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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Capital & Counties Properties PLC said it has formed a joint venture with Transport for London that will allow the re-development of the Earls Court exhibition centres in London to go ahead, a key part of a much bigger scheme for redeveloping the area. The re-development of Earls Court is currently one of the most high-profile property schemes in London. The scheme, which could take a decade or more to complete, involves the redevelopment of the Earls Court 1 & 2 exhibition centres, which is proving to be the most controversial part of the plan. It is being backed by London Mayor Boris Johnson, but has an array of opponents.
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Specialist reinsurer and insurer Brit PLC began conditional trading Friday after pricing its initial public offering at 240 pence a share, raising GBP240 million for its selling shareholders and giving it a GBP960 million market capitalisation. The Brit pricing comes as Venture Life Group PLC and antiquarian book dealer Scholium Group PLC began trading on AIM. Meanwhile, SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company PLC has set an indicative price range for its own float, as the Nigerian oil and gas company seeks to raise about USD500.0 million. Investor appetite for IPOs continues to rebound from the financial crisis that started in 2008. According to figures published by the London Stock Exchange Group PLC on Thursday, total equity capital raised on its markets in the UK and Italy in the past 11 months rose to GBP28.3 billion, compared with 14.8 billion for the corresponding period in the previous year.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC said it has completed the pricing of two sets of bonds that will raise about USD998.9 million before expenses, with the proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes. The larger of the issues is a three-year USD700.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.875% senior notes, while the second is a three-year USD300.0 million aggregate principal amount of Floating Rate Notes. They are due due March 31, 2017.
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Aviva PLC said it is to sell US equity manager River Road Asset Management LLC to asset manager Affiliated Managers Group Inc, as it continues to implement its strategy of simplifying its business model. The FTSE 100 life insurer and asset manager said its Aviva Investors asset management unit remains committed to the US market and has a strong business in Chicago. River Road, based in Louisville, Kentucky was acquired in 2009. At the end of 2013 it had USD11.00 billion in assets under management. It will continue to manage Aviva Investors' US Equity Income Funds.
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Randgold Resources Ltd announced that its attributable resources increased but its reserves fell by the end of 2013 due to mining depletion. The major mining company said its total attributable mineral resources increased by 5% to 28.6 million despite depletion from mining in a year that delivered record production. However, Randgold said that its reserves fell 8% to 15 million ounces, reflecting the fact that the company ramped up both production and grade during the period, impacting on its inventory.
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Ruspetro PLC said it has signed a further crude oil prepayment facility with Glencore Energy UK Ltd, a subsidiary of Glencore Xstrata PLC, for USD30 million. The Russian oil and gas company said the deal renews and replaces its existing prepayment facility which it entered into with Glencore in August 2013. The company said the facility is for a period of one year and requires RusPetro to deliver a minimum of 15,000 metric tonnes per quarter, or roughly 1,200 barrels of oil per day of crude oil to Glencore.
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MARKETS
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UK stock indices are higher, despite life insurers providing a drag for the second time in as many weeks, while growth in UK GDP in 2013 has been confirmed at 2.7% as expected.
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FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 6607.47
FTSE 250: flat at 16205.88
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.6% at 853.49
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The pound held firm against the dollar, after the UK revealed a higher than expected current account deficit.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6613
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3735
GOLD: up at USD1295.86 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD108.07 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK's economic growth came in line with preliminary estimate at the end of 2013, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday. Gross domestic product rose 0.7% sequentially in the fourth quarter, unrevised from the second estimate published on February 26. Year-on-year, GDP gained 2.7%, also as previous estimated. At the same time, economic growth for 2013 was revised down to 1.7% from 1.8%. The current account deficit was GBP 22.4 billion in the fourth quarter, down from a revised deficit of GBP 22.8 billion in the prior quarter. The deficit in fourth quarter equated to 5.4% of GDP at current market price, the statistical office reported.
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British consumer confidence hit its highest level since August 2007 on upbeat general economic and personal finance expectations, a closely watched survey showed Friday. The consumer sentiment index came in at -5 in March, up from -7 in February, the market research group GfK said. The score was forecast to rise to -6.
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Eurozone economic confidence improved more than expected in March driven by markedly more confident consumers, monthly data from the European Commission showed. The economic sentiment index rose to 102.4 from 101.2 in February, when it was expected to climb to 101.4. Industry confidence remained broadly unchanged at -3.3 as a result of managers' brighter production expectations being canceled out by moderately deteriorating appraisals of the level of overall order books and the stocks of finished products.
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The inflation rate in Japan came in at 1.5% on year in February, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said - in line with expectations and up from 1.4% in January. Core inflation came in at 1.3%, matching forecasts and unchanged from the previous month.
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Retail sales in Japan were up 3.6% on year in February, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said - coming in at 10.913 trillion yen. That topped forecasts for an increase of 3.5% following the 4.4% gain in January.
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The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.6% in February, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. That beat forecasts for 3.7%, which would have been unchanged from the January reading.
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Both houses of the US Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation Thursday to provide USD1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine. The Senate bill passed 98-2, while the House bill passed 399-9. They measure now awaits the signature of President Barack Obama, who returns Saturday after visits in Europe and Saudi Arabia. The International Monetary Fund on Thursday offered Ukraine between USD14 billion and USD18 billion dollars in loans over two years to help the country avoid financial collapse after months of unrest that led to the Russian annexation of Crimea. In Ukraine, former premier Yulia Tymoshenko announced her candidacy in presidential elections slated for May 25.
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The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been moved about 1,100 kilometres to the north after a new analysis of its flight path suggested the plane was travelling faster than previously thought, Australian officials said. The international team of aircraft and boats would now comb approximately 319,000 square kilometres of the Indian Ocean located around 1,850 kilometres west of Perth, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. The shift came as the weather cleared, allowing the search by ships and planes from Australia, the US, China and Japan to continue.
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An Islamist alliance supporting Egypt's ousted president Mohammed Morsi Thursday said that "the mask has fallen" with army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi's declaration that he will seek the presidency. "The mask has fallen from the face of the man who carried out the coup after plotting it with Egypt's enemies," the pro-Morsi National Alliance in Defence of Legitimacy said in a statement.
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