Utilitywise Share News (UTW)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have continued their slide at the open Wednesday, despite a positive close overnight on Wall Street.

Brokers have been taking a look at UK insurers after RSA Insurance sprung a positive surprise late Tuesday by appointing turnaround artist Stephen Hester, recently of Royal Bank of Scotland, as CEO. Barclays has raised RSA to Equal Weight from Underweight, and RSA shares are up 3.2% at the open.

Nomura also has issued a series of ratings on insurers, lifting Hiscox to Buy, while cutting Lancashire Holdings to Reduce and Catlin Group to Neutral.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:

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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 18.04 at 6,431.23
FTSE 250: down 31.69 at 15,508.59
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 1.55 at 859.02
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DJIA: closed up 72.44 at 15,445.24
S&P 500: closed up 13.31 at 1,755.20
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6310
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.3513

GOLD: up at USD1,256.07 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD106.04 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come

08:43 Italy Markit Services PMI
08:48 France Markit Services PMI
08:53 Germany Markit Services PMI
08:58 EU Markit Services PMI
08:58 EU Markit PMI Composite
09:28 UK Markit Services PMI
10:00 EU Retail Sales
12:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
13:15 US ADP Employment Change
13:58 US Markit Services PMI
15:00 US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks change
17:30 US Philadelphia Fed's Plosser speech
18:40 US Fed's Lockhart speech
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North and South Korea agreed to hold reunions of families separated by the Korean War later this month, a media report said. The reunions will take place at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea between February 20 and 25, Yonhap News reported citing an official from the Unification Ministry. The deal was reached after officials held talks at the border village of Panmunjom.
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The United Nations said late Tuesday that it would not condone any action that undermines the democratic process in Thailand, following an inconclusive general election at the weekend. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon raised concerns about obstruction of voting in Sunday's general election, and urged all parties to resolve their differences through dialogue.
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Opposition lawmakers in Ukraine said Tuesday that they want to change the constitution to curtail presidential powers, but they are unlikely to get the required votes in parliament. "Let us stop dictatorship. Let us return to the constitution, which makes MPs decision-makers and not button-pushers," ex-boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, the leader of the Udar (punch) party, told parliament. He later said that such changes might "lower the temperature," and that he had discussed the issue with President Viktor Yanukovych.
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A 48-hour tube strike is set to cause travel chaos in London Wednesday, after last-ditch attempts to avert the action failed. Thousands of London Underground workers were to walk off the job from 2100 GMT after a row over ticket office closures in the British capital. London mayor Boris Johnson called on union leaders to call off the strike, saying that despite hundreds of job losses there would be no compulsory redundancies. Another 48-hour strike is planned for February 11.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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GOLDMAN CUTS ROCKHOPPER TO 'BUY' ('CONVICTION BUY LIST') - TARGET 300 PENCE
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EXANE BNP RAISES PREMIER OIL TO 'NEUTRAL' ('UNDERPERFORM') - TARGET 318 PENCE
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NOMURA RAISES HISCOX TO 'BUY' ('REDUCE') - TARGET 710 (527) PENCE
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NOMURA CUTS LANCASHIRE HLDGS TO 'REDUCE' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 695 (848) PENCE
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NOMURA CUTS CATLIN GROUP TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 568 (555) PENCE
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TRADERS: NUMIS RAISES ARM TO 'HOLD' ('REDUCE')
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CITIGROUP RESUMES KAZAKHMYS WITH 'NEUTRAL' - TARGET 200 (280) PENCE
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BARCLAYS RAISES JD WETHERSPOON TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('EW') - TARGET 880 (770 ) PENCE
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BARCLAYS RAISES RSA INSURANCE TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('UW') - TARGET 99 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Hargreaves Lansdown PLC reported record pretax profit and revenue for the half year, as it continues to add new clients amid buoyant stock market conditions in London. In a statement, the FTSE 100 stockbroker said it made a GBP104.1 million pretax profit for the six months ended December 31, 2013, compared with GBP93.7 million for the corresponding period last year, as revenue rose by GBP18.1 million to GBP158.4 million. Hargreaves Lansdown declared a 7.0 pence interim dividend, up from last year's 6.3 pence. Meanwhile, total assets under administration rose to GBP43.4 billion from GBP30.4 billion, boosted by net business inflows of GBP2.80 billion, significantly higher than the GBP1.65 billion reported for the corresponding period in 2012.
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British Land PLC said it plans to increase its shareholding in specialist retail park property group Hercules Unit Trust to 54.2% from 49.2% in a deal which will cost it GBP41 million. It said this holding could rise even higher. Hercules' portfolio comprises 17 retail parks across the UK including Glasgow Fort Shopping Park and 50% of Fort Kinnaird Shopping Park, Edinburgh.
