Savills Share News (SVS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened lower Thursday amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West and ahead of central bank statements in the UK and eurozone.

Old Mutual, Coca-Cola HBC and RSA Insurance all have reported earnings Thursday and lead FTSE 100 fallers at the open.

Rio Tinto is near the top of the blue-chip index after saying its pretax profit almost doubled in its first half and lifting its interim dividend 15%.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 6,625.60
FTSE 250: marginally down at 15,258.78
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 750.75
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Hang Seng: down 0.8% at 24,397.08
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.5% at 15,232.37
DJIA: closed up 0.1% at 16,443.34
S&P 500: closed flat at 1,920.24
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6837
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.3379

GOLD: down at USD1,305.30 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD104.48 a barrel

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

11:00 Ireland Consumer Price Index
12:00 UK Bank of England Interest Rate Decision and Asset Purchase Facility
12:45 EU ECB Interest Rate Decision
13:30 Canada Building Permits
13:30 EU ECB Monetary policy statement and press conference
13:30 US Jobless Claims
15:00 Canada Ivey Purchasing Managers Index
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage
18:00 US 30-Year Bond Auction
20:00 US Consumer Credit
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Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out at Western powers on Wednesday by ordering agricultural import bans on countries that have levied economic sanctions against Russia for its role in the separatist fighting in Ukraine's east. The economic tit-for-tat came as escalating violence in the area around the Malaysia Airlines crash site prompted an international forensic team to suspend their work recovering the remains of the 298 victims on board flight MH17 when it was shot down last month. Concerns about Russia's intentions mounted as NATO reported that Moscow was amassing some 20,000 soldiers along the border, which could perhaps be sent into Ukraine under the pretext of a peacekeeping mission. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was set to meet Ukrainian leaders Thursday in Kiev for crisis talks.
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Israel would respond to any rocket fire from Gaza after the expiry of the current ceasefire, the army said. "The army would then resume operations, and I think more decisively," Communications Minister Gilad Erdan told Israeli radio. "We are taking the threat seriously" of a resumption of rocket fire, Erdan said. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Wednesday that extending the 72-hour ceasefire, due to expire early Friday, was not under discussion, despite earlier reports to the contrary. Israel sent a delegation to Cairo on Tuesday for indirect talks with the Palestinians through Egyptian and American mediators.
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Germany's industrial production grew for the first time in four months in June, Destatis reported. Industrial output increased 0.3% month-on-month in June, reversing the revised 1.7% fall in May. June's rate of growth was slower than the expected 1.2% increase.
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FRANCE JUNE SA TRADE DEFICIT EUR5.38 BLN; MAY EUR5.129 BLN
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Sentiment among consumers in Switzerland weakened further in July, defying expectations for an improvement, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed. The consumer confidence fell to -1 in July from 1 in April. Economists had expected the index to rise to 3 in July.
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The number of Ebola deaths in West Africa has risen to 932, the World Health Organisation said Wednesday, as the disease continues to spread across the region. The number of confirmed or suspected cases rose to 1,711, according to the WHO, which has said the current Ebola outbreak is the deadliest on record.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BARCLAYS CUTS EASYJET TO EQUAL WEIGHT (OVERWEIGHT) - TARGET 1330 (1700) PENCE
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BERENBERG INITIATES VICTREX WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 1950 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Rio Tinto PLC said its pretax profit almost doubled in its first half and its interim dividend jumped 15% as the company passed its operating cash cost reduction target six months ahead of schedule and benefited from foreign exchange gains. The FTSE 100 mining giant said its pretax profit increased to USD6.09 billion for the six months ended June 30 from USD3.21 billion the previous year.
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Aviva PLC reported a rise in pretax operating profit from continuing operations as increases in its life business and from fund management more than offset a drop in general insurance and health. Aviva increased its interim dividend by 4.5% to 5.85 pence from 5.60p. In a statement, the FTSE 100 insurer said it made a GBP1.05 billion pretax operating profit in the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP1.01 billion in the corresponding period last year.
