SpaceandPeople Share News (SAL)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares are gaining at the open Friday, driven by another full day of UK company news.

Miners lead FTSE 100 gainers, including Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

BAE Systems is up 1.8% after saying it has started a review of part of its US Intelligence and Security business after seeing a number of expressions of interest in the unit.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 7,068.78
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 17,700.39
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 752.64
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Hang Seng: up 0.1% at 27,859.73
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.8% at 20,020.04
DJIA: closed up 0.1% at 18,058.69
S&P 500: closed up 0.2% at 2,112.93
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GBP: up at USD1.5130
EUR: up at USD1.0876

GOLD: up at USD1,195.15 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD65.00 a barrel

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

09:00 Germany IFO survey
13:30 US Durable Goods Orders
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Polling remains mixed as the UK election campaign moves into its final fortnight, with the Tories taking a relatively solid lead in two polls, but Labour repeating the trick in pair of other surveys. The Tories took a four-point lead in the latest ComRes poll for the Daily Mail and ITV News, rising two percentage points to 36% against 32% for Labour, which fell a percentage point. The latest Survation poll also has the Tories leading by four points at 33% to Labour's 29%. But the daily YouGov/The Sun survey had Labour gaining one percentage point to 35%, giving them a two-point lead over the Tories at 33%. Panelbase also has Labour in the lead, by three points at 34% to 31% for the Tories.
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British households perceive that the value of their home increased in April, a survey from Knight Frank and Markit Economic showed. The house price sentiment index, or HPSI, rose to 58.2 in March from 57.5 in the previous month. This marked the twenty-fifth consecutive month of the index remaining above 50. A reading above 50 signals a rise in house prices, while a figure below 50 indicates a decline. The latest increase was only moderate as compared to March, suggesting that households believe prices continued to rise in spite of the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of next month's General Election.
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An index measuring producer prices in Japan were up 3.2% on year in March, the Bank of Japan said - standing at 103.0. That was just shy of forecasts for 3.3%, which would have been unchanged from the February reading.
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EU leaders agreed to triple funding for the bloc's Mediterranean sea patrols and drove plans forward for possible military action against smuggling networks at emergency talks in Brussels following a deadly migrant shipwreck. Only 24 bodies have been recovered from what is considered the worst migration tragedy in the Mediterranean in recent history. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that more than 800 migrants died at the weekend after a boat capsized 130 kilometers north of Libya. The decisions taken Thursday mark a "big step forward for Europe," said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. For the first time, he said, the bloc is forming a strategic vision on migration.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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Numis Downgrades Pearson To Reduce From Hold, Price Target At 1,265p
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Numis Upgrades Royal Bank Of Scotland Group To Add From Hold, Raises Price Target To 400p From 370p
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TRADERS: CREDIT SUISSE INITIATES RANDGOLD RESOURCES WITH 'NEUTRAL'
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN CUTS MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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The UK government's stake in Lloyds Banking Group has fallen by another percentage point just two weeks ahead of the UK General Election, according to the body responsible for managing the state's stakes in bailed out banks on Friday. According to UK Financial Investments, the UK economic and finance ministry's stake in Lloyds has been reduced to 20.95% from 21.99% previously.
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Publisher Pearson reiterated its full-year earnings guidance as the strong US dollar helped boost sales in the first quarter of 2015, and Chairman Glen Moreno announced his intention to step down in the next year. Moreno has been chairman for more than nine years. A committee headed by Independent Director Vivienne Cox will seek a successor for Moreno. Pearson continues to expect adjusted earnings per share of between 75 pence and 80 pence for the full year, assuming sterling exchange rates against the dollar and other key currencies as of January 21.
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Pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca maintained its full-year guidance, as the strong dollar hit its revenue in the first quarter of 2015, and it posted a decline in core earnings per share and operating profit due to continued investment in its pipeline. AstraZeneca posted a pretax profit of USD678 million, up from USD638 million, as a decline in revenue of 6% to USD6.06 billion from USD6.46 billion was offset by lower cost of sales and other operating income of USD377 million. Revenue growth was hit by the strength of the dollar, and at constant currency revenue rose 1%. However, at the core level, operating profit was down 4%, mostly as a result of reduced margin and higher investments and research and development costs, as AstraZeneca continued to invest in developing its pipeline and sales and marketing. Core earnings per share fell 7% at actual exchange rates to USD1.08.
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AstraZeneca also said its Medimmune Ltd biologics research and development arm has signed deals with a subsidiary of US biotechnology company Celgene and with French biopharmaceutical company Innate Pharma. Celgene International II Sàrl, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Celgene, has entered into a strategic collaboration with MedImmune to develop and commercialise an anti-PD-L1 inhibitor, MEDI4736, for hematologic malignancies. Medimmune will also work with Innate Pharma on developing Innate's anti-NKG2A antibody, IPH2201, including in combination with MEDI4736. Currently in Phase II development, IPH2201 is a potential first-in-class humanised IgG4 antibody. NKG2A is a checkpoint receptor that inhibits the anti-cancer functions of Natural Killer and cytotoxic T-cells.
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Dixons Carphone said it has struck a deal to sell its 83% stake in The Phone House Netherlands to Relevant Holdings, a vehicle set up by Dutch telecoms retailer Optie1. Dixons Carphone did not provide any financial details on the sale. Following completion of the deal, expected to happen in June, Dixons Carphone will retain a minority stake in the Dutch retailer and will work to develop its Connected World Services' partnerships in the Netherlands, with an initial focus on insurance and technical support services.
