Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Share News (MLC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices opened weaker in London Tuesday, with blue-chip miners leading declines.

Anglo American shares were down 1.8%, after it outlined a "radical" portfolio restructuring and plans to cut costs further by suspending its dividend and cutting expenditure.

Anglo said it intends to reduce its assets by 60%. It wants to sell more assets to build on the USD2.00 billion generated from asset disposals so far, and plans to double that amount by selling other assets related to phosphates and niobium.

The miner also will suspend its dividend for the second half of 2015 and for 2016. Once the dividend resumes, the miner plans to change its payout policy so it is more in line with earnings.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.3% at 6,202.94
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 17,335.63
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 740.71
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Hang Seng: closed down 1.3% at 21,905.13
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.0% at 19,492.60
DJIA: closed down 0.7% at 17,730.51
S&P 500: closed down 0.7% at 2,077.07
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GBP: down at USD1.5044 (USD1.5065)
EUR: up at USD1.0871 (USD1.0843)

GOLD: down at USD1,073.36 per ounce (USD1,076.02)
OIL (Brent): down at USD40.92 a barrel (USD41.12)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)

09:30 UK Industrial and Manufacturing Production
10:00 EU Gross Domestic Product
11:00 US NFIB Business Optimism Index
13:15 Canada Housing Starts
13:30 Canada Building Permits
13:55 US Redbook index
15:00 US JOLTS Job Openings
15:00 US IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism
15:00 UK NIESR GDP Estimate
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China's exports declined for the fifth straight month on weak global demand, while imports dropped by less than expected in November, official data showed. Exports decreased 6.8% in November from last year, the General Administration of Customs reported. Shipments were forecast to drop at a slightly slower pace of 5% after falling 6.9% in October. At the same time, imports slid 8.7% annually, but better than an expected decline of 11.6% and an 18.8% fall seen in October. Nonetheless, the trade surplus fell unexpectedly to USD54.1 billion from USD61.6 billion in October. It was forecast to rise to USD63.5 billion in November.
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UK NOV HALIFAX HOUSE PRICES FALL 0.2% ON MONTH, CONSENSUS +0.2%; UK 3-MONTHS TO NOV HALIFAX HOUSE PRICES UP 9% ON YEAR, CONSENSUS 9.5%
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Like-for-like sales in the UK fell 0.4% on year in November, the British Retail Consortium said. That missed forecasts for an increase of 0.5% and was down from the 0.2% decline in October. Overall retail sales were up just 0.7% on year in November, the BRC said - after adding 0.9% in the previous month.
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Japan's gross domestic product was revised up to 1.0% on year in the third quarter of 2015, the Cabinet Office said. That topped forecasts for an increase of 0.2%, and it was up sharply from November's preliminary reading that suggested a contraction of 0.8%. The revision means that Japan escaped recession, since the final Q2 figure was a contraction of 0.7%.
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Japan had a current account surplus of JPY1.458 trillion in October, the Ministry of Finance said - surging 72% on year. The headline figure was shy of forecasts for a surplus of JPY1.594 trillion and down from JPY1.468 trillion in September.
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Eleven EU countries failed to overcome their last differences on the creation of a controversial tax on financial transactions, but decided to continue their negotiations on Tuesday. Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain have been negotiating the tax for nearly three years. They had at one point planned to start implementing the levy in 2016. EU Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said the countries are just "a few centimetres" away from an agreement. The idea of introducing a financial transaction tax in the EU has long been controversial. It had failed to find support among the bloc's 28 member states, leading the 11 countries to use a go-it-alone approach known as enhanced cooperation.
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Key issues that have dogged climate talks on a global agreement to limit carbon emissions persisted Monday, as ministers meant to provide a political push to the two-week negotiations began rolling their sleeves up. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is overseeing the talks, began the second week with a warning that only a few days were left to seal an agreement. A draft put forward Saturday lays out potential options, in some cases underscoring the breadth of difference that still need to be bridged, prompting leaders to lend mounting urgency to their calls for progress.
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The couple suspected of carrying out last week's massacre in San Bernardino, California, had been radicalized well before they opened fire on a holiday party, authorities said. "As the investigation has progressed, we have learned that both subjects were radicalized and had been for some time," said FBI Assistant Director David Bowdich, who heads the agency's Los Angeles field office. Investigators have interviewed more than 400 people in a "massive" investigation since Wednesday, when Syed Farook, a health inspector for the San Bernardino County Public Health Department, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, allegedly attacking the party for his co-workers, Bowdich said. He said Farook and Malik planned the attack in which 14 people were killed and 21 wounded, and even practiced target shooting in the previous days. They died in a shootout with police hours after the massacre.
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The US Defence Department confirmed the leader of the Islamic State movement's Libya branch was killed last month in a US airstrike. Abu Nabil, also known by the alias Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi, was killed in an airstrike on November 13, a Pentagon spokeswoman told dpa. The death had been initially announced by the US but then withdrawn, pending confirmation. It took weeks to confirm the death due to the unstable security situation on the ground in Libya, the US spokeswoman said.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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MS RAISES SMITH & NEPHEW TO 'EQUAL-WEIGHT' ('UNDERWEIGHT') - TARGET 1074 PENCE
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BERENBERG ADDS WHITBREAD TO 'ALPHA LIST' - 'BUY'
