PAP.L Share News (PAP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are mostly flat at the open Thursday in cautious trade ahead of the highly anticipated European Central Bank meeting later in the day.

Standard Life leads FTSE 100 gainers, up an arresting 10%, after announcing it had sold its Canadian business for GBP2.2 billion and will return most of that to shareholders.

Fellow insurer Admiral Group is in second place, up 2.5%, after HSBC raised the stock to Overweight from Neutral.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,882.99
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 15,983.61
AIM ALL-SHARE: marginally down at 778.65
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Hang Seng: marginally up at 25,327.33
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.3% at 15,676.18
DJIA: closed up 0.1% at 17,078.28
S&P 500: closed down 0.1% at 2,000.72
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GBP-USD: flat at USD1.6452
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3138

GOLD: up at USD1,270.08 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD102.07 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Thursday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)

12:00 UK BoE Interest Rate Decision and Asset Purchase Facility
12:30 US Challenger Job Cuts
12:45 EU ECB Interest Rate Decision
13:15 US ADP Employment Change
13:30 EU ECB Monetary policy statement and press conference
13:30 US Jobless Claims
13:30 Canada International Merchandise Trade
13:30 US Trade Balance
13:30 US Unit Labor Costs and Nonfarm Productivity
14:45 US Markit Services and Composite PMI
15:00 US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage
16:00 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks
17:30 US FOMC Member Mester speech
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Germany's manufacturing orders rebounded strongly in July, far exceeding economists' expectations, figures from the Federal Statistical Office showed. Factory orders increased a seasonally adjusted 4.6% from June, when they fell 2.7%, revised from a 3.2% decline. Economists had expected a 1.5% gain for July.
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Unemployment in France increased marginally, as expected, in the second quarter, a report from statistical institute INSEE showed. The jobless rate, measured according to International Labour Organisation, or ILO, standards, edged up to 10.2% in the second quarter from 10.1% in the first quarter, in line with the consensus estimate. This was still close to the 15-year high of 10.3% recorded in the third quarter of 2013.
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The Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged at its September meeting, the central bank announced Thursday in a statement following the conclusion of its 2-day monetary policy meeting.
The Bank also announced its decision to retain its policy of expanding monetary base at an annual rate of 60-70 trillion yen. Also, the Bank lefts its asset purchase policy unchanged. Regarding the Japanese economy, the bank maintained its view that the economy has continued to recover moderately as a trend, though the subsequent decline in demand following the front-loaded increase prior to the consumption hike has been observed.
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The US economy continued to expand at a "moderate to modest" pace over the summer as the labor market improved, according to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, released late Wednesday. "Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicated that economic activity has expanded since the previous Beige Book report; however, none of the Districts pointed to a distinct shift in the overall pace of growth," the report said.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday they had reached an agreement to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The announcement came as President Barack Obama spoke in Estonia of US commitment to Ukraine, which he said had been dealt "a brazen assault" on its territorial integrity by Russia. In a development later Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande suspended the delivery of the first of two warships being built for Russia in France. The eastern Ukraine truce deal between Putin and Poroshenko, agreed in a telephone conversation, centres on a ceasefire between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian separatists, who have been fighting for more than five months.
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Obama, who is in Europe this week at the NATO summit meeting, is to bring the issue of Western fighters joining terrorist organizations in conflict zones to a rare country-leaders' UN Security Council meeting on September 25. Samantha Power, the US envoy to the UN, Wednesday said that Obama "will seek council's consensus on the severity of this threat and a need for collective action." Power spoke to reporters as the US took over the rotating presidency of the Security Council for September, meaning the US can set the agenda for the month on the UN's top decision-making body.
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US banking regulators established rules Wednesday that set the quantity of liquid, high-grade assets that banks must hold in reserve against a future credit crunch. The central bankers at the Federal Reserve voted to implement the rules, which are aimed at combating lending panics similar to the 2008 Wall Street credit crisis. Wednesday's change establishes "for the first time a liquidity rule applicable to the entire balance sheet of large banking organizations," Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said.
