Ncc Share News (NCC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Profit warnings and a poorly received trading update sent engineers Keller Group and Senior and software escrow and cyber security firm NCC Group to the bottom of the FTSE 250 early Thursday, amid a weak start to trading in London overall.

NCC shares were down 33%, while Keller and Senior were down 23% and 17%, respectively.

After the morning's company news, focus will turn to UK retail sales at 0930 BST and an ECB interest rate decision at 1245 BST.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 7,007.89
FTSE 250: down 0.4% at 17,973.71
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 826.21
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Hang Seng: up 0.4% at 23,398.22
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.4% at 17,235.50
DJIA: closed up 0.2% at 18,202.62
S&P 500: closed up 0.2% at 2,144.29
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GBP: soft at USD1.2275 (USD1.2296)
EUR: flat at USD1.0966 (USD1.0965)

GOLD: flat at USD1,270.35 per ounce (USD1,271.70)
OIL (Brent): soft at USD52.39 a barrel (USD52.93)

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

all day EU leaders summit

0900 EU current account
0930 UK retail sales
1245 EU ECB interest rate decision
1330 US initial and continuing jobless claims
1330 US Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey
1330 EU ECB monetary policy statement and press conference
1500 US existing home sales
1500 US Conference Board leading indicator
1530 US EIA natural gas storage
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UK Prime Minister Theresa May will tell European leaders directly that there will be no second referendum on Brexit when she addresses them for the first time in Brussels. The Prime Minister will tell counterparts that the "priority now has got to be looking to the future" as she sets out Britain's position at a European summit. But over dinner, she will insist that Britain does not want to damage the European Union when it quits the bloc. No 10 said there had been suggestions in Europe that Britain would revisit the June 23 referendum decision so the PM will use the meetings to make it clear that it is "right and proper" that the result is "honoured".
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A plunging currency, rising inflation, reports of dissent in her cabinet, legal challenges to Brexit and rising racism and xenophobia are just a few of the problems that May might be happy to leave behind when she attends the EU summit in Brussels, which starts Thursday. Scotland is taking its first steps towards a second independence referendum and politicians in Northern Ireland and Ireland are pressing for reassurances about the potential impact of Brexit on the territory's hard-won peace agreement. Pressure is also mounting from Brexiteers for May's Conservative government to move as quickly as possible with negotiations on leaving the EU and "take control" of Britain's borders. But perhaps the biggest complaint among British politicians on all sides is May's relative silence on her Brexit negotiating position.
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refuses to say he will concede the US election if he loses to Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. "I will tell you at the time," he said in a televised debate with Clinton. "I'll keep you in suspense." Clinton immediately condemned his stance as "horrifying." There was an overwhelming backlash to the remark late in the 90-minute debate, which had begun with a staid discussion of the US Supreme Court and hot-button political issues such as guns and abortion.
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Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts suggest US national economic activity continued to expand during the reporting period from late August to early October, according to the Fed's Beige Book. Most Districts indicated a modest or moderate pace of expansion; however, the New York District reported no change in overall activity.
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Germany's producer prices declined at a faster-than-expected pace in September, figures from Destatis showed. The producer price index fell 1.4% year-over-year in September, exceeding economists' forecast for a decrease of 1.2%. However, it was slower than the 1.6% drop in August. Excluding energy, producer prices edged down 0.1% annually in September, while it rose 0.1% from a month ago.
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A temporary UN-brokered ceasefire which went into effect in Yemen at a minute to midnight was breached by the Houthi rebels, army sources and local residents said. The army sources said Houthi rebels and their allies militants loyal to Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, breached the truce since it started, by heavily shelling areas in Taez, 275 kilometer south of Sana'a.
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Iraqi and Kurdish forces pushed further towards Mosul, Islamic State's de facto Iraqi capital, on the third day of a mission to recapture the city, even as they encountered surprise resistance in some surrounding towns and villages. Iraqi forces were advancing quicker than expected, a top US general supporting the operations said, and there were indications that some Islamic State leaders and fighters were leaving Mosul.
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Russia announced it will broadcast live images of the evacuation of civilians and wounded people from besieged eastern Aleppo during a "humanitarian pause" it has scheduled for Thursday. The planned pause would also be extended for an additional three hours to run from 8 am until 7 pm Moscow time, General Sergey Rudskoi of the Russian General Staff said in a statement carried by the official ITAR-TASS news agency. The extension is intended to give UN and Red Crescent representatives enough time to evacuate sick and injured people and civilians from the rebel-held enclave, Rudskoi said.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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Investec Initiates GlaxoSmithKline With Buy, Target At 1,925p
