South32 Share News (S32)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have opened flat in London Tuesday, as concerns about the precarious financial situation of Greece balance gains made by Asian markets on Monday and Tuesday and some positive UK corporate news.

Ryanair shares are up 4.2% after saying its profit after tax in the financial year to the end of March climbed 66%, while its margin also increased. Shares in rival low-cost airline easyJet are up 1.9%, the second biggest gainer in the FTSE 100.

The leading blue chip early Tuesday is Royal Mail, up 2.3%, after being upgraded to Hold from Sell by Cantor Fitzgerald.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: flat at 7,030.28
FTSE 250: flat at 18,193.81
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 766.49
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Hang Seng: up 1.3% at 28,341.38
Nikkei 225: closed 0.1% at 20,437.48
DJIA and S&P 500: market closed Monday for holiday
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GBP: down at USD1.5411
EUR: down at USD1.0894

GOLD: down at USD1,196.68 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD65.14 a barrel

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

11:00 UK CBI Distributive Trades Survey
13:30 US Durable Goods Orders
13:55 US Redbook index
14:00 US Housing Price Index
14:00 US S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
15:00 US New Home Sales
15:00 US Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index
15:00 US Consumer Confidence
15:00 US New Home Sales
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A Greek government spokesman played down suggestions by two leading cabinet ministers that the country is about to default on its debt, saying all efforts were being taken to repay a looming IMF loan on schedule. Gabriel Sakellaridis said Greece would maintain repayments to its EU-IMF creditors for as long as possible. He also rejected the idea of possible capital controls that would restrict money transfers and access to savings. On Sunday, the country's interior minister had said Greece does not have the money to make a repayment to the IMF by June, and New Democracy MP Dora Bakogiannis had said on national television that the government may be forced to impose capital controls in banks if it fails to reach a deal with international creditors before the upcoming three-day long Pentecost weekend.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday began renegotiating the terms of Britain's EU membership ahead of an in-out referendum. Cameron hosted a dinner for Juncker at Chequers, the prime minister's official residence in southern England, officials said. Cameron is to travel to several European capitals this week, including Paris and Berlin, to push his case for reform. He is expected to give more details to his plans for the referendum in a speech to the state opening of parliament on Wednesday.
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Meanwhile, Cameron told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that the two nations must cooperate to implement the Minsk ceasefire agreement on Ukraine despite "deep differences" between them. Cameron told Putin by telephone that "they would continue to have deep differences but that the priority now must be to deliver full implementation of the Minsk agreement," his spokesman said.
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The Chinese government has decided to cut import tariffs on consumer goods such as cosmetics, shoes, clothes and diapers in June, in a bid to boost domestic consumption amid slowing economic growth. Import taxes on some products will be lowered by an average over 50%, starting June 1, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Monday. Tariffs on imported clothes will be slashed 7-10% from 14-23%. The levy on imported cosmetics will be reduced to 2% from 5% and the tax on imported shoes and boots is set to be halved to 12%. Import tariffs on diapers will be cut to 2% from 7.5%.
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Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of JPY53.44 billion in April, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. The headline figure beat expectations for a deficit of JPY386.8 billion following the upwardly revised JPY50 billion surplus in March (originally JPY3.3 billion). Exports climbed 8.0% on year - also topping forecasts for an increase of 6.0% following the 8.5% jump in the previous month.
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The Japanese economy is expected to continue recovering moderately, the Bank of Japan said in its monthly report on Monday. The bank provided optimistic view on private spending and housing investment. Private consumption is expected to remain resilient with steadily improving employment and income situation. Further, the bank observed that inflation expectations appear to be rising on the whole from a somewhat longer-term perspective. At the policy board meeting last week, the bank maintained its target of raising the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY80 trillion.
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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hit back at criticisms of his country's security forces over the fall of the western city of Ramadi to Islamic State jihadists. A day after US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said Iraqi forces had "showed no will to fight" over the capital of al-Anbar province, al-Abadi said that the city would be recaptured "within days." The jihadists had only captured "a small area inside Ramadi," while government forces had gained ground outside the city, the prime minister told the BBC.
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A tornado and torrential rains hit northern Mexico as well as the US states of Texas and Oklahoma Monday, killing at least 18 people and leaving thousand of homes damaged, news reports said. Thirteen people were killed in Ciudad Acuna on the border with the US by the tornado, and about 1,500 houses were destroyed, the mayor of the town told Mexican media. A further 5 people were killed over the border in the US states of Texas and Oklahoma by floods on Saturday and Sunday, local media reported.
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Hundreds of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Burundian capital Bujumbura on Monday after an opposition politician was killed at the weekend. The government has denied involvement in the killing of Zedi Feruzi, leader of the small opposition party Union for Peace and Democracy, but demonstrators were not convinced.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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Cantor Fitzgerald Upgrades Royal Mail To Hold From Sell, Target Raised To 500p From 440p
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GOLDMAN RESUMES MONDI PLC WITH 'NEUTRAL' - TARGET 1,450 PENCE
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UBS INITIATES VEDANTA WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 840 PENCE
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN CUTS SOCO INTERNATIONAL TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL')
