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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Thursday.
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COMPANIES
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission raised concerns about the proposed takeover of BG Group by Royal Dutch Shell, throwing a spanner into the works of the USD47 billion deal between the two blue-chip oil and gas companies. Rod Sims, the chairman of the Australian competition authority, said the body is concerned that, by aligning Shell's interest in Arrow Energy with BG's Queensland-based liquefied natural gas facilities, the proposed acquisition of BG "may change Shell’s incentives such that it will prioritise supply to BG’s LNG facilities over competing gas users".
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Merlin Entertainments reported growth in revenue in the first 36 weeks of 2015 as a good performance by Midway Attractions and LEGOLAND Parks offset a decline at Resort Theme Parks after the rollercoaster accident in June. The theme park and attractions operator said that group revenue in the 36 weeks ended September 5 grew by 2.2%, or 0.3% on a like-for-like basis. Of this, Midway Attractions registered revenue growth of 6.5% and LEGOLAND Parks saw a 9.2% rise, but Resort Theme Parks suffered a 13.2% decline in revenue following the accident at Alton Towers in June in which a rollercoaster crash left several riders seriously injured.
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Phoenix Group Holdings confirmed a press report that it has entered into talks to acquire rival Guardian Financial Services. The closed life funds consolidator said it has been evaluating a bid for Guardian as part of its strategy to run the rule over the potential acquisition opportunities in its markets, as flagged in its interim results in August. It said it is holding non-exclusive talks about a bid for Guardian, confirming a report in Sky News which said was talking to Guardian's private equity owner, Cinven, about a bid. The Sky report said the deal would be worth around GBP1 billion.
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Actuator and flow control products manufacturer Rotork said project delays and cancellations are set to push its revenue lower for the full year 2015 and will leave its adjusted operating profit falling short of its 2014 numbers. The company, which has been hit hard in recent months due to its exposure to the struggling oil and gas industry, said that while it has seen an encouraging amount of quote activity and though it has a strong pipeline in place, the timing of orders and product deliveries remains tough to forecast. A number of orders the group had expected to book in the third quarter have been delayed and are now anticipated to be made in 2016, hitting its results for the full year.
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Construction, property and services company Kier Group said its pretax profit more than doubled for the year to the end of June as it booked fewer one-off costs, while revenue was pushed higher by organic growth and its order book surged after the acquisition of Mouchel. The FTSE 250-listed company, which primarily focuses on the civil building and engineering sectors, said its pretax profit for the year to the end of June was GBP39.5 million, up from GBP15.4 million a year earlier, as one-off charges booked fell to GBP31.6 million from GBP42.2 million and it posted higher revenue.
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Premier Farnell, which is set to drop out of the FTSE 250, said it has rebased its dividend, slashing its interim payout by 41%, as it reported a fall in pretax profit for its first half, and said it will sell its Akron Brass business as part of an ongoing operational review. The company began an operational review in July after it issued a profit warning, and as part of this review said Thursday it will sell Akron Brass and cease direct operations in Brazil due to sub-optimal returns and high costs of operations.
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Vehicle hire company Northgate said it is trading in line with expectations so far in its current financial year to March 2016. Northgate Chairman Bob Mackenzie, in a brief statement due to be made at the company's annual general meeting, said trading was in line with the company's expectations and said it is making progress on its strategic plans.
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MARKETS
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UK indices were trading mixed ahead of the much-awaited monetary policy announcement from the US Federal Reserve at 1900 BST, with economists split on the likelihood of an interest rate hike.
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 6,215.11
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 17,048.47
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 738.76
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The pound was up against the dollar following positive UK retail sales data.
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GBP: up at USD1.5513
EUR: up at USD1.1316

GOLD: down at USD1117.70 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD48.92 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK retail sales grew for the first time in three months in August, the Office for National Statistics showed. Retail sales including automotive fuel advanced 0.2% month-on-month in August after staying flat a month ago. The monthly rate matched economists' expectations. This was the first increase in three months. Excluding auto fuel, growth in retail sales volume eased to 0.1%, as expected, from 0.3% in July.
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The Federal Reserve has been hinting since last year at higher interest rates, but even recent meetings of the US central bank's policy-setters held little suspense - but Thursday is different. Wall Street's clear expectation was for monetary policy to be tightened in September or October, until last month's Chinese stock panic and the stronger dollar wrought havoc on financial markets. The Fed has held interest rates at an unprecedented near-zero range since December 2008. Analysts at Deutsche Bank said futures markets imply a probability of 30% that the Fed will start hiking interest rates in the current meeting and a probability of around 60% for a rate hike by the end of the year. Commerzbank said that the situation is extremely unclear and said many market commentators still expect a rate hike.
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EU member states pledged manpower and equipment to take action against migrant smugglers operating in the Mediterranean Sea, the head of the EUNAVFOR Med naval mission announced. The EU is struggling with the biggest influx of migrants since the end of World War II, with many fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria. One key route to Europe has been the Mediterranean Sea crossing from northern Libya. More than 120,000 people have reached Italy by sea this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, while some 2,620 have died since January in attempted crossings.
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Washington is considering an offer from Moscow of US-Russia talks at the military level to discuss the conflict in Syria and the growing Russian role there. "We are currently evaluating," said US Secretary of State John Kerry. "The White House, the Defence Department, the State Department are discussing the next steps in order to determine the best way forward in order to have a clarity about this road ahead." Western countries are concerned about Russian military aid and possible Russian forces in combat in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a Moscow ally.
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Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah returned from exile to the southern city of Aden and pledged to rebuild the country devastated by a war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels. "My government will work with all its strength to establish a country where security and stability prevail," he wrote on Facebook. "Relief efforts [for those displaced by the war] and reconstruction top the government's priorities to bring life back to normal." Bahah and his government have been in neighbouring Saudi Arabia since Houthi rebels advanced in March on the port city.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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