Spire Healthcare Share News (SPI)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Fears that hundreds of international fund managers could face unexpected tax bills in India have been heightened after Aberdeen Asset Management, one of the largest investors in the country, became the first foreign institution to confirm it had received a demand for payment, the Financial Times reports. “Our advice is that tax treaties apply, so we aren’t liable. Mind you, that was what Vodafone thought, and look what happened to them,” the paper quotes Hugh Young, Aberdeen’s managing director in Asia as saying.
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Centrica appointed insurance industry veteran Mark Hodges as the new managing director of its gas and electricity supply arm British Gas, a move that puts him firmly in the spotlight amid intense pressure and scrutiny on the UK's energy suppliers. Hodges worked for more than 20 years at Norwich Union and Aviva, which he quit in 2011 to run specialist insurance broker Towergate Partnership. He quit that firm last October.
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British Land extended its portfolio at the Paddington Central development in West London by acquiring the One Sheldon Square office development for GBP210 million. The property developer has bought the building, comprising nearly 200,000 square foot of office space over nine floors, from the Employees Provident Fund, Malaysia, meaning it has now invested in 800,000 square foot at Paddington Central, with a further 146,000 square foot under construction and 210,000 square foot consented for future development at the site.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is planning to sell its Luxembourg-based fund management business as part of it wider restructuring plan to refocus on its core UK commercial and retail banking operations, the Financial Times reported. The bank has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to advise on the sale of the business, which serves as an independent custodian of fund assets on behalf of other companies and handles around GBP20 billion in assets.
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Analysts have warned Tesco could post a bigger-than-expected writedown on its UK supermarkets, the Financial Times reported. The FT said analysts have forecast the writedown could be GBP3 billion to GBP4 billion, ahead of previous expectations that the company will book a GBP1 billion to GBP2 billion charge. The writedown is expected to push Tesco to a reported loss for the financial year to the end of February, the analysts said.
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Recruitment firm Michael Page International said its gross profit grew in the first quarter of 2015 on the back of strong performances in the UK and Asia Pacific, even as the strength of sterling held back profit from its Europe, Middle East and Africa division. Michael Page said its group gross profit for the quarter to the end of March was up 7.2%, though currency movements resulted in a GBP5 million hit to the gross profit number for the period. Gross profit rose to GBP135.6 million in the quarter from GBP126.6 million a year earlier, but was up 11% in constant currencies.
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Poundland Group reported an increase in revenue for the fourth quarter of its financial year and said results for its full year are in line with market expectations. The retailer said total revenue, excluding operations in Spain, increased by 6.5% in the 13 weeks to March 29 to GBP255 million, from GBP239.5 million in the same period a year earlier. However, it said that the contribution from new store trading weeks in the fourth quarter has been lower than last year due to the timing of store openings. Ten fewer stores were opened in the year as a whole than in the previous year which was a factor in a lower contribution to sales growth, it said.
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Private equity firm Cinven completed the sale of a 10% stake in healthcare provider Spire Healthcare Group, raising a total of GBP136.4 million. Cinven sold 40.1 million shares in Spire at 340 pence per share, with JPMorgan Cazenove handling the disposal. Spire shares closed at 367.1 pence on Monday. Following the deal, Cinven holds 153.8 million shares in Spire, representing a 38.3% stake.
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Investment manager Ashmore Group said its assets under management fell in the first quarter of 2015 through a combination of net outflows and weaker investment performance. Ashmore said its assets under management at the end of March, the end of its financial third quarter, were USD61.1 billion, down 4.1% from the USD63.7 billion under management at the end of December. The decline was caused by a combination of net outflows, which totalled USD2 billion in the quarter, and USD0.6 billion of negative investment performance.
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Dubai-based private equity firm Ithmar Capital is understood to be planning to sell a 20% stake in Abu Dhabi-based Al Noor Hospitals Group, according to a report. Global Capital magazine said Deutsche Bank has been hired to place around 23.4 million shares in Al Noor for 925 pence per share, raising GBP216 million for Ithmar, which is selling the stake via its Astro II special purpose vehicle.