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JEFFERIES CUTS ABERDEEN ASSET TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('HOLD') - TARGET 254 (240) P
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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London Stock Exchange Group said its total income grew in the third quarter of 2016 thank to good trading across the business, though its focus remains on its merger with German peer Deutsche Boerse. The exchange operator said total income for the third quarter to the end of September including continuing operations was GBP414.6 million, up 19% year-on-year. Revenue for the company, from its trading operations, was GBP376.2 million, up 15% year-on-year. For the nine months to the end of September, LSE said total income grew 14% year-on-year to GBP1.20 billion, while revenue was GBP1.10 billion, up 11%.
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Multi-commodities miner and trading house Glencore said it has reached a deal to sell its Glencore Rail coal haulage business in Australia for AUD1.14 billion. Glencore will sell the unit to Genesee & Wyoming Australia, a coal haulage company. The Glencore Rail business operates in New South Wales Hunter Valley. Upon completion Genesee & Wyoming Australia will service the majority of Glencore's coal haulage requirements in the Hunter Valley under a 20-year contract.
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Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto reported that Pilbara iron ore production for the third-quarter increased 2%, while iron ore shipments declined 5%. It cut its 2016 expectations for Pilbara iron ore shipments. Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest iron-ore producer, said its Pilbara iron ore production for the third-quarter increased 2% to 83.2 million tons reflecting productivity improvements and continued ramp-up of expanded mines across its Pilbara operations. Pilbara iron ore shipments for the quarter decreased 5% to 80.9 million tons, due primarily to rail maintenance and of the Cape Lambert ship loader.
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Lender HSBC Holdings said it will exit Monaco as the wealthy principality loses its allure for some global banks. HSBC noted that it will refer Monaco clients to CFM Indosuez Wealth Management, majority owned by France's Credit Agricole. Any remaining Monaco business will be wrapped up. "It draws to a close the restructuring of our European private banking operations, with the future focus being on growing our business with strategic clients of the group," HSBC Private Bank said in a statement.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Senior issued a profit warning as the ongoing problems in its Flexonics divisions were exacerbated by a slower-than-expected ramp-up of new programmes for its Aerospace business in the third quarter. The aerospace, military and vehicle components manufacturer, which also had issued a profit warning in June, said activity in the large commercial aircraft and regional jets market for its Aerospace business improved in the third quarter. However, while bid activity is high and the unit secured important new contracts in the quarter to the end of September, Senior said trading for the Aerospace Division was below its expectations due to slower ramp-ups on new production programmes and by certain supplier issues which have hit its operations in the UK and the US. Senior said it does anticipate some improvement in the fourth quarter against the third, but its results for the full year will fall below its previous expectations.
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Geotechnical contractor Keller Group said its results for 2016 will miss market expectations due to weakness in its Asia Pacific business. Keller said its North America and Europe, Middle East & Africa units delivered steady results in the third quarter to the end of September, with trading in the US and Europe was strong and on track for the full year. In Asia-Pacific, however, Keller said it made further operating losses in the third quarter as conditions in the region remained tough, both on contract awards and pricing. Keller said a recovery for the unit is now anticipated to be "more gradual and protracted" than previous envisaged. Keller now expects its underlying results for 2016 will be around 15% lower than current market estimates.
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SPP Group, which runs food and drink concessions in transport hubs, said oit has agreed to create a joint venture to enter the Indian market. SPP has agreed to take a 49% stake in Travel Food Services, a leading operator of food and drink concessions in Indian travel locations. SSP will buy the stake in the company for GBP57.9 million from the Kapur Family Trust, SNVK Properties and KAPCO Caterers.
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Man Group said it has entered into a deal with Merrill Lynch International to repurchase on its behalf shares in Man Group worth up to a maximum consideration of USD100.0 million.
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Rathbone Brothers said strong investment markets boosted its funds under management in the third quarter as it unveiled plans for a share placing to mitigate its pension scheme deficit. The private bank reported its total funds under management grew by 8.5% to GBP33.2 billion at September 30 from GBP30.6 billion at June 30. The bank will issue approximately 2.2 million shares at a price of 1,710 pence each to institutional investors, representing a 4.6% increase in the bank's issued share capital.
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NCC Group said revenue in the first four months of its current financial year surged higher, but said its results will have a bias to the second half due to issues faced in its Assurance division. The company provides software escrow and verification, cyber security consulting and managed services. In the four months to the end of September, NCC revenue grew 36% year-on-year to GBP79.6 million. Stripping out foreign exchange translation and acquisition contributions, organic revenue was up 21%.
