Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Share News (MLC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Thursday.
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COMPANIES
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Lloyds Banking Group PLC said its first-quarter pretax profit fell to GBP1.37 billion from GBP2.04 billion a year earlier, when results were boosted by gains on the sale of government securities totalling GBP776.0 million, while the bank also upgraded its net interest margin guidance for the full-year. In a statement for the three months ended March 31, Lloyds said net interest income increased to GBP2.72 billion, compared with GBP457.0 million a year earlier, boosted by improving margins. But total income net of insurance claims - which also includes net fee and commission income, net trading income, and insurance premium income - fell to GBP4.63 billion from GBP5.90 billion. Lloyds said its underlying profit, increased to GBP1.80 billion, compared with a GBP1.48 billion profit in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
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Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC said it still expects to post flat revenue and profit in 2014, excluding a hit from exchange rate movements and a charge for its marine division, even though it has now also cut its profit guidance for that unit. In a statement, the aircraft and marine engine makes said it now expects profit and revenue in its marine unit to fall 10% compared with 2013 due to a one-off charge estimated at GBP30 million to rectify a "product quality issue" and due to lower services volumes. The company saw its shares fall sharply in mid-February after it surprised markets by warning that it expected a pause in overall profit and revenue growth in 2014.
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BG Group PLC reported lower first-quarter profit as the situation in Egypt continued to weigh, and it reaffirmed that production in 2014 as a whole is likely to be at the lower end of its guidance due to the issues in the country and the hit is likely to continue into 2015. The company's earnings come just days after BG Group Chief Executive Chris Finlayson resigned with immediate effect for personal reasons. Non-executive Chairman Andrew Gould has taken over as interim executive chairman while the company looks for a new CEO.
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British Sky Broadcasting PLC said that it was on track to deliver on its expectations for the full year, as it saw revenue rise in the nine months to end-March, although operating profit continued to be hit by higher costs. The broadcaster posted an operating profit of GBP910 million, down from GBP994 million, despite seeing revenue rise to GBP5.67 billion from GBP5.31 billion in the previous year, hit by its continued investment in connected services and the step-up in Premier League football broadcasting costs.
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Schroders PLC reported an increase in first-quarter pretax profit as it reported GBP3.8 billion in net inflows, which further boosted assets under management. In a statement for the three months ended March 31, Schroders said pretax profit rose to GBP118.9 million from GBP115.0 million for the corresponding quarter a year earlier. Net revenue increased to GBP358.8 million from GBP323.0 million, while operating expenses increased to GBP233.5 million from GBP213.5 million.
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Rigid plastic packaging supplier RPC Group PLC said it will buy Hong Kong-based injection moulded components and tools maker ACE Corporation Holdings Ltd for up to USD430 million, an acquisition it has been working on for three years. It said it will fund the initial payment by issuing ACE's shareholders with about 8.5 million new RPC shares, raising about GBP75 million in a share placing, with the rest coming from a new revolving credit facility.
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Howden Joinery Group PLC said that its performance since the beginning of the year has been in line with its expectations as improved market conditions seen since last summer have continued. In an interim management statement for the first 16 weeks of the year, to April 19, 2014, Howden Joinery UK revenue rose 11.2% on the comparative period last year, up 8.5% on a same depot basis. The company also confirmed plans to open 30 new depots during 2014. Howden has already opened six new sites since the beginning of the year; it is now trading from 565 depots in the UK.
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Lancashire Holdings Ltd reported lower first-quarter pretax profit, but Chief Financial Officer Elaine Whelan said the company is likely to return a "substantial" amount of earnings to shareholders later in the year. In a statement covering the three months ended March 31, Lancashire said pretax profit fell to USD57.4 million from USD78.9 million. Net revenue rose by USD28.4 million to USD182.5 after an increase in net premiums earned, but expenses were up by USD46.7 million at USD118.7 million. Investment return increased to 0.3% from 0.1%.
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N Brown Group PLC reported higher pretax profit for its last financial year, driven by double-digit growth in sales of menswear and home products, and it forecast a bigger surge in sales growth from 2016 as it invests in revitalising and expanding its businesses. The increase in profit underperformed the revenue increase because the company booked a loss on its fair value adjustments to financial instruments, compared with a gain last year. Its net profit actually fell, to GBP75.9 million, from GBP79.4 million, as its tax bill rose.
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Millennium & Copthorne Hotels PLC reported lower first quarter revenue and profit as the strength of the pound reduced its overseas earnings, but revenue was up at constant exchange rates as overall occupancy and room rates rose, helped by a recovery in its Asian hotels. The hotel operator also said the growth in revenue per available room had accelerated in the first four weeks of the second quarter, as it continued to see an improvement in its Asian hotels. The company joins a long list of British companies reporting a hit from the strength of the pound in recent months, which reduces overseas earnings when they are translated back to sterling.
