Rockhopper Share News (RKH)

LONDON (Alliance News) - London shares have opened lower Monday following a weak set of Chinese economic data over the weekend and ahead of the Scottish independence referendum on Thursday.

TUI Travel and German parent TUI AG have revealed the details of their proposed merger, which will see TUI Travel shareholders own a 46% stake in a combined group that will have a fully-diluted equity value of around GBP5.2 billion. TUI Travel shares are up 1.3%, third among FTSE 100 leaders.

SABMiller is the top gainer in the blue-chip index, up 5.1%, after Bloomberg reported that Dutch brewer Heineken rejected a possible bid for the company by SABMiller, in an attempt to fend off a potential approach from Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Fellow drinks firm Diageo is the second biggest gainer, up 1.7%.

Bernstein has initiated coverage of a group of FTSE 250 insurers, rating Catlin and Beazley as Outperform and Hiscox and Amlin as Market-Perform.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.4% at 6,781.70
FTSE 250: down 0.4% at 15,645.32
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 775.75
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Hang Seng: down 0.7% at 24,422.08
Nikkei 225: closed for holiday.
DJIA: closed down 0.4% at 16,987.51
S&P 500: closed down 0.6% at 1,985.54
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6242
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.2942

GOLD: up at USD1,235.23 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD97.25 a barrel

