Moneysupermarket.Com Share News (MONY)

LONDON (Alliance News) - J Sainsbury PLC reported its first sales fall in nine years for the fourth quarter of its financial year, but Chief Executive Justin King said the grocer will not get caught up in the price war within the UK supermarket sector and will ensure competitive prices in its own way.

After a strong Christmas trading period, the downbeat figures for the fourth quarter are in stark contrast. Sales fell by 1.5% during the period and by 3.8% on like-for-like basis, with the grocer saying it expects the outlook for customers to continue to be challenging in the coming year. In the long term, Sainsbury's said it is confident it can outperform its competitors.

King said that Sainsbury will not be pulled into a renewed price war for market share, following a spate of announcements from rivals on big investment plans. The outgoing chief executive said the group will continue to invest in price cuts in its own way, via its less expensive own-brand range and its brand-match promise. King noted that the chain has retained its 17% market share.

At the bottom of the FTSE 100 sits Resolution Ltd, trading lower as its dividend was retained at 2012 levels, despite reporting annual pretax profit from continued operation more than five times ahead of last year. The investment group declared its three-year restructuring complete and said it will now change its name to Friends Life.

Growing online fashion and beauty retailer ASOS is one of the biggest fallers on the AIM market after it announced an increase in capital expenditure and a cut to pretax profit guidance for the 2014 full year, leading to concern over the online retailer's future margin prospects. Revenue growth of 26% in the recent two months were behind full-year consensus expectations of 32%. The retailer also announced an increase in capital expenditure to GBP68 million from the previous guidance of GBP55 million, which implied a reduction in profit guidance.

The general retailer sector is the fastest falling in the FTSE 350, down 1.1%, following the ASOS profit warning. The read-across sees most of the retailers lower, with both Next and Debenhams also trading lower.

The Bank of England said the UK government has appointed three new senior policy members, including promoting Monetary Policy Committee member Ben Broadbent to the position of deputy governor. Anthony Habgood, who has been chairman of Whitbread PLC since 2005 and chairman of Reed Elsevier PLC and NV since 2009, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Court for a renewable period of four years.

Broadbent will be deputy governor for monetary policy. Nemat Shafik, who will start her role in August, will fill the newly created role of deputy governor, responsible for markets and banking. Shafik, currently a senior official at the International Monetary Fund, will hold seats on the Bank of Englan's MPC, Financial Policy Committee, and Court of Directors.

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FTSE 100: up 0.3% at 6,586.16
FTSE 250: down 0.2% at 16,265.45
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.9% at 863.25
GBP-USD: down at 1.6605
EUR-USD: flat at 1.3920
GOLD: down at USD1,352.80 an ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD106.45 a barrel

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Key UK Corporate News

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FTSE 100: Mining company Antofagasta reported a sharp drop in net profit for 2013 as the fall in commodity prices combined with higher costs, particularly for energy, to more than offset higher copper production. Barclays is handing out GBP31.8 million in shares to twelve of its top staff, including Chief Executive Antony Jenkins and Finance Director Tushar Morzaria, receiving shares valued at about GBP3.8 million before tax,and about GBP1.1 million before tax, respectively

FTSE 250: James Fisher & Sons has acquired Defence Consulting Europe AB in a deal worth up to GBP5.6 million. Kentz Corporation said its Dubai-based joint venture with Foster Wheeler has won a contract to provide engineering, procurement and related services for Royal Dutch Shell's Majnoon project in southern Iraq. Carillion said its joint-venture business in the United Arab Emirates has been awarded a GBP61 million contract by the Dubai World Trade Centre to develop the first phase of the Dubai Trade Centre District. Interserve has completed the acquisition of Rentokil Initial's facilities business for GBP254 million in cash. Greencore Group will build a new greenfield sandwich making facility in Quonset, Rhode Island in the US, a plant it will use to serve its existing markets in New England and also to develop "future business opportunities" closer to New York. Housebuilding company Berkeley Group Holdings said sales of new-build properties across all of its brands have been strong since November. Cairn Energy swung to a loss in 2013 as it booked a big impairment for the Catcher fields in the North Sea, and it warned that its outlook depends heavily on its exploration programme this year and the timing of the resolution of its tax dispute in India. Xaar doubled its full-year dividend as it saw pretax profit jump in 2013, boosted by strong growth in its digital printing products for ceramic tiles, particularly in China. The company also announced the departure of Chief Executive Ian Dinwoodie in 2015. IG Group Holdings reported a 9.1% increase in third-quarter net trading revenue, driven by its European and UK operations, while also expecting lower full-year costs than previously expected. Simon Nixon, founder and non-executive deputy chairman of MoneySupermarket.com Group has sold 15.0 million more shares than originally planned in an overnight placing, selling 70.0 million shares in total, bookrunners Citigroup Global Markets Ltd and Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) said.