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BERNSTEIN CUTS ROLLS-ROYCE TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('MARKET-P.') - TARGET 515 (602)P
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HSBC RAISES MORRISON TO 'HOLD' ('REDUCE') - TARGET 150 PENCE
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BERENBERG CUTS IHG TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 2,850 (2,750) PENCE
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BERENBERG INITIATES MILLENNIUM AND COPTHORNE HOTELS WITH 'HOLD' - TARGET 470P
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Rio Tinto said that by the end of 2015, its aluminium product group will have delivered around USD300 million of cash cost improvements, a reduction of USD45 million in sustaining capex and cut working capital by around USD400 million from 2014. The Anglo-Australian miner said the momentum in operating cost reductions continues through a broad range of initiatives that should remove around USD300 million in additional cash costs from the product group in 2016, excluding any impact from currency or oil. Rio Tinto also confirmed that it expects total capital expenditure in 2016 will be around USD5 billion, compared to previous forecasts of less than USD6 billion.
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British American Tobacco is facing another accusation of bribery in Africa after another former employee of the company alleged the group bribed a local official to mis-report the impact of a fire at one of its warehouses in Uganda, the Financial Times reported. Solomon Muyita, a former corporate and regulatory affairs coordinator at the tobacco giant, made the claim in his case for unfair dismissal from the company in 2013. He said BAT bribed an official to secure a report stating there had been no harmful impact from the fire.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group said it has struck deals with three investment partners to provide more access to capital investment to private equity-backed businesses in the UK. RBS has signed deals with AIG Asset Management (Europe), Hermes Investment Management and M&G Investments, the latter the fund management arm of Prudential. Under the terms of the agreement, private equity-sponsored mid-market companies in the UK will be able to borrow up to GBP100.0 million in a single lending transaction which can be co-funded by all four of the partners.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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John Wood Group said it has won a new contract with oil and gas major ConocoPhillips in Australia.
The "multi-year" contract will see Wood Group PSN provide brownfield engineering services to the Bayu-Undan field located south west of Timor-Leste and the Darwin liquefied natural gas plant at Wickham Point in Darwin, Australia, the oil services company said.
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Specialty chemicals company Victrex said its pretax profit and revenue both edged higher in the year to the end of September, despite taking a hit from the weak euro, as it outlined plans for an enhanced capital-return programme. The company said its pretax profit for the year to September 30 was GBP106.4 million, up 4.0% from the GBP102.7 million it made a year earlier. It declared a total dividend of 46.82p, up 4.0% from the 45.15p paid out the year earlier. The company added it will implement a new capital allocation framework, under which investment in its growth will remain the top priority but which may see it pay out special dividends in the future, dependent on certain cash targets being hit.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Top-level domain company CentralNic Group said it has agreed to acquire Australia-based Instra Group and will back the deal with a share placing. CentralNic said it will pay a total of AUD33.0 million to acquire Instra, a privately-owned domain name retailer, consisting of AUD30.0 million in cash and AUD3.0 million in CentralNic shares. In addition, CentralNic said it will raise around GBP10.0 million via a share placing through Zeus Capital and Peel Hunt. It will issue a total of 25.0 million shares at 40.00 pence per share. Taken together, the placing shares and the consideration shares will represent around 31% of CentralNic's issued share capital upon completion.
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Oil and gas firm Enquest said production should significantly rise in 2016 after experiencing strong production in the second half of 2015, and said it will complete its cost reduction programme ahead of schedule. The company said production between July and the end of November averaged 35,022 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which was up 26% from the same period a year ago. It is also a huge leap from the 29,665 barrels per day being produced on average in the first half of 2015. Enquest reiterated its production guidance for the whole of 2015, which will average between 33,000 to 36,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, rising to between 44,000 to 48,000 barrels in 2016.
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GW Pharmaceuticals said its pretax loss widened in the year to the end of September due to a ramp-up in research and development and administrative costs, while revenue declined amid a reduction in research fees. GW said its pretax loss for the year to September 30 was GBP57.1 million, compared to a GBP19.6 million loss the year before, as its research and development costs ballooned to GBP76.8 million from GBP43.5 million and as its administrative and sales costs rose to GBP12.6 million from GBP7.3 million.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Canadian Pacific Railway is expected to revise terms of its about USD30 billion bid for rival Norfolk Southern as soon as Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. Canadian Pacific, seeking to overcome Norfolk Southern's rejection of its bid last week, is expected to offer USD32.86 in cash and 0.451 of a share in a new holding company that would run the two railways independently until the Surface Transportation Board rules on the merger, the report said. Canadian Pacific's previous offer would have paid USD46.72 cash and 0.348 of a share in the combined railroad for each Norfolk share.
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The US Federal Trade Commission said it filed an administrative complaint charging that Staples's proposed USD6.3 billion acquisition of Office Depot would violate antitrust laws by significantly reducing competition nationwide in the market for "consumable" office supplies sold to large business customers for their own use. Staples and Office Depot announced that they intend to contest the FTC's decision.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Gulf Keystone Petroleum (re UK resident directors)
Billing Services Group
Trading Emissions
Ten Alps
GETECH Group
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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