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Evraz said its Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium subsidiary has filed for voluntary business rescue procedures. The decision means Evraz's USD27 million deal to sell its remaining 34% stake in the South Africa-based business to Macrovest 147 Pty announced in August last year, will not be completed at present.
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MARKETS
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London's main stock indices have turned lower mid-morning Tuesday, erasing earlier gains after UK inflation remained at zero for a second straight month in March.
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FTSE 100: flat at 7,061.39
FTSE 250: flat at 17,833.31
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 738.16
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GBP: down at USD1.4638
EUR: flat at USD1.0564

GOLD: down at USD1190.96 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD58.14 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The Conservatives clawed back some ground in the polls, extending their lead in the ICM poll and closing the gap on Labour in the latest YouGov survey, as the Scottish National Party extended its lead substantially north of the border. The latest ICM/Guardian poll found the Conservatives have stretched out to a six-point lead at 39%, only one percentage point shy of the 40% mark at which majority governments can be formed. Labour is at 33% in the poll, down two points from the last survey. The new poll also saw UKIP's support fall by two points, putting them level with the Green Party on 7%. The fall for UKIP meant the Liberal Democrats moved into third place as they stayed flat at 8%.
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British inflation remained flat in March for the second straight month as expected by economists, data released by the Office for National Statistics revealed. Inflation remained at zero in March after easing to that level for the first time on record in February. Month-on-month, the consumer price index gained 0.2%, in line with forecast, but slower than a 0.3% rise in February.
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House price inflation in the UK eased for a fifth consecutive month in February, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Average house prices rose 7.2% annually following 8.4% in January.
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UK retail sales grew by more than expected in March, as food sales posted its strongest expansion since July 2013 due to the timing of Easter, survey data published by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG showed. Retail sales advanced 3.2% on a like-for-like basis in March from last year, when they decreased 1.7%. Sales were expected to rise by a more modest 0.5%. On a total basis, retail sales were up 4.7%, the fastest in a year, in contrast to a 0.3% fall in March 2014. "An early Easter and better economic news helped lift retail sales out of the doldrums in March and the sector posted the strongest sales growth seen in nearly a year," David McCorquodale, head of retail, KPMG, said.
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Germany's wholesale prices continued to fall in March but the pace of decline slowed for the second straight month, data from Destatis showed. Wholesale prices fell 1.1% year-on-year in March, following a 2.1% drop in February. The wholesale price index has been declining since July 2013. The annual decline was largely driven by a 11.9% fall in prices of solid fuels and related products. Month-on-month, wholesale prices rose 1% in March, faster than February's 0.5% increase. This was the second consecutive rise in prices and the strongest since September 2012, Destatis said.
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India's retail inflation eased to a three-month low of 5.17% in March from 5.37% in the previous month, giving the Reserve Bank of India room to go for another 25 basis point cut by June. Economists had expected consumer inflation for March to rise to 5.5%. "A subdued reading for food inflation contributed to the easing in CPI inflation. If the monsoon is normal and crude oil prices do not post a significant rebound, the inflation could average 5.5% in 2015," said, Aditi Nayar, senior economist, ICRA.
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The foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany called for an immediate stop to resurgent combat operations in eastern Ukraine. The joint declaration, issued after four hours of at-times hefty discussions, called for a stronger role for the observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and for the withdrawal of heavy weapons. The ministers also called for formation of the long-planned work groups including the parties to the conflict and the OSCE to formulate a concrete political solution.
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Russia lifted a ban on delivering sophisticated surface-to-air defence missiles to Iran, citing recent progress in the nuclear arms talks with Teheran. The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree cancelling the ban, which was introduced in 2010 in the wake of a UN resolution. Russia and Iran signed a $800 million deal to sell the missiles in 2007, but their delivery was never carried out. Political observers at the time linked Moscow's reluctance to opposition from Israel. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday's decision was based on the "significant progress" achieved at the talks over Iran's nuclear programme, but noted that "commercial and reputation aspects" had also played a role.
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Marco Rubio, a first-term Republican senator from Florida, declared he is a candidate for his party's 2016 presidential nomination, promising a a room full of cheering supporters a "new American century." If elected, Rubio, 43, would become the first Latino president of the US and one of the youngest contenders ever for the presidency.
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