AIM: Nyota Minerals is trading higher after its shareholders voted against its remuneration plan and against its request to approve an additional 10% share placing facility. Clear Leisure is also trading higher; the company got a GBP10 million two-year credit line from GEM Global Yield Fund Ltd, a facility that provides it with funds for working capital, fire power for potential acquisitions, and which may also be used to support debt restructuring at its Mediapolis SpA unit. Jaywing is trading higher. The marketing and consulting business has acquired Leeds and London-based search marketing agency Epiphany Solutions. Shares in Stellar Diamonds are up after the group announced that bulk sampling at its Tongo kimberlite dyke project in Sierra Leone has continued to yield high grades and exceptional quality diamonds. At the other end of the market, Madagascar Oil is trading lower, despite reporting that oil production rates have increased on a month-by-month basis at its Tsimiroro Field. Shares in Alexander Mining are also trading lower, despite announcing that its MetaLeach Ltd subsidiary has been granted a patent in Canada for a Method for Extracting Zinc from Aqueous Ammoniacal Solutions.

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Top Economics And General

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Eurozone's merchandise trade with the rest of the world resulted in a surplus in January, marking an improvement from the deficit recorded a year earlier, preliminary data published by statistical office Eurostat showed. The balance of January's foreign trade, on an unadjusted basis, was a surplus of EUR0.9 billion, compared to a deficit of EUR5.4 billion in the corresponding month of last year. Economists were looking for a surplus of EUR13.9 billion for January. In December 2013, the bloc recorded a trade surplus of EUR13.8 billion.
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Economic expectations for Germany worsened in March burdened by Crimea crisis, survey data from the Centre for European Economic Research/ZEW revealed. The economic confidence index dropped more-than-expected to 46.6 in March from 55.7 in February. The score was forecast to fall to 52.
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New car sales in Europe increased in February for the sixth month in a row, according to figures released. Registrations in the EU increased by 8% year-on-year to 861,058, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said. Sales remained weak as the industry recovers from a sharp downturn. The monthly total was the second lowest result for the month of February in the past 10 years.
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Germany's top court has dismissed lawsuits that challenged the legality of the eurozone's permanent bailout scheme, the European Stability Mechanism. Some of the lawsuits are inadmissible and the others are baseless, Andreas Vosskuhle, head of the Karlsruhe-based Constitutional Court said as the court announced its ruling.
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President Vladimir Putin took legal steps to swiftly let Crimea join Russia, hours before he was to address lawmakers and governors about his plans for the Ukrainian region. In an instruction published on the state legal website pravo.gov.ru Putin approved the drafting of a bilateral treaty with Crimea about the peninsula's joining the Russian Federation. The Kremlin said Putin has officially informed the Russian government and both houses of parliament of the Crimean leadership's request to accede Russia. He is expected to address an assembly of the upper and lower houses of parliament, as well as the governors of Russia's 83 regions about the Crimean issue at 3pm Moscow time (1100 GMT).
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Home prices in major Chinese cities increased further in February, but at a slower rate than in January, figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics revealed. On month-on-month basis, average prices of new homes increased in 57 of the 70 cities surveyed by the statistical office, which was smaller than the January Figure. Prices advanced 0.2% sequentially in Beijing, and grew 0.4% in Shanghai. Compared to February 2013, new home prices grew in 69 of the 70 major cities for which data was collected.
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The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 intensified over two huge arcs of territory north and south of where the plane last made contact. China began searching north-western parts of its territory in areas along the possible northern corridor, said the Chinese ambassador in Kuala Lumpur, Huang Huikang, according to the Xinhua news agency. He added that background checks on all the passengers had found no evidence of links to terrorism or involvement in a possible hijack, Xinhua said. Australia was leading the search on the southern corridor. The New Zealand government said Tuesday it was sending an air force plane to Australia at the request of the Malaysian government to help with the international operation to find the plane.
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Iran and six world powers met in Vienna for a new round of talks on scaling back Iran's nuclear programme and on lifting all sanctions targeting the Islamic republic. The start of the meeting was overshadowed by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's decision to cancel a dinner with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Monday to protest her meeting with Iranian dissidents during a visit to Tehran, Iranian media said. Ashton is negotiating on behalf of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the US and Germany.
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The Thai cabinet decided to end the state of emergency in the capital and surrounding provinces, after an easing of anti-government protests. The decree, in place since January 22, is being lifted on Wednesday, three days before the original legislation was due to expire
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Afternoon Watchlist

17:45 UK BOE's Governor Carney speech
23:50 Japan Merchandise Trade Balance

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Wednesday's Key UK Corporate Events

Partnership Assurance Full Year Results
Outsourcery Full Year Results
Cape Full Year Results
Consort Medical Interim Management Statement
Charles Taylor Full Year Results
Smiths Group Full Year Results
Net Scientific Full Year Results
Fidelity Japanese Values Full Year Results
PPHE Hotel Full Year Results

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Wednesday's Key Economic Events

04:30 Japan All Industry Activity Index
05:00 Japan Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda Speech
05:00 Japan Coincident Index
05:00 Japan Leading Economic Index
09:30 UK Average Earnings excluding Bonus
09:30 UK Bank of England Minutes
09:30 UK BOE MPC Vote
09:30 UK Claimant Count Rate
09:30 UK ILO Unemployment Rate
10:00 EU Construction Output
11:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
12:30 UK Budget Report
12:30 US Current Account
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks change
18:00 US Fed Interest Rate Decision
18:00 US FOMC Economic Projections
18:00 US Fed Pace of MBS Purchase Program
18:00 US Fed Pace of Treasury Purchase Program
18:30 US Fed's Monetary Policy Statement and press conference
23:50 Japan Foreign bond, Japan stocks investment
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By Alice Attwood; aliceattwood@alliancenews.com; @AliceAtAlliance

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