Victoria Share News (VCP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Supermarket giant Tesco plummeted Friday after it brought forward the start date for its new chief executive and tasked him with conducting a review of the whole group, after it slashed its interim dividend, cut its capital expenditure plans and said it expects trading profit to be significantly lower than last year.

Incoming Chief Executive David Lewis will now take the helm at the UK's biggest retailer on September 1, a month earlier than previously flagged.

Tesco said trading conditions remain challenging and its ongoing investments in its customer offer - which includes big price cuts - has weighed on its expected performance. It said it was uncertain about how fast the benefits of the investments it is making would flow through in the second-half of its financial year.

It said it now expects its trading profit in the current financial year that ends in February 2015 to be between GBP2.4 billion and GBP2.5 billion, and trading profit for the first half ending August 23 to be about GBP1.1 billion, a significant drop from the GBP3.32 billion trading profit it posted in the whole of its last financial year, and the GBP1.59 billion in trading profit it posted in the first-half of that year.

Tesco expects to set an interim dividend of 1.16 pence, 75% below last year's interim dividend. This reflects the retailer's current expectations of future performance and its focus on maintaining a strong financial position it said.

The struggling retailer also said it will further cut capital expenditure, and now expects to spend no more than GBP2.1 billion in the current year, about GBP0.4 billion less than originally planned and GBP0.6 billion less than its capital expenditure in its last financial year. It said it will cut spending in a number of areas, including IT and a slower roll-out of its store refresh programme.

Shares in the supermarket opened nearly 10% lower Friday, and now trades 4.2% lower at 236.22 pence per share. The news has weighed on the sector with rivals Wm Morrison, J Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer also leading the FTSE 100 fallers, trading 4.2%, 2.7% and 2.0% lower, respectively.

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Markets: UK stocks indices are narrowly mixed Friday morning after the day's key European economic indicator, the eurozone consumer price index, met expectations.

Trading in the US index futures suggests that Wall Street stocks may open slightly higher on Friday after Thursday's lackluster showing. Asian stocks closed mixed in an uneventful session, while the European markets are a touch higher.

FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,811.93
FTSE 250: down 0.4% at 15,855.63
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 780.77
GBP-USD: flat at 1.6595
EUR-USD: flat at 1.3185
GOLD: down at USD1,285.10 an ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD102.82 a barrel
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Other Top UK Corporate News
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European oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has submitted a revised plan to the US government to drill in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Alaska, the Financial Times said Thursday. Shell has submitted its exploration plan to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which controls offshore drilling rights. The company is keeping its option open to drill in the area next summer, although it has not decided to do so. The submitted plan includes environmental and safety aspects.
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Afren, the oil and gas explorer and producer embroiled in a probe into alleged unauthorised payments that potentially benefited company officials, said it expects to come out stronger once the issues are cleared up, after it reported lower profit for the first half of the year and lowered its full-year production forecast due to the suspension of operations at a field in Kurdistan. The company reported a pretax profit from continuing operations of USD133.1 million for the six months to June 30, down from USD260.4 million a year earlier, as revenue declined to USD565.4 million, from USD796.8 million. Its working interest production from continuing operations fell to 33,488 barrels of oil a day, from 44,712 barrels a day a year earlier, mainly due to a reduced share of production and liftings from the Ebok field in Nigeria as it recovered costs. The decline was only partially offset by a 4% rise in the average realised oil price to USD107.6 a barrel.
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Ophir Energy launched a share buyback programme of up to USD100 million, saying it took the decision after having assessed the near-term capital needs of the company and the discount at which its shares currently trade against the value of its asset base. Ophir said the maximum number of shares it will buy back is 59.2 million, with the maximum price the higher of 105% of the average middle-market price of its shares over the five business days preceding each purchase and the price stipulated in European Commission regulation.
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A new US ruling means that HSBC Holdings and Nomura Holdings have been unable to block mortgage-related claims on the basis that they were brought too late, which clears the way for a trial of HSBC over residential mortgage-backed securities sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
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Barclays has committed USD275 million in financing to Detroit to exit from its bankruptcy after it gets court approval for its debt reduction plans at a trial beginning next week. Detroit filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in US history last year. It now seeks court approval to cut over USD7 billion of its USD18 billion obligations to certain creditors, including retired city workers and bondholders. Financing from Barclays will be used to pay off USD120 million it borrowed for reorganisation, and to pay some creditors and revitalise the city.
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US semiconductor producer Microchip Technology confirmed it has held preliminary discussions with FTSE 250 chipmaker CSR over a potential acquisition. Microchip noted that it has worked with CSR on business initiatives in the past, such as a Bluetooth module initiative. The Arizona-based company said that discussions with CSR are at "a very preliminary stage", and said there can be no certainty that an offer will be made. On Thursday, CSR said it had rejected a bid from Microchip Technology as its proposed price was too low, and said it was considering its options.
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Bwin.party Digital Entertainment said it would simplify its structure to cut even more costs out of the business and drive revenue growth, after it reported a wider pretax loss and lower revenue for the first half of the year as solid sports betting was offset by declining poker and casino revenue and it suffered from the loss of its Greek market. It said the new approach would also allow it to consider alternative financing and corporate structures, which would create additional value. It added that the moves will underpin its financial performance and said it remains confident about the full-year outlook.
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Computacenter said it was on track to meet its expectations for the full year as it swung to a profit in the half year to end-June. However, uncertainty remains over the future of the company's French business. The company proposed an interim dividend of 5.9 pence, up from 5.2 pence in the previous year. Computacenter posted a pretax profit of GBP18.0 million, compared with a loss of GBP4.4 million, as revenue rose to GBP1.46 billion from GBP1.43 billion, as the IT services firm saw fewer exceptional costs.
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The Restaurant Group delivered an upbeat set of first-half results, posting increased pretax profit and revenue, hiking its dividend and saying it remains on track to deliver another positive full year. The restaurant operator said pretax profit in the 26 weeks to 29 June rose 12% to GBP33.7 million, from GBP30.0 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 10% to GBP308 million, from GBP280 million, and its operating profit margin rose 20 basis points. Like-for-like sales rose 2.5%. The results prompted the group to lift its interim dividend by 16% to 6.1 pence per share, from 5.25 pence last year.
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Shares in Exova Group plunged after the company posted a much-wider pretax loss in the first half, as costs related to its initial public offering combined with weak performance in some markets. However, the company said its outlook for the medium term remains positive and said its performance in the first half had been satisfactory. The testing and advisory services group said its pretax loss in the six months to June 30 hit GBP38.1 million, nearly four times the GBP10.3 million loss reported a year earlier.
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Perform Group posted a wider loss in the half year to end-June due to higher costs, but the digital media company stressed that its cost reduction plan is on track and the benefits will come through in the second half, meaning its sticking with its full year revenue and adjusted earnings expectations. It expects its total cost base for the full year to be around GBP200 million, and stressed that the widened loss reflects the legacy cost base with which it entered the year. The digital media company posted a pretax loss of GBP4.2 million, widened from a loss of GBP2.6 million in the previous year, despite seeing revenue rise to GBP118.8 million, from GBP92.4 million. Cost of sales and administrative expenses rose, and it posted GBP7.6 million in exceptional costs.
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AIM MOVERS
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Victoria shares are trading up after the company said it swung to a pretax profit in its last financial year as revenue rose, it cut costs and booked a gain on the sale of properties, and it said it was encouraged about its outlook as the economic recovery improves consumer confidence. At the other end of the market, shares in Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group have dropped after the company announced plans to split its operating business into a separate company in order to help it achieve commercial success. ZOO Digital is also down after the company expressed cautious optimism for its future as a trend of increasing monthly billings continued into its new financial year, though it posted a widened pretax loss in the year that ended March 31.
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Other Top Economics And General
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The average asking price for a house in the UK was up 0.1% on month in August, property tracking website Hometrack said - unchanged from the pace in July. On a yearly basis, house prices climbed 5.5% - slowing from 5.8% in the previous month. In the London region, only 10.9% of sellers reported higher prices.
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An index measuring consumer confidence in the UK climbed back into positive territory in August with a score of +1, GfK said. That beat expectations for a score of -1 following the -2 reading in July. The August reading matched the nine-year high mark in June.
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Eurozone inflation slowed as expected in August on falling energy prices, data showed. Inflation fell to 0.3% from 0.4% in July, flash report from Eurostat revealed. The rate came in line with economists' expectations. Inflation has moved further down from the European Central Bank's target of 'below but close to 2%'
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The euro area unemployment rate remained unchanged at a 21-month low in July, data published by Eurostat showed. The jobless rate came in at 11.5% in July, unchanged from June and matched expectations. The number of unemployed totaled 18.409 million compared to 18.405 million in June.
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German retail sales declined unexpectedly in July from June, provisional data showed. The retail turnover declined by real 1.4% month-on-month in July, reversing the 1% increase in June, Destatis said. Economists had forecast a 0.1% rise for July. However, on a yearly basis, retail sales growth accelerated to 0.7% in July from 0.1% in June. Nonetheless, the rate of growth was weaker than the 1.5% rise forecast by economists.
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Western leaders are to mull further steps against Russia in the coming days including sanctions, after satellite images backed up NATO's allegation that Russian combat forces are engaging in military operations in Ukraine. Ukraine's "alarming" situation will be the focus of an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers Friday in Milan, said Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. NATO estimated that more than 1,000 Russian solders were fighting among pro-Russian separatists, while insurgents conceded the number to be up to 4,000.
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is to travel in September to Washington, where US President Barack Obama says he will express "unwavering" support and partnerhip with Ukraine during a White House meeting. Obama made the announcement in brief remarks to the press about the situations in Iraq and Syria and in Ukraine.
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US President Barack Obama has not yet devised a strategy for going after Islamic State militants inside Syria and remains focused on protecting US interests in Iraq. US military advisors are developing options for Obama to consider that focus "primarily on making sure that ISIL is not overrunning Iraq," he said Thursday, noting that a long-term solution will "require us to stabilize Syria in some fashion." "We don't have a strategy yet," he said, noting it would be premature to consult with Congress on potential action before a plan is in place.
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times British Summer Time)

13:30 US Core Personal Consumption Expenditure - Price Index
13:30 US Personal Income
13:30 US Personal Spending
14:45 US Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index
14:55 US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index
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Monday's Key UK Corporate Events

Berkeley Group Interim Management Statement
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Monday's Key Economic Events (all times British Summer Time)

n/a Russia HSBC Manufacturing PMI
All Day US Labor Day
00:50 Japan Capital Spending
00:50 Japan Monetary Base
02:00 China NBS Manufacturing PMI
02:35 Japan Nomura/ JMMA Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index
02:45 China HSBC Manufacturing PMI
07:00 Germany Gross Domestic Product
08:50 France Markit Manufacturing PMI
08:55 Germany Markit Manufacturing PMI
09:00 EU Markit Manufacturing PMI
09:30 UK Consumer Credit
09:30 UK Markit Manufacturing PMI
09:30 UK Mortgage Approvals
14:45 US Markit Manufacturing PMI

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