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Ebola fatalities have reached 1,900, an increase of about 400 over last week's gruesome tally, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday. WHO estimated that at least USD600 million in aid is needed to control the epidemic if transmission of the lethal virus is to be shut down within the next six to nine months.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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HSBC RAISES ADMIRAL GROUP TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 1,625 (1,700) PENCE
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TRADERS: EXANE BNP RAISES IMPERIAL TOBACCO TO 'OUTPERFORM' ('UNDERPERFORM')
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DEUTSCHE BANK RAISES STANDARD LIFE PRICE TARGET TO 455 (428) PENCE - 'BUY'
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BARCLAYS CUTS HARGREAVES LANSDOWN TARGET TO 1,400 (1,490) PENCE - 'OVERWEIGHT'
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TRADERS: CREDIT SUISSE CUTS BERENDSEN TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OUTPERFORM')
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TRADERS: MORGAN STANLEY CUTS HENDERSON GROUP TO 'EQUAL-WEIGHT' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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TRADERS: NUMIS RAISES CONSORT MEDICAL TO 'BUY' ('ADD')
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TRADERS: NUMIS RAISES M&C SAATCHI TO 'BUY' ('ADD')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Standard Life late Wednesday said it is selling its Canadian business for GBP2.2 billion in a deal that leaves the company expecting to return GBP1.75 billion to shareholders, while the remaining GBP450.0 million will be retained for general corporate purposes. In a statement, the FTSE 100 long-term savings and investment business said it is selling its Canadian long-term savings and retirement, individual and group insurance business and Canadian investment management business to The Manufacturers Life Insurance Co, a subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corp for CAD4.0 billion at closing. The sale is expected to generate a one-off gain of GBP1.2 billion for Standard Life.
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Centrica said its earnings per share for 2014 will be hit harder than expected by the boiler inspection undertaken by EDF Energy at the Heysham 1 and Hartlepool nuclear power stations. Centrica holds a 20% stake in EDF Energy's existing nuclear operations. On the basis of the latest estimates for returning the reactors to service, and the associated costs, Centrica's 2014 earnings per share are now expected to lower by between 0.6 and 0.9 pence per share, including the 0.3 pence per share announced on August 11, Centrica said.
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WPP said its JWT unit has acquired a majority stake in Cairos Usabilidade Eireli, known at Try, in Brazil for an undisclosed amount. Try is a user experience agency which designs and develops custom web, mobile, desktop and touch-enabled applications.
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Low-cost airline easyJet and Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus Group both reported higher traffic figures for August compared with a year earlier. easyJet said it had carried 6.6 million passengers in August, up 8.4% on the year, pushing up its load factor - a measure of how full its planes are - by 1.4 percentage to 94.2% for the month. Aer Lingus said its passenger numbers were up 5.6% on the previous year raising its total load factor in August 1.2 percentage points to 87.8%.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Anti-corruption activists have accused contractors and agents working on behalf of FTSE 250 oil group SOCO International of paying bribes to officials and rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a bid to explore for oil in the oldest national park in Africa, The Independent reports Thursday. Undercover investigators making a documentary in conjunction with non-governmental organisation Global Witness filmed an alleged ally of SOCO offering to pay a senior park ranger at the Lake Edward park in Virunga to spy on the head of the park, Emanuel de Merode, the paper said.
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Balfour Beatty said it has sold its US project management business Parsons Brinckerhoff to WSP Global Inc for GBP820 million in cash, a good return on the roughly GBP380 million it bought the business for in 2009 and more than analysts had expected. Parsons Brinckerhoff proved the key stumbling block to a failed merger approach by rival Carillion PLC, after Carillion's attempts to stop the sale were rejected by Balfour. Analysts had put a price tag of up to GBP650 million on Parson Brinckerhoff.
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Alent said Steve Corbett will step down as chief executive of the FTSE 250-listed specialty chemicals company, with Rick Ertmann to become interim chief executive. Ertmann, currently president of the Assembly Materials Division at Alent, will take on the position in an interim capacity as the group launches the process of identifying a permanent replacement.
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Bus and rail company Go-Ahead Group reported higher profit and revenue for its last financial year as both operations performed better than it had originally hoped, and said that the current financial year has also got off to a good start with trading in line with its hopes. The company, recently buoyed when it was awarded the huge new rail franchise covering a swathe of southeast England, reported a pretax profit of GBP91.2 million for the year ended June 28, up from GBP63.1 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP2.70 billion, from GBP2.57 billion, and its operating profit margin increased. Go-Ahead raised its final dividend for the year to 59.0 pence, from 55.5 pence, bringing the total for the year to 84.5 pence, compared with 81.0 pence.
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SuperGroup said it remains on track to deliver profitable growth in the full year as it posted a rise in group revenue in the first quarter of its fiscal year, with positive performances from its wholesale and retail arms and a gradual improvement in like-for-like retail sales against strong comparatives. The owner of the Superdry brand said group revenue for the period between April 27 and July 26 hit GBP87 million, up 16% from the GBP75.1 million posted a year earlier.
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Betfair Group said revenue and profitability rose in its first quarter, driven by the football World Cup and "continued momentum" across its products. The online betting company said revenue in the three months to July 31 was up 30% to GBP117.4 million from the GBP90.4 million reported last year, driven by the football World Cup, favourable sporting results, an improved performance in its Gaming division and continued growth in Betfair US.