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Go-Ahead Group PLC said it is pleased with the overall performance of its bus and rail business and retains its expectations for the full-year as it remains focused on cost efficiencies and improving revenue growth. In an interim management statement for the period from December 29, 2013 to April 30, 2014, the firm said it continued to make good progress in its bus division and is on course to achieve its operating profit target of GBP100 million by 2015/16. The firm said overall underlying trading in its rail division is also in line with expectations, noting that it is currently awaiting the outcome of the DfT's Thameslink franchise competition.
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The Weir Group PLC said that has retained its guidance for the full-year as trading since the beginning of 2014 has been in line with management expectations, although expects full-year results to be hit by currency headwinds. The company said it expects good constant currency revenue and profit growth with margins broadly in line with 2013 levels. However, reported results will be impacted by adverse foreign currency movements, said Weir.The engineering firm said that it expects the currency headwinds to be greater in the first-half, resulting in full-year reported revenue and profit being weighted more towards the second-half.
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ARM Holdings PLC said Chief Financial Officer Tim Score has decided to retire from the position. Score will step down from the role in May 2015 after serving as CFO since 2002. The semiconductor intellectual property supplier said it will shortly appoint search consultants for the appointment of Score's successor.
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MARKETS
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UK stock indices are modestly higher, led by bank shares after Lloyds says its underlying profitability is improving.
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FTSE 100: up 0.3% at 6798.45
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 15833.80
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 824.52
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The pound is up to a fresh four-and-a-half-year high against the dollar, following positive UK manufacturing data and house price data that beat analysts' expectations.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6905
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3878

GOLD: down at USD1283.18 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD107.30 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The UK manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest pace in five months during April, led by faster growth in output and new orders, survey data from Markit Economics showed. The seasonally adjusted Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply Purchasing Manager's Index climbed to 57.3 in April from 55.8 in March, which was revised from 55.3. Economists had forecast a score of 55.4. Factory output growth hit an eight-month high with gains across the consumer, intermediate and investment goods sectors. New order growth climbed to its highest in three months, led by improved demand from both domestic and export markets.
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UK house prices recorded a faster-than-expected double-digit growth in April, survey data showed. House prices increased 10.9% year-on-year in April, faster than the 9.5% rise seen in March, mortgage lender Nationwide reported. The rate was forecast to rise to 9.8%. Month-on-month, house price growth more than doubled to 1.2% from 0.5%.
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British mortgage approvals for house purchases declined more-than-expected in March to its lowest level in six months, figures from the Bank of England showed. Falling for a second straight month, home loan approvals totalled 67,135 in March. In February, approvals were 69,592, easing from January's 74-month high. Economists had forecast the figure to fall to 72,000 from February's original 76,753.
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China's monthly index of manufacturing activity edged up to 50.4% in April, officials said Thursday, 0.1% above the March figure. It was the second consecutive rise in the widely watched purchasing managers' index, released by the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. The index began to climb in March after hitting an eight-month low of 50.2 in February, a drop from January's 50.5.
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The Federal Reserve is continuing to pare back its infusion of cash into the US economy, even after the government reported Wednesday that growth screeched to a halt in the first quarter of 2014. Gross domestic product in the US grew at an annualized rate of 0.1% in the January-March period, according to an initial estimate by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. The slowdown was attributed to the unusually severe winter in the eastern US and to slowdowns in business investment, exports and inventory growth. After meeting in Washington, hours after the GDP report, the Fed said it would cut its monthly purchases of government-linked bonds by another 10 billion dollars to 45 billion dollars in May. "There is sufficient underlying strength in the broader economy to support ongoing improvement in labour market conditions," the Fed said.
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More than 100,000 people took part in a march on Moscow's Red Square to mark Labour Day, the first such event on the doorsteps of the Kremlin since the collapse of the Soviet Union 23 years ago. Patriotic fervor was high. Some protesters held Soviet and Russian flags, others raised banners backing President Vladimir Putin's decision to annex the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine last month. "Crimea belongs to Russia forever," read one banner.
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The International Monetary Fund approved a USD17.01 billion economic package for Ukraine to restore macroeconomic stability amid heightened tensions in the region. The Washington-based lender will make USD3.2 billion immediate payment to Ukraine. In exchange for the loan, Ukraine is committed to maintain flexible exchange rate, and meet near-term fiscal obligations. The IMF loan will also unlock another USD15 billion funds, including loans and other funding from the US, Europe and the World Bank.
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The armed insurgency in eastern Ukraine widened Wednesday, as Germany raised the possibility of new sanctions against Moscow despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats of retaliatory measures against Western firms. Pro-Russian separatists seized city administrations in Alchevsk and Horlivka, where they hoisted Russian flags. Alchevsk Mayor Volodymyr Kosyuga said he supports a referendum on the status of the industrial city in the Luhansk region on May 11, local media reported. Earlier, armed insurgents took over police headquarters in the regional capital, Luhansk, following a standoff.
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Global press freedom has fallen to its lowest level in over a decade, driven in part by major regression in the Mideast, according to a Freedom House report. Only one in six people in the world, or 14% of the total population, live in a place where the media is rated free. A far larger share - 44% - live where the media is not free. Some 42% live where the media is partly free, the Freedom House report said.
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