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Troubled RSA Insurance Group PLC late Tuesday said it has appointed former Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC boss Stephen Hester as its new chief executive, as it seeks to recover after discovering a GBP200 million accounting black hole in its Irish business. Hester, who was replaced as RBS chief executive by Ross McEwan in October after five years at the helm, will earn a basic salary GBP950,000 a year at RSA, with a potential for a bonus. RSA said 50% of any bonus award must be deferred into RSA shares for three years. Hester replaces Simon Lee, who resigned in December. Martin Scicluna, who has been acting in an executive capacity since Lee's departure, will revert to his role of non-executive chairman.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Home emergency services provider HomeServe PLC said it expects full-year pretax profit, excluding exceptional items, to meet market expectations as it said its UK business was starting to stabilise following its recent struggles. The company confirmed that it has set aside a further GBP30 million after the UK financial regulator proposed a higher-than-expected penalty related to certain of the home insurer's past sales and marketing activities and complaints handling. It has set aside GBP34.1 million in total.
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Paypoint Appoints Warren Tucker As New Chairman From July
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ICAP Says Slower December Than Anticipated; Says Global Broking Continues To Be Impacted By Bank Deleveraging; Says Financial Regulatory Reform Accelerating Growth In Post Trade; Says EBS Direct Average Daily Volume Grew To USD2B In January From USD549M In November; Says Q3 Revenue 6% Lower Than Same Period Last Year; Says FY Pretax Profit Expectations Unchanged On Constant Currency Basis
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Unite Acquires Site Near University Of Aberdeen; Development Cost Is GBP20M
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COMPANIES - ALL-SHARE AND AIM
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Utilitywise Says Has Performed Slightly Better Than Management Hoped; Says Revenues, Adjusted Pretax Profit Slightly Above Hopes
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S&U Says Trading In Line With Expectations; Says Very Satisfactory Christmas Trading For Home Credit
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ISG Wins GBP125M UBS London Office Fit Out Contract; Contract Is For New UBS UK Headquarters At 5 Broadgate, London; Works Starts 2015
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Accesso Technology Group PLC said it has won a three-year deal to provide its eCommerce product to US-based theme park Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. The provider of technology to the attractions and leisure industry didn't provide any financial details.
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Daily Mail & General Trust PLC maintained its outlook for the full year as it traded in line with expectations in the first quarter ended December 31, 2013. The company also noted that Zoopla Property Group, a online property search firm in which it has a 52.6% interest, is exploring strategic options for its business. Daily Mail said it was participating in these discussions. The multimedia company saw revenue of GBP472 million in the first quarter, which is said showed underlying growth of 6% from the previous year. However, on a reported basis Daily Mail said revenue had declined 6%.
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24/7 Gaming Non-Executive Director David Mathewson To Take On Executive Role To Lead Company Through Changes; Chief Executive Rogier Smit To Become Chief Operating Officer; Finance Director Marcel Noorderloos To Step Down; WannaGaming Chief Executive Marcel Van Bree To Leave Company
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West African Minerals To Raise GBP3.7M Via Share Placing At 7p Per Share; Also To Issue One Warrant For Each Two Placing Shares
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Caza Oil & Gas Q4 Net Production Up 32% To 47,996 Barrels Of Oil Equivalent
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Wolfson Microelectronics FY Pretax Loss USD19.8M Vs Pretax Loss USD7.9M; FY Revenue USD179.4M Vs USD179.7M; Expects Q1 2014 Revenue Between USD28M-USD36M; Expects Q1 2014 Gross Margin To Increase To Around 45%; Expects Revenue To Continue To Be Moderated By Customer Inventory Run Downs
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Castleton Technology Appoints Spencer Dredge As Finance Director
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Eland Oil & Gas Starts Production At OML 40 License Onshore Nigeria; Says Gross Output From Two Wells Expected To Be 2,500 Barrels Of Oil Per Day Total
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HGCapital To Sell Entire Stake In Manx Telecom As It Prepares IPO
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GW Pharmaceuticals Q1 Post Tax Profit GBP2.8M Vs GBP2.1M; Q1 Revenue GBP7.5M Vs GBP5.2M; Expects Significant Amount Of Milestones Including Phase 3 Cancer Pain Data For Sativex
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Serabi Gold: Exploration Results Still Revealing Promise For Sao Chico; Latest Drilling Hit Further Intersections Of High-Grade Gold
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Coal Of Africa Granted Nucoal Section 11 Approval
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Solo Oil Enters Binding Heads Of Agreement To Buy 10% Stake In Horse Hill Development
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Amedeo Resources Says Jiangsu Yangzijiang In Deal To Build 2 Drilling Platforms; Says Jiangsu Yangzijiang Contract Worth USD1.7B
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Imperial Tobacco Group
Daily Mail and General Trust
Grainger
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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