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SEGRO said liquidity was beginning to return to the UK investment market after an "initial hiatus" following the UK's vote to leave the European Union. The warehouse property investor said the positive leasing trends experienced in the first half of its financial year continued into its third quarter. It contracted GBP13.5 million of new rent in the three months to September 30, including GBP3.9 million in rent from existing space.
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Miner South32 affirmed its guidance for its current financial year despite a mixed production performance across its commodities. The company was spun-out of Anglo-Australian giant BHP Billiton PLC in 2015. South32 said good domestic demand resulted in 2.0% growth for its South Africa energy coal production in the quarter to the end of September. However, a decline in order grades and scheduled maintenance work on its projects meant nickel production for the group fell 9.0%, silver production fell 7.0%, and zinc production fell 5.0%, all year-on-year.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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JPMorgan Chase is in discussions to sell its stake in its Chinese onshore investment-banking joint venture. First Capital Securities disclosed in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that it and JP Morgan are in talks to transfer the 33% stake. JPMorgan owns 33.3% of the investment-banking joint venture it established in 2011 with First Capital Securities.
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Starbucks aims to double the store count in China by 2021, as the world's largest coffee retailer expects the country to become a bigger market than the US. Starbucks also promoted Belinda Wong to CEO of Starbucks China. Wong previously served as president of operations.
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Swiss foods giant Nestle reported that its sales for the nine-month of 2016 rose 1% to CHF65.51 billion from last year's CHF64.86 billion, reflecting foreign exchange impact of -1.7%. The net result of acquisitions and divestitures impacted sales growth by -0.6%. Organic sales growth was 3.3%, composed of 2.5% real internal growth and 0.8% pricing. All geographies delivered positive growth in generally subdued trading environments, Nestle said.
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Roche reported that group sales for the first nine months of 2016 increased about 6% to CHF37.51 billion from last year's CHF35.53 billion, while sales were up 4% at constant exchange rates. Roche CEO Severin Schwan said: "We had continued good sales growth in both Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics driven by our newly launched products, and our product pipeline is developing very well...Based on our performance so far, I am confident that we will meet our full-year targets for 2016."
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Deutsche Lufthansa reported adjusted EBIT of EUR1.68 billion in the first nine months of 2016 compared to EUR1.69 billion euros in the previous year. Based on preliminary figures, the company generated revenues of EUR23.9 billion in the first nine months of 2016 compared to EUR24.3 billion in the prior-year period. Lufthansa increased its full-year forecast for adjusted EBIT from 'below previous year' to 'approximately on previous year's level'.
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eBay reported a third-quarter profit that trumped analysts estimates, driven largely by revenue growth. However, shares of the company slipped 6% in the extended hours after its holiday season outlook came at the lower end of Wall Street estimates. eBay's third-quarter profit dropped to USD413 million or USD0.36 per share from USD539 million or USD0.45 per share last year. Revenue for the quarter rose to USD2.22 billion from last year's USD2.10 billion.
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American Express reported a drop in third-quarter profit, hurt largely lower revenues reflecting the absence of the recently ended Costco partnership. However, earnings for the quarter easily trumped estimates, as did revenues. The company also lifted its full year outlook. New York-based American Express' third-quarter profit dropped to USD1.14 billion or USD1.20 per share from USD1.27 billion or USD1.24 per share a year ago.
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Shares of Rite Aid slipped on reports that supermarket chain Kroger is no longer interested to buy stores that Walgreens and Rite Aid need to divest in order to get regulatory approval for their USD17 billion merger. A report from New York Post suggested that supermarket chain Kroger is no longer interested in acquiring 650 stores as part of that deal. Walgreens and Rite Aid will have to divest those stores in order to gain anti-trust approval for the deal.
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Google reached an agreement with CBS to carry the broadcast network on its soon-to-be-launched web TV service, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. The deal made CBS the first major TV network to sign on to the new TV service, which will be housed on Google's YouTube platform and is likely to premiere in early 2017.
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Luxury electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc announced that starting now all of its vehicles produced in its factory - including Model 3 - will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver. Eight surround cameras provide 360 degree visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range.
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Thursday's Shareholder Meetings

BHP Billiton (London)
Photo-Me International
Management Resource Solutions (re share issue)
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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