disagreed over key issues of the scheme, including decision-making processes and the set-up of a EUR55 billion fund to assist troubled banks.
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A long-awaited "anti-terror" operation to root out pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country has begun, says Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov. The exact nature of the deployment remains unclear. Turchynov said that troops would be deployed to northern Donetsk near the Russian border. "The goal is to protect citizens from terrorists who are trying to tear this country apart," Turchynov told the Ukrainian parliament
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In a telephone call late Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged US President Barack Obama to use Washington's influence in Kiev "to prevent the use of force and bloodshed" in Ukraine. Putin rebuffed Obama's concerns about Russian interference in eastern Ukraine as speculation based on inaccurate information, according to a statement released by the Kremlin.
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times British Summer Time)

13:30 US Consumer Price Index
13:30 US Fed's Lockhart speech
13:30 US NY Empire State Manufacturing Index
13:45 US Fed's Yellen Speech
13:55 US Redbook index
15:00 US NAHB Housing Market Index
21:00 US Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Rosengren Speech
21:00 US Philadelphia Fed's Plosser speech

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Wednesday's Key UK Corporate Events

Tesco Full Year Results
Evraz Interim Management Statement
Hunting Interim Management Statement
Burberry Group Trading statement
Hargreaves Lansdown Interim Management Statement
Noble Corporation Full Year Results
Fresnillo Production Report
Persimmon Interim Management Statement
Reckitt Benckiser Interim Management Statement
Dialight Interim Management Statement
Polymetal International Production Results
BHP Billiton Production Report

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Wednesday's Key Economic Events (all times British Summer Time)

02:00 US Fed Minneapolis's Narayana Kocherlakota speech
02:45 China MNI Business Sentiment Indicator
03:00 China Gross Domestic Product
03:00 China Industrial Production
03:00 China Retail Sales
05:30 Japan Industrial Production
07:15 Japan Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda Speech
09:00 Italy Trade Balance
09:30 UK ILO Unemployment Rate
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
12:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
13:00 US FOMC Member Stein Speech
13:30 US Housing Starts
14:15 US Industrial Production
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks change
16:30 US Fed's Lockhart speech
17:15 US Fed's Yellen Speech
19:00 US Fed's Beige Book

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By Steve McGrath; steve.mcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1

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