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RSA Insurance Group PLC reported a substantial drop in first half pretax profit as Chief Executive Stephen Hester continues to implement his turnaround plans at the embattled FTSE 100 insurer. RSA did not pay an interim dividend but said it is targeting a restart at the end of the year. RSA said it made a GBP45.0 million pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP240.0 million in the corresponding period last year.
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Mondi PLC said underlying operating profit rose as expected in its first-half, supported by a strong performance in Packaging Paper, Fibre Packaging and its South Africa Division, as it increased its dividend by 39% and benefited from a reduced special charge on restructuring activities during the period. The FTSE 100-listed company said first-half underlying operating profit rose 3% to EUR377 million from EUR366 million in the comparable period last year.
Mondi increased its interim dividend for the period by 39% to 13.23 euro cents per share, up on the 9.55 euro cents paid last year.
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Old Mutual H1 Adjusted Operating Profit 5% Lower At GBP761M; Interim Dividend Up 17% To 2.45p; H1 FuM GBP300.5B Vs GBP293.8B
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Coca-Cola HBC Q2 Pretax Profit EUR178.7M Vsw EUR120.0M; Q2 Net Sales Revenue EUR1.85Bn Vs EUR1.95Bn; Expects Some FY Positive Trends In Currency-Neutral Terms
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Randgold Resources Q2 Pretax Profit Up, USD92.1M Vs USD60.7M; Revenue Up, USD292.8M Vs USD228.9M
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Vodafone Group PLC and O2 are set to accelerate the rollout of superfast 4G networks in the UK after striking a deal with Arqiva, the Financial Times reported. The telecommunications infrastructure firm has signed a ten-year site-share deal with Vodafone and Telefonica UK, the operator of the O2 brand, under which the operators will get access to Arqiva's 16,700 sites across the country, the newspaper said.
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Separately, Vodafone said its EUR145 million offer for Automotive Technologies SpA has become wholly unconditional.
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Lloyds Banking Group PLC has said it will defend itself against a lawsuit filed by investors in the bank which has the potential to be one of the biggest in terms of damages ever heard in English courts, the Financial Times reports. The bank was sued in London on Wednesday by investors over its UK government-arranged takeover of HBOS in 2008. The bank's former chairman, Victor Blank, and former chief executive, Eric Daniels, are both named as defendants in the suit, the FT said. The claimants argue they were misled into approving the merger as key information regarding the true financial health of HBOS was withheld.
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InterContinental Hotels Group PLC said it has received a binding offer from Constellation Hotels Holding Ltd to acquire IHG's InterContinental Paris Le Grand hotel for EUR330 million. The owner of the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn chains said within the binding offer to acquire the 470-room Paris hotel, Constellation Hotels has made a further commitment to invest over time an estimated EUR60 million in renovations of the hotel. IHG said that as at June 30, the hotel had a book value of EUR342 million.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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UDG Healthcare PLC said operating profits and group revenues in its fiscal third quarter and the first nine months of its financial year were ahead of the previous year on the back of a strong performance for its Ashfield Commercial and Medical Services arm. The Ashfield business became the biggest profit contributing division of the company in the three months to June 30, with revenues and profits both rising in the period year-on-year. That growth was driven by the performance of its healthcare communications business, pushed higher by both organic growth and acquisitions, UDG said. The main acquisition made in the unit was in March, when it bought the KnowledgePoint360 healthcare information communications system.
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AMEC H1 Pretax Profit Down 29%, GBP83M Vs GBP118M; Reported Revenues Down 7% To GBP1.89B; Increases Interim Dividend 10% To 14.8p; Expects Foster Wheeler Offer To Complete In Early Q4
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LondonMetric Property CEO: Making Material Progress On Rental Income
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Kennedy Wilson H1 Pretax Profits GBP24.7M; Interim Dividend of 2 Pence
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Enterprise Inns Like-For-Like Net Income Up 1.2% In 44-Weeks To Aug 2; Q3 Like-For-Like Income Up 2.1%; First 5 Weeks Of Q4 In Line With Last Year; Remains "Comfortable" With Full-Year Expectations
