Vodafone Share News (VOD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Vodafone Group narrowed and slightly lowered its full-year earnings guidance, while booking a substantial non-cash impairment on its Indian business which caused it to swing to an interim loss. However, the UK-based mobile telephone operator said its organic revenue growth remained on track. Vodafone made earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of EUR7.91 billion in the half-year to the end of September, compared to EUR8.04 billion a year before. The group swung to an operating loss of EUR4.70 billion, from a EUR1.12 billion profit, however, due to a EUR5.00 billion non-cash impairment booked on its Indian business amid fierce competition in that market. Vodafone declared an interim dividend of 4.74 euro cents, up 1.9% year-on-year.
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TalkTalk Telecom Group said it turned to profit in the first half of its financial year, despite a decline in revenue. The broadband provider said it made a pretax profit of GBP30.0 million in the six months to September 30, compared to a GBP8.0 million loss a year prior, primarily due to lower one-off charges and cost savings achieved the year before. TalkTalk declared a flat interim dividend of 5.29 pence per share.
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The UK's biggest supermarket, Tesco, has continued to grow market share thanks to its fastest sales growth in three years, according to the latest grocery sales figures released by Kantar Worldpanel. In the 12 weeks ended November 6, Tesco's sales and market share increased for the second consecutive period, as sales rose by 2.2% year-on-year, and its market share improved to 28.2% from 27.9%. According to Kantar, this was Tesco's fastest sales growth in three years and ahead of the overall grocery market where sales rose by 0.8% in the period. J Sainsbury sales slipped by 0.7% in the 12 weeks, as its market share also fell to 16.3% from 16.6%. Wm Morrison Supermarkets sales were down 2.4% as its market share declined to 10.5% from 10.8%.
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easyJet reported a drop in profit in its recently ended financial year and trimmed its dividend as a result, having taken a big hit to demand from the multiple terrorist attacks which have plagued the European travel industry of late and the weak pound following the UK's decision to leave the EU. The low-cost airline said pretax profit in the year ended September 30 fell to GBP495 million from GBP686 million the year before, as revenue slipped very slightly by 0.4% to GBP4.67 million from GBP4.69 million and pretax margin declined by 4.0 percentage points to 10.6% from 14.6%. As a result, easyJet cut its total dividend for the year to 53.8 pence from 55.2p.
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Land Securities Group said occupational demand dropped below the ten-year average in London in its first half, as it swung to a pretax loss. The commercial property investor said its total business return for the half-year to the end of September was negative 0.5%, with an ungeared total property return of positive 0.5%, slightly ahead of the benchmark IPD Quarterly Universe return of 0.2%. However, Land Securities swung to a pretax loss of GBP95.0 million for the period, compared to the GBP707.9 million pretax profit generated a year earlier. This was largely due to the group recording a valuation deficit of GBP259.6 million, having seen a valuation surplus of GBP519.3 million the prior year. Land Securities proposed an interim dividend of 17.90 pence per share, up from 16.30p per share a year earlier.
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Reynolds American, the second-largest cigarette seller in the US, is seeking a higher price from British American Tobacco after rejecting a USD47 billion buyout offer as too low, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. The tobacco giants are in talks, and BAT is willing to increase the price slightly, the report said. BAT, which already owns 42% of Reynolds, disclosed its proposal to acquire the rest of the company last month. BAT offered USD47.00 billion to buy the 57.8% of Reynolds American it does not already own.
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Aerospace and defence components engineer Meggitt said trading in the second half of 2016 has been in line with its expectations as it appointed a former Rolls-Royce Holdings executive as its new chief operating officer. Meggitt said its constant currency, organic revenue growth in the third quarter to the end of September was 6.0%, ahead of its expectations. Including translation benefits