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GOLDMAN RESUMES DS SMITH WITH 'NEUTRAL' - TARGET 380 PENCE
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TRADERS: HSBC CUTS TELECITY GROUP TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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JEFFERIES INITIATES SOUTH32 WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 145 PENCE
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DEUTSCHE BANK INITIATES SOUTH32 WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 126 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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AstraZeneca said Amgen has terminated their co-development and commercialisation deal for monoclonal antibody brodalumab after observing "suicidal ideation and behaviour events" in the programme that might result in "restrictive labelling". Brodalumab was developed by Amgen and was in development for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and axial spondyloarthritis. The two companies entered into a collaboration deal in April 2012 for five monoclonal antibodies from Amgen's clinical inflammation portfolio, including brodalumab. AstraZeneca said it will confirm its decision on the future development of brodalumab as soon as possible based on further review of the data.
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Royal Dutch Shell executives have said the oil reserves the company is hoping to find in the Arctic are unlikely to brought into production before the 2030s due to the difficulty involved in securing environmental approvals, the Financial Times reports. Marvin Odum, head of oil and gas production for Shell in the Americas, told the FT the company's success or failure this year and in 2016 in making a significant discovery will be critical for the future of oil development in the Arctic region.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Cineworld Group reported a rise in revenue in the first 19 weeks of 2015 as sales grew in each of its divisions, and said it is confident it will meet market expectations for the full year. The cinema operator said total sales in the 19 weeks to May 14 grew 26.8% on the year before, with the box office growing 23.8%, retail rising 27.9% and other income up 47.1%. Cineworld said that all the territories in which it operates showed year-on-year growth, with the exception of Slovakia which had a small decline. Total revenue in the UK and Ireland grew 8.8%.
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Nostrum Oil & Gas said its earnings and revenue dropped in the first quarter of 2015 as the low oil price offset a rise in production for the Kazakhstan-focused oil and gas company. Nostrum said its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation in the first quarter to the end of March was USD48 million, down 41% from the USD81.5 million it posted in the fourth quarter of 2014. The earnings were dragged lower by a 38% fall in revenue in the quarter, down to USD100 million from USD161.3 million, though Nostrum said additional revenue of around USD13 million from the quarter will be recognised in the second quarter from export gas sales.
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Software company Micro Focus International reiterated its full-year guidance on a pro-forma basis including its acquisition of The Attachmate Group Inc, saying the result "reflects a strong finish" to its recently ended financial year.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Low-cost airline Ryanair Holdings said its profit after tax in the financial year to the end of March climbed 66% to EUR867 million from EUR523 million in the prior year. Net margin jumped from 10% to 15%. Earnings per basic share rose to 62.59 euro cents from 36.96 euro cents in the previous year. Revenue grew 12% to EUR5.65 billion from EUR5.04 billion reported last year. Ryanair said traffic was up 11% as load factors rose from 83% to 88%. The company continues to experience strong demand and forward booking momentum, it said. Average load factors in the first four months of 2015 grew 10%.
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Imperial Innovations Group said it has sold its 17.8% stake in e-learning portfolio company Epigeum to Oxford University Press for GBP1.9 million in cash. The stake in Epigeum was held in its books at a carrying value of GBP500,000, so the sale has produced a gross profit of GBP1.4 million before a 50% revenue share with Imperial College London.
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Coms said it has agreed to sell the business and some assets of its telecoms operations to Timico for an initial GBP2.5 million, with a further GBP1 million payable depending on the trading performance of the business. Following the completion of the sale, Coms will be comprised of its remaining infrastructure business Redstone and London video production company Darkside Studios.
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Shares in Eden Research were trading up 21% early Tuesday morning after it announced that its first product 3AEY has been authorised for the treatment of botrytis in table and wine grapes from the Regulatory Affairs Directorate in Malta.
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Stonegate, the owner of the Slug & Lettuce and Yates's pub chains, is understood to have been sounding out bankers about a London stock market listing, Sky News reported. TDR Capital, the private equity owner of Stonegate, has started talks for a float which could emerge in 2016, Sky said, with the company set to be valued at around GBP1 billion.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Charter Communications is nearing a deal to buy fellow US cable operator Time Warner Cable for about USD55.1 billion in cash and stock, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Charter will pay about USD195 per share with USD100 in cash and the rest in its own stock, Bloomberg quoted the people as saying. The deal value of USD55.1 billion is for Time Warner's equity. Charter also will assume debt in the deal. The deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday, the people told Bloomberg.
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UBS Group is shutting its Australian wealth management unit, with senior employees offering to serve clients through a new company, according to reports. UBS Wealth Management Australia head Mike Chisholm and senior client advisers are reportedlyforming Crestone Wealth Management. The advisers moving to Crestone account for about 80% of the unit's revenue.
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Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T , two affiliates of South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group, said that they have planned to merge by the end of August. The agreement comes amid Samsung's possible leadership shift from Lee Kun-Hee, the de facto head of the group who has been hospitalized since May last year, to Lee Jae-Yong, vice president of Samsung Electronics and the only son of the tycoon.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Nostrum Oil & Gas
Cineworld Group
Epwin Group
Fundsmith Emerging Equities Trust
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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