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Motor insurer Admiral Group said it traded in line with expectations in the first quarter and said it has decided it will not issue interim management statements going forward. The company said trading in the first quarter to the end of March was in line with its expectations and said no significant developments have occurred since it published its 2014 results in March.
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Defence and aerospace group BAE Systems said it has started a review of part of its US Intelligence and Security business after seeing a number of expressions of interest in the unit. FTSE 100-listed BAE said its manpower and services businesses within the US Intelligence and Security arm, which spans technical, mission and IT support services and which predominantly serves the US government, has generated external interest and a number of enquiries. As a result, BAE has hired external adviser to back a strategic review of the business.
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Reckitt Benckiser Group reported like-for-like sales growth across the business of 5% on a year earlier, with solid performances in its health and hygiene franchises slightly offset by like-for-like sales declines in its home and portfolio brands businesses. The consumer goods group said like-for-like net revenue growth in its health business was 13%, with strong growth for its Nurofen, Gaviscon, Strepsils, Durex and Airborne brands and with its consumer health franchise generally boosted by a strong cold and flu season.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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PR Newswire-owner and events firm UBM reiterated its expectations for the full year, as it said it had performed in line with expectations in the first quarter of 2015. The company said growth in its Events business in the quarter to end-March had been as anticipated, with its largest events continuing to drive its performance. Other Marketing Services also performed as expected, and its PR Newswire business performed "satisfactorily", UBM said. Its integration of Advanstar, which it acquired for USD972 million last December, is progressing well with synergies in line with its expectations.
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Aerospace and defence manufacturing company Cobham said it has struck a deal to sell its Weinschel and Inmet business to US technology manufacturer API Technologies Corp in an USD80 million all-cash deal. Weinschel and Inmet were acquired by Cobham as part of the acquisition of telecoms equipment manufacturer Aeroflex in September last year.
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Rotork said its order intake dropped in the first quarter on the back of the challenging conditions in oil and gas markets and continued uncertainty in some of its markets, with revenue falling on the back of the slow start to the year and the timing of projects.
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Petra Diamonds said it will launch a USD300 million note issue in order to fund the construction of a processing plant at the Cullinan mine in South Africa. The FTSE 250-listed diamond miner said it will issue USD300 million in senior secured lien notes due 2020. Petra's lender group has also agreed, in principle and subject to the closing of the note issue, to increase its debt facilities by around USD81.6 million to USD302.4 million.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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French Connection Group said it expects to miss its expectations for the first half and to miss market expectations for the full year after weak trading in its retail arm in the first quarter so far. French Connection said it expects its trading performance in the first half to the end of July to be materially lower than expected, owing to continued challenges in its retail division. It also expects its full-year results to miss market expectations as a result of the problems in the first half. The group added it intends to close seven stores in the current year to the end of January 2016.
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Shares in digital audio content services company Immedia Group pushed higher after it said it has secured a deal with BT Group. Under the deal, Immedia has signed a 12-month deal with BT to provide a digital radio channel to employees of its Openreach local network business using Immedia's mobile audio streaming platform. No financial details were disclosed on the deal.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Comcast will back away from its planned merger with Time Warner Cable amid mounting regulatory scrutiny, Bloomberg reports.
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Google reported a higher profit for the first quarter, driven by an increase in the volume of ads. However, both earnings and revenues for the quarter came in short of Wall Street estimates, hurt by a stronger dollar as well as a seven percent drop in ad prices. The search engine giant said it continues to see momentum in mobile advertising business and opportunities with brand advertisers. During the quarter, Google's aggregate paid clicks increased 13% from a year ago, while cost-per-click fell 7%.
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Software giant Microsoft said its third quarter profit fell 12% from last year, as higher costs and expenses more than offset a 6% increase in revenue. However, the company's quarterly earnings per share came in above analysts' expectations as did its quarterly revenue.
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Amazon.com reported a swing to loss in the first quarter, despite a 15% jump in revenue as the online retailer continues to splurge money on growth prospects. The loss for the quarter was better than what Wall Street anticipated, while sales trumped expectations. The company also revealed for the very first-time revenues from its cloud services business, indicating an almost 50% growth.
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Starbucks, the world's largest specialty coffee retailer, said its second quarter profit rose 16% from last year, as revenue surged 18%. The company's quarterly earnings per share came in line with analysts' expectations, but its quarterly revenue just managed to beat analysts' forecast. At the same time, the company maintained its fiscal year 2015 outlook.
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Apple's latest wish-list gadget, the Apple Watch, goes on sale in eight countries Friday - but this time, there's no point in camping out outside the company's stores. The wearable device, a timepiece-style iPhone add-on, will be sold by Apple only in its online store through at least May, Apple retail boss Angela Ahrendts said in a memo last week. The online sales will begin Friday in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

AstraZeneca
7Digital
Molins
Rotork
Senior
Spectris
Pearson
HSBC Holdings
SpaceandPeople
Tricor
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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