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Cobham said its aviation services business has won a contract extension worth more than GBP88 million to continue providing Chevron Australia Pty Ltd with flights between Perth and Chevron's operations in Barrow Island, Western Australia. In a statement, Cobham said the extension includes an initial order of about GBP33 million. The full extension runs through to 2020.
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Serco Named Preferred Bidder For Australian Onshore Immigration Services Contract
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Cientifica said it has appointed Tim Godwin to the board as interim chairman with immediate effect.The AIM-listed investment company, which focuses on investment in businesses making use of advanced materials, graphene and emerging technologies, said Godwin is an investor in and director of a number of businesses in the software, internet, media and manufacturing sectors. He also acts as a self-employed consultant to Thames Valley Capital, a major shareholder in Cientifica.
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Paddy Power has appointed Andy McCue as chief executive designate and as a director of the company with immediate effect. The betting company said McCue will succeed current Chief Executive Patrick Kennedy, on January 1, 2015. Kennedy announced his intention to step down from the position at Paddy Power's annual general meeting in May.
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Idox said its engineering information management (EIM) division has won a USD4.1 million multi-year contract with an American multinational energy corporation, which it didn't name. In a statement, the specialist document management collaboration services supplier said the EIM division will supply its McLaren software and related services to the corporation.
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Urban&Civic said it has been selected by the UK Ministry of Defence to act as development manager for a new 6,500 sustainable new homes site on the outskirts of Cambridge. The site is on the former Royal Air Force barracks at Waterbeach.
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Vectura Group said partner Novartis AG had confirmed that Pfizer Inc's UK unit has agreed an exclusive deal to commercialise the Ultibro Breezhaler and Seebri Breezhaler in the UK, a deal that moves Vectura a step closer to increased license payments and royalties for the products it developed.
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Burford Capital, which provides capital to fund litigation reported a jump in income driven by net gains on litigation-related investments. In a statement, the litigation finance investor said it made USD13.6 million in net gains on litigation-related investments in the six months ended June 30, compared with USD6.7 million in the corresponding period last year. All in all, Burford swung to a USD12.4 million first half pretax profit, from a USD24.6 million pretax loss in the first half of 2013, largely due to the non-repeat of a USD26.5 million non-cash, non-net asset value charge associated with its 2012 reorganisation.
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Eland Oil and Gas said production has recommenced at the Opuama fields and is stablising, and it has received payment for its August lifting from Shell Western Supply and Trading Ltd. Eland said production at the Opuama field, covered by the OML 40 license, has recommenced with production stabilising at an average rate of over 3,500 barrels of oil per day.
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Arricano Real Estate said a claim lodged with the Commercial Court in Kiev that resulted in an ex-parte ruling imposing a temporary ban on the alienation of its shopping site SEC RayOn has been resolved in its favour. The case dates back to March when the company said its ownership of the shopping centre in Ukraine's capital had been contested. Arricano did not name the party which lodged the claim. However, the claim has now been dismissed.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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South Korean conglomerate Samsung Electronics on Wednesday launched the latest of its iconic Galaxy Note series, the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge with the next generation display, at the Samsung Unpacked 2014 Episode 2 event ahead of the IFA Electronics Show in Berlin. The event was held in Berlin, Beijing and New York simultaneously. The launch comes just few days ahead of rival Apple Inc's speculated high profile launch of the iPhone 6, to be unveiled at a media event scheduled for September 9.
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The European Commission Wednesday imposed fines totalling 138.05 million euros on Infineon Technologies, Philips, Samsung and Renesas, after finding that the firms coordinated their market behavior for smart card chips in the European Economic Area or EEA, in breach of EU rules that prohibit cartels. The companies colluded through bilateral contacts that took place between September 2003 and September 2005.
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An executive at South Korean electronics firm LG was questioned by police in Germany after damaging products made by rival Samsung in a Berlin mall, a news report said. The executive was captured by CCTV damaging the doors of four Samsung washing machines in an electronics shop in the well-known Europa-Center mall, Yonhap News Agency reported. LG denied accusations that the executive, who was not named, had deliberately vandalized the products.
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Tesla Motors Inc plans to build its USD5 billion battery plant in the western state of Nevada, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. Tesla is to build lithium ion batteries at the factory, in an effort to bring down the cost of their electric cars.
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Major automakers on Wednesday reported strong US vehicle sales for August, driven by rising consumer confidence, launch of new models and widely available credit that offset the negativity created by large number of recalls. General Motors Co. reported lackluster sales, however, this was offset by some strong performance from Toyota Motor Corp., Chrysler Group LLC and Nissan Motor Co. GM, the largest US automaker, said that its August sales dropped 1.2% to 272,423 vehicles from 275,847 vehicles last year.
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Thursday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Falkland Islands Holdings
Carpetright
Consort Medical
Polar Capital Technology Trust
Betfair Group
Carclo
Dart Group
Reabold Resources
Trakm8 Holdings
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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