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Cobham H1: Pretax Profit GBP118M Vs GBP137M; Interim Dividend Per Share 2.904P Vs 2.64P
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Savills H1 Pretax Profit GBP24.7M Vs GBP21.4M; Revenue GBP430.8M Vs GBP399.0M; Interim Dividend Increased 7% To 3.75p; CEO Sees No Significant Change In Overall Outlook In H2
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Spirax-Sarco Engineering H1 Pretax Profit GBP63.5M Vs GBP65.5M; Revenue GBP319.2M Vs GBP331.6M; Interim Dividend UP 8% To 19.5p
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SOCO International FY Production Guidance Remains At 14-15,000 BOEPD
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Card Factory Says H1 Sales Up 8.9%; Says H1 Trading In Line With Board Expectations; H1 Like-For-Like Store Sales Up 2.6%
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Aer Lingus July Total Passengers 1.07M, Up 4.4% From 1.03M Year Earlier; Total Revenue Passenger Kilometres 1.82M, Up 11% From 1.64M Year Earlier; Total Passenger Load Factor 87.3%, Down From 87.9% Year Earlier
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4d Pharma Says US FDA Has Granted Orphan Drug Designation For Rosburix
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Metminco Gets Favourable Ruling In Mollacas Copper Project Case; Surface Title Holder Arguments At Mollacas Site Dismissed
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Kerry Group H1 Group Revenue EUR2.9B, Down 1.9% On Currency, Up 3.2% Underlying; H1 Continuing Business Volumes Up 2.7%, Pricing Up 0.6%; Interim Dividend 13.5 Euro Cents, Up 12.5% From 12.0 Euro Cents Year Before; H1 Adjusted Earnings Before Tax Up 4.8% To EUR236.1M; Confident Of Meeting Previous Guidance Of 6% To 10% Growth In Adjusted Earnings Per Share In 2014
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Cereal maker Kellogg Co. is weighing an offer for UK-based snacks and cookies maker United Biscuits Ltd, reports said Wednesday. Kellogg has hired Barclays as advisor to evaluate an offer for the firm, which is owned by private-equity firms Blackstone Group LP and PAI Partners. Last month The Wall Street Journal had reported that United Biscuits was considering an initial public offering.
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Bank of America Corp is nearing a USD16 billion to USD17 billion settlement with the US Justice Department to resolve probes into sales of mortgage-backed bonds in the run-up to the financial crisis, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Under the proposed terms, the bank would pay about USD9 billion in cash and the rest in consumer relief to settle federal and state claims, Bloomberg quoted the person as saying, adding that details of the proposed accord, such as the relief and a statement of facts, are still being negotiated.
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After fending off a hostile take-over bid launched by Rupert Murdoch, Time Warner reported a second-quarter profit of USD850 million dollars. The profit was up from USD771 million in the same quarter a year ago, the entertainment company said in a statement. The company cited the success of the television hits Game of Thrones and True Detective for helping to boost earnings.
Revenue rose 3% to USD6.8 billion, according to the statement.
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Deutsche Telekom AG reported that its second-quarter pretax profit increased to EUR1.15 billion from EUR864 million a year ago. Deutsche Telekom confirmed its financial guidance for fiscal year 2014.
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Swiss foods giant Nestle SA reported that its profit attributable to shareholders for first-half 2014 declined to CHF4.63 billion, from CHF5.12 billion in the first-half of 2013. The company confirmed its full year outlook. It expects organic growth around 5% and improvements in margins, underlying earnings per share in constant currencies and capital efficiency.
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Sports goods firm Adidas AG posted 16% lower IFRS net income attributable to shareholders of EUR144 million, or EUR0.69 per share, in the second quarter, versus EUR172 million, or EUR0.82 per share, in the prior-year period. During the second quarter of 2014, group revenues were up by 10% on a currency-neutral basis, driven by double-digit sales increases in Wholesale and Retail, with all regions contributing to the currency-neutral revenue growth.
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German lender Commerzbank AG reported its second-quarter of 2014 net profit increased to EUR100 million from EUR40 million in the second quarter of 2013.
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Zurich Insurance Group AG said second-quarter net income after tax attributable to shareholders climbed to USD837 million from USD789 million last year.
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Thursday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Infinis Energy
Hardy Oil & Gas
INVESCO Asia Trust
Investec
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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