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

10:00 EU Trade Balance
13:30 US NY Empire State Manufacturing Index
14:15 US Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
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The average asking price for a house in the UK jumped 0.9% on month in September, property tracking website Rightmove said - standing at GBP264,875. That follows the 2.9% contraction in August. On a yearly basis, house prices spiked 7.9%, accelerating from the 5.3% gain in the previous month.
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Chinese industrial production and retail sales increased at slower than expected rates in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Saturday. The data has served to accentuate growth fears and expectations of additional stimulus as the world's second largest economy struggles to achieve the 7.5% growth target set for 2014. Industrial production rose 6.9% year-over-year in August following the 9% rise in July, with growth slowing for the second straight month and hitting its slowest pace in over 5 years. This was slower than the 8.8% growth estimated by economists. A separate report showed that Chinese retail sales expanded 11.9% year-over-year in August, which was slower than the 12.2% increase in July.
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UK Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to "hunt down" the jihadists responsible for beheading a British aid worker, and France is hosting an international security conference on Iraq Monday as the US seeks more allies for a global coalition against the Islamic State. Cameron called 44-year-old David Haines a "British hero" and said his government would "hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice no matter how long it takes," after the extremist Sunni group released a video of the beheading.
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Scottish voters are on Thursday to take part in one of the most momentous decisions in British history, when they vote on whether or not to leave the UK after more than 300 years of union. Almost 4.3 million people, representing 97% of those eligible, have registered to vote, and turnout is predicted to be the highest of any British election since the 1990s. A 22-point lead over the pro-independence campaign at the beginning of August has shrunk to a four-point lead, according to You Gov's most recent poll, published just six days before the referendum. On Friday Chancellor George Osborne announced that he and the governor of the Bank of England would not be attending a meeting of G20 finance minister in Australia due to the "economic" risks of a potential "yes" vote.
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Ukraine and the EU are delaying the implementation of a much-touted free trade deal until the end of 2015, while Brussels and Washington on Friday slapped fresh sanctions against Moscow for its role in the crisis in eastern Ukraine. In announcing the trade deal delay, following concerns from Moscow that it will have negative repercussions, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said: "This is part and parcel of the comprehensive peace process in Ukraine." Moscow, which is wary of closer EU-Ukraine ties, has expressed fears that the trade pact could negatively impact Russia's economy.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: SHORE CAPITAL RAISES CARNIVAL TO 'BUY' ('HOLD')
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BERNSTEIN INITIATES HISCOX WITH 'MARKET-PERFORM' - TARGET 690 PENCE
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BERNSTEIN INITIATES CATLIN GROUP WITH 'OUTPERFORM' - TARGET 625 PENCE
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BERNSTEIN INITIATES BEAZLEY GROUP WITH 'OUTPERFORM' - TARGET 305 PENCE
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BERNSTEIN INITIATES AMLIN WITH 'MARKET-PERFORM' - TARGET 415 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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TUI Travel and German parent TUI AG said they have reached a deal on their previously proposed merger, which will see TUI Travel shareholders own a 46% stake in a combined group that will have a fully-diluted equity value of around GBP5.2 billion. Under the merger terms, TUI Travel shareholders with receive 0.399 new TUI AG shares for each share they hold. TUI Travel shareholders, including TUI AG, will receive a second interim dividend of 20.5 pence per TUI Travel share, to include 10.5 pence per TUI Travel Share in lieu of a final dividend for the financial year 2013/14.
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The US unit of HSBC Holdings PLC Friday agreed to pay USD550.0 million to settle claims over the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the financial crisis. The settlement is lower than the maximum amount previously indicated by the bank holding company in its August 2014 half-year results statement.
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SABMiller is understood to have approached the owners of Dutch brewer Heineken over a possible bid for the company in an attempt to fend off a potential approach from Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bloomberg reported Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The preliminary offer by the FTSE 100 drinks company was rejected by the family that controls Heineken, according to the people. They said the offer would have given the Heineken family among the largest shareholders in the combined entity, Bloomberg reported.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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LondonMetric Property said its joint venture with the Universities Superannuation Scheme has exchanged contracts to buy a Cornish retail park, while the company has also sold an office in Crawley and retail units in Launceston. In a statement, the company said its joint venture with Universities Superannuation Scheme has exchanged contracts to acquire Liskeard Retail Park in Cornwall from a private property company for GBP9.0 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.2%. LondonMetric's own disposals comprise the Forest House office in Crawley, which its has sold to Mayfair Capital for GBP12.9 million, reflecting an exit yield to LondonMetric of 6.7%. It has also sold the units let to Carpetright and Topps units adjacent to its Launceston Retail Park to a private investor for GBP1.5 million, reflecting an exit yield of 7.0%.
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Enterprise software developer Micro Focus International confirmed it has agreed a reverse takeover of US-based The Attachmate Group Inc. Additionally, Micro Focus announced plans to return GBP83.9 million to shareholders at a rate of 60 pence per share, and simultaneously undertake a proportionate share consolidation. The share consolidation will give shareholders 0.9285 new shares for each existing share held. Under the agreement Micro Focus plans to acquire the entire issued share capital of Attachmate by issuing 86.60 million shares to Attachmate's parent company Wizard Parent LLC, equivalent to 40% of the new company's enlarged share capital.
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Spirent Communications said it has bought Denmark's Mobilethink A/S and its Tweakker subsidiary for USD20 million in cash, a deal that will boost its presence in the mobile device management and give it more recurring revenue. Spirent expects the deal to boost earnings and cash generation in the first full year after it is completed, and have a return on investment over cost of capital. The deal will be funded from Spirent's existing cash resources.
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Housebuilder and construction group Galliford Try said it had been selected as preferred developer to build a housing development in East London and preferred developer on a home regeneration scheme in Bristol. In a statement, Galliford said it had been made preferred developer to build the Silvertown Way development in Canning Town, East London. It will deliver the project to build over 1,100 mixed tenure homes across 11 blocks, through its joint venture with Thames Valley Housing Association.
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William Hill, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Gala Coral are creating a self-regulatory body to impose tougher standards on the industry as they seek to head off criticism about the rise of problem gambling, the Financial Times reports. Other gambling companies, including Betfred and Bet 365, have also been invited to sign up to the new watchdog, which will be launched in January, the FT says, adding that the new body has been dubbed the Senet Group, after a board game that was popular in ancient Egypt.
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Investec said it has agreed to sell Irish intermediated mortgage business Start Mortgage Holdings Ltd, as well as certain other Irish mortgage assets, to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds, following on from last week's sale of specialist UK mortgage business Kensington Group PLC. Investec said the deal is part of its objective to simplify and reshape its specialist banking business, and reduce assets within its legacy non-core business.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings warned that its full-year revenue will be below current expectations, after the low level of placements and an acceleration in the decline in manual revenue it previously warned about continued and it was hit by adverse currency fluctuations. It added that it was considering a number of opportunities to streamline and simplify its businesses as part of its efforts to control costs and drive efficiencies. It said it will give more details on this when its releases its interim results on October 14.
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Great Western Mining Corp shares were up in opening trade after the company said results from its 2014 field programme on the Golconda Thrust Group of claim groups in Nevada, US strongly indicate the presence of Carlin-type disseminated gold mineralisation. Great Western shares were up 15% to 0.72 pence in early trade, putting it among the top performers on the AIM All-Share.
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UK bakery chain Greggs said it now expects full-year profits to be "materially ahead" of its previous expectations, following a strong sales performance in the third quarter, which saw own shop like-for-like sales grow by 5.4%. The company said the 5.4% growth in the 11 weeks to September 13, compared with a 1% decline last year, was buoyed by a strong trading performance and weaker comparatives. Total sales grew by 4% year-on-year in the 11 week period, which includes store closures.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Financial services giant Citigroup Inc is planning to file an IPO for its consumer lending unit OneMain Financial Inc by the end of September, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Citigroup also plans to reportedly explore a sale of the unit at the same time, in what is known as a dual-track process. Baltimore-based OneMain Financial, formerly known as CitiFinancial, provides personal loans from more than 1,100 branches nationwide. According to the Bloomberg report, a sale of OneMain Financial is worth at least USD4 billion and Springleaf Holdings Inc is said to be interested in buying the unit.
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans to stop taking orders early from investors for its highly-anticipated initial public offering, according to media reports on Friday, citing people familiar with knowledge of the matter. The Chinese e-commerce giant reportedly has sufficient demand to sell all the stock in the IPO at the high end of its current price range and therefore, plans to start closing the order books early.
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Air France has warned that about half of all its flights scheduled for Monday could be cancelled because of a pilots' strike, chief executive Frederic Gagey told French radio. The airline could lose between EUR10-15 million because of the strike, Gagey said Saturday. The SNPL union representing Air France pilots called the week-long strike to pressure Air France to give pilots at its low-cost subsidiary, Transavia, the same wage conditions as those working for the mother company.
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Fastnet Oil & Gas
Rockhopper Exploration
Phaunos Timber Fund
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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