PAP.L Share News (PAP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have opened lower in London Wednesday, following a weak finish on Wall Street and mixed markets in Asia.

All FTSE 100 stocks are down at the open, other than Royal Bank of Scotland, up 0.6%, after being raised to Overweight from Equal-Weight by analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Betfair is the top gainer in the FTSE 250, up 19% after announcing an all-share merger with Irish rival Paddy Power, whose shares are up 13%.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 1.3% at 6,002.70
FTSE 250: down 1.0% at 16,551.55
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 716.71
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Hang Seng: down 0.7% at 21,266.20
Nikkei 225: closed up 3.2% at 18,376.83
DJIA: closed down 1.3% at 15,666.44
S&P 500: closed down 1.4% at 1,867.61
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GBP: up at USD1.5696
EUR: down at USD1.1504

GOLD: down at USD1,137.16 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD43.48 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

09:30 UK BBA Mortgage Approvals
11:00 UK CBI Distributive Trades Survey
12:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
13:30 US Durable Goods Orders
15:00 US Fed's William Dudley speech
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks
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The Chinese yuan weakened against the dollar in the Asian session on Wednesday, after China's central bank cut its key interest rates. Against the dollar, the yuan fell to nearly a 2-week low of CNY6.4230 from an early high of CNY6.4010. On Tuesday, the yuan was trading at CNY6.4112 to the dollar. The People Bank of China set Wednesday's central parity rate for yuan at CNY6.4043 per dollar, compared to Tuesday's reference rate of CNY6.3987.
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Corporate service prices in Japan were up 0.6% on year in July, the Bank of Japan said. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.4%, which would have been unchanged from the June reading.
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South Korea's armed forces reduced their high-level combat readiness posture at the border caused by tensions with North Korea this month, a media report said. The Koreas reached an agreement Tuesday according to which North Korea's "quasi-state of war" would be lifted, and South Korea would stop broadcasting propaganda by loudspeaker across their shared border. Tensions escalated after two South Korean soldiers lost their legs in landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone on August 4, an incident that Seoul blamed on Pyongyang. That led the South to switch on its propaganda speakers for the first time in 11 years, in retaliation.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: MORGAN STANLEY RAISES RBS TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL-WEIGHT')
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TRADERS: BERNSTEIN RAISES ARM TO 'MARKET-PERFORM' ('UNDERPERFORM')
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP RAISES MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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GOLDMAN RAISES PETROFAC TO 'CONVICTION BUY LIST' ('BUY'); CUTS PRICE TARGET TO 1072 (1100) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Media buying giant WPP posted a sharp rise in pretax profit for its first half, boosted by exceptional gains and an improved operating performance, and reiterated guidance of net sales growth of over 3% for 2015. WPP proposed a dividend of 15.91 pence, up 37% from 11.62 pence a year before. The company reported pretax profit of GBP710 million for the half year to end-June, up 45% from GBP491 million a year before, boosted by exceptional gains on the sale and revaluation of some of the company's associates and investments. On a headline basis, pretax profit rose GBP596 million, up 12% from GBP532 million. Revenue rose 6.8% to GBP5.84 billion from GBP5.47 billion a year before at actual exchange rates. At constant currency, revenue rose 6.4%.
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Defence contractor BAE Systems has lost out on a bid to build the next generation of mine-resistant humvees for the US military, a deal which would have been worth around USD6.7 billion, The Times reported. BAE was part of a Lockheed Martin-led consortium which was on a three-strong shortlist to build the new vehicle, competing with Oshkosh Corp and AM General, the newspaper said. Oshkosh, the Wisconsin-based truck maker, won the contract, under which it will build 17,000 of an eventual 55,000 Joint Light Tactical vehicles for the US Army and the Marine Corps.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Merger and acquisition fever in the UK gambling industry showed no signs of abating after Betfair Group and Paddy Power said they have reached an agreement in principle to merge in an all-share deal. Under the terms of the merger, Paddy Power shareholders would own 52% of the combined company, with the remaining 48% owned by Betfair shareholders. Immediately prior to completion of the deal, Paddy Power's shareholders would get an EUR80 million special dividend. Gary McCann, the chairman of Paddy Power, would become the chairman of the combined group, with Betfair Chief Executive Breon Corcoran to become chief executive.
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Construction and support services company Carillion posted flat pretax profit for the first half despite a surge in revenue and said its order intake in the half was sharply lower due to the slowdown in contract awards ahead of the UK's General Election. The FTSE 250 company said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of June was GBP67.5 million, exactly flat against a year earlier, despite revenue in the half rising 21% to GBP2.26 billion from GBP1.87 billion. Carillion blamed the costs of mobilising new contracts and lower margins in construction services for the failure of profit to keep pace with revenue. The revenue growth was driven by the strong order intake the company secured in 2014, but in the first half of 2015, its orders plus probable orders fell to GBP1.0 billion from GBP3.2 billion a year earlier, blamed by the company on the anticipated pause in public sector contract awards ahead of the election.
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Amec Foster Wheeler said it has been approved to bid for work worth up to USD5.0 billion from the US Air Force. The work Amec will be able to bid for is under the US Air Force Contract Augmentation Programme, which was set up by the US Air Force to provide additional capabilities to rapidly support the logistic requirements of its deployed forces through the use of civilian contractors.
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Stagecoach Group posted like-for-like revenue growth across the majority of its divisions, with strong UK trading slightly offset by continued challenges in its US division, though the group said it remains on course to meet its full-year expectations. The transport company said trading in the first months of its current financial year has been in line with its expectations, and it maintained its earnings guidance for the full year.
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OneSavings Bank reported an 88% surge in profit in the first half, driven up by higher-margin new lending and lower costs of funding. The specialist lender, which offers residential, buy-to-let and commercial mortgages, secured loans and development finance, said pretax profit increased to GBP46.6 million in the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP24.8 million in the corresponding half the prior year. OneSavings, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in June 2014, said it will pay a 2.0 pence per share interim dividend.
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NMC Health said it views its outlook for the remainder of 2015 and for 2016 with confidence, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for its first half. The company posted a pretax profit of USD41.5 million for the half year to end-June, up from USD40.9 million a year before, as a rise in revenue to USD393.8 million from USD314.3 million was partly offset by costs related to acquisitions, and depreciation of USD12.7 million.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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The oil and gas companies involved in the Horse Hill project in the Weald Basin, southern England, said they have received a new independent calculation that states there is 10.99 billion barrels of oil in place. This is the fourth estimate the companies have received, and this latest estimate is higher than the last forecast of 9.24 billion barrels of oil in place. However, how much of the oil can be recovered is still unknown. Horse Hill Developments owns a 65% stake in the Horse Hill prospect and the remaining 35% of the prospect is held by Magellan Petroleum. UK Oil and Gas Investments holds a 30% stake in Horse Hill Developments, whilst Doriemus, Stellar Resources, Solo Oil and Alba Mineral Resources each hold 10% stakes, with Evocutis holding a 2% stake and the balance is owned by Angus Energy, in which UK Oil & Gas has a 6% stake.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL AND OTHER
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Wirecard, a German provider of electronic payment and risk management applications, has joined the bidding for UK rival Worldpay, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. Wirecard is competing against private-equity bidders, including a joint proposal from Blackstone Group and Hellman & Friedman, as Worldpay also prepares for a possible initial public offering. Its offer values Worldpay, which is owned by Advent International and Bain Capital, at about GBP6 billion, the report said.
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Great Eastern Energy
James Latham
Ovoca Gold
Igas Energy
Iomart
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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