OPM.L Share News (OPM)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Evraz, the Russian steel maker part owned by Roman Abramovich, has seen its shares jump Wednesday, despite reporting a wider net loss for 2013 as cost cutting failed to offset a drop in revenues caused by lower steel prices.

Evraz reported a net loss of USD522 million for the year, compared with a loss of USD398 million in 2012, as revenue fell to USD14.41 billion, from USD14.73 billion. However, analysts had been expecting the loss to be even wider, and the company's shares are up over 7% midday.

Evraz has been selling assets to focus on more profitable operations and cutting costs. The industry as a whole suffered in 2013 from a drop in demand from Europe and concerns that the slowdown in growth in the Chinese economy could accelerate.

It said it will cut costs further in 2014 and further reduce capital expenditure so that it can weather what it hopes is a cyclical downturn in the industry.

The firm also warned that its operations could be hit by the tensions in Ukraine, although they haven't been so far.

Motor insurers are lower after an industry pricing index showed a drop in the cost of insurance. The latest price index from Confused.com and Towers Watson showed that motor insurance premiums fell by 7.5% in the first-quarter, leaving rates down by about 19% over the last twelve-months.

The last time the survey was published, it suggested that rates might have stabilised in the fourth-quarter of 2013, so there was "cautious optimism that rate decreases might have slowed," said Numis Securities analyst Nick Johnson.

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FTSE 100: Up 0.8% at 6,643.73
FTSE 250: Up 0.9% at 16,164.42
AIM ALL-SHARE: Up 0.6% at 846.26
GBP-USD: Down at 1.6740
EUR-USD: Up at 1.3803
GOLD: Down at USD1,308.88 an ounce
OIL (Brent): Up at USD107.75 a barrel

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Key UK Corporate News

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FTSE 100: Rolls-Royce Holdings has won a USD100 million contract from the US Department of Defense to provide continued support for the F405 engines that power the US Navy's T-45 training aircraft.

FTSE 250: Centamin said total gold production from its Sukari Gold Mine in Egypt declined in the first quarter of 2014 from the previous quarter, hit by a temporary reduction in underground average grade. Bwin.party Digital Entertainment has appointed Philip Yea as its Chairman, while saying revenues in the first quarter were up on the previous quarter but down when compared with a year earlier. WS Atkins said it traded well through its fiscal fourth quarter with strong cash flow generation and expects to report results for the full-year to end March that are in line with expectations. Just Retirement Group said it now expects total premium income from defined benefits de-risking to be at least GBP80 million in the current financial year, after it won new contract including its biggest deal to date, but it also issued a warning about its sales outlook due to the impact of George Osborne's reforms of the annuity market. IP Group has signed an intellectual property commercialisation agreement with Princeton University in New Jersey. UK bookmaker Ladbrokes is set to acquire Australian online betting company Betstar, in a deal worth between AUD20 million and AUD25 million, according to The Telegraph newspaper.

AIM All-Share: Tangiers Petroleum is the biggest gainer after resuming trading following the appointment of a new non-executive Chairman and Director. The company's shares were suspended on AIM in early February after two directors resigned. TomCo Energy is up after it said that Red Leaf Resources is moving towards commencing mining at the Seep Ridge site in Utah, and will use TomCo's EcoShale In-Capsule technology to extract oil. 1PM shares have been boosted after the provider of financing facilities to small businesses said it has negotiated GBP2.5 million of additional block discounting facilities which it will use to write new business, and reported strong trading in the first three months of 2014. Science in Sport said revenue growth in its last financial year was ahead of market expectations, and it raised GBP2.3 million before expenses in an oversubscribed share placing to fund further revenue growth and investments. Shares in Xtract Resources are doing well after it accelerated the development of the Chepica gold and copper project it recently acquired, and now expects it to become profitable in the second quarter of this year. GVC Holdings is up after it more than doubled its total dividend for 2013, after reporting a strong increase in revenues and profits for the year, boosted by its acquisition of e-gaming operator Sportingbet. Tower Resources is a heavy faller after it said it will raise GBP19.3 million in a placing and subscription, buy Rift Petroleum Holdings Ltd by issuing the sellers 550 million Tower shares, and has agreed a farm-in to an oil exploration block in Kenya. Pentagon Protection fell after it said Managing Director Steve Chambers will also become interim chairman after Haytham ElZayn resigned as chairman with immediate effect. The company didn't give any reason for ElZayn's resignation.

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Top Economics And General

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The UK visible trade deficit narrowed in February, while the surplus on services declined from the prior month, data from Office for National Statistics showed. The deficit on trade in goods fell to GBP 9.1 billion in February from GBP 9.5 billion in January. The shortfall was expected to decline to GBP 9.2 billion. Exports of goods slipped 1.6% from January to GBP 23.5 billion. Similarly, imports dropped 2.2% to GBP 32.6 billion.
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Shop prices in the UK tumbled 1.7% on year in March, the British Retail Consortium said - posting the sharpest decline in seven years. The headline figure was shy of forecasts for a contraction of 1.5% following the 1.4% fall in February. Among the individual components, clothing prices were a key drag - plummeting 12.8%. Electrical goods prices also fell 4.4%.
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Russia rejected accusations that it was massing troops for an invasion of Ukraine and accused the West of making "baseless" claims and waging an anti-Russian campaign. "The US and Ukraine have no reason for concern," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that international military inspections had shown no troop increases. The ministry defended Moscow's decision to boycott a session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), called by Washington and Kiev. It said that the US and Ukraine were waging a campaign against Russia inside the OSCE. "We call upon the US and other members states to stop using the OSCE to incite tensions over Ukraine," the ministry said.
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Toyota Motor Corp is recalling about 6.39 million vehicles worldwide over a possible defect of its steering, spiral cable and other components. Toyota announced five recalls involving 27 models, including Carolla, Yaris and Tacoma, and also the Pontiac Vibe and the Subaru Trezia, for 6.76 vehicles, the carmaker said in a statement. Since a few models are involved in more than one recall, the total number of vehicles affected by the five recalls is 6.39 million units.It is the second largest recall for Toyota after the carmaker recalled 7.43 million vehicles in October 2012.
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A Cairo appeals court rejected requests to change the judges trying ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi on conspiracy and jailbreak charges, paving the way for the two trials to resume, state television reported.
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times British Summer Time)

15:00 US Wholesale Inventories
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks change
19:00 US FOMC Minutes
20:30 US Fed's Evans Speech

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Thursday's Key UK Corporate Events

Oxford Biomedica Full Year Results
Mothercare Q4 Trading Update
Vedanta Resources Q4 Results
Ashmore Group Interim Management Statement
Hays Interim Management Statement
Marks & Spencer Trading Update
Oxford Instruments Trading Statement
888 Holdings Interim Management Statement
Norcros Trading Statement
WH Smith Full Year Results
Michael Page International Interim Management Statement
Air Partner Full Year Results

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

00:00 US Fed's Tarullo speech
00:01 UK RICS Housing Price Balance
03:00 China Trade Balance
07:45 France Consumer Price Index
09:00 EU ECB Monthly Report
12:00 UK BoE Interest Rate Decision
13:30 US Import Price Index
13:30 US Export Price Index
13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage change
19:00 US Monthly Budget Statement

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By Alice Attwood; aliceattwood@alliancenews.com; @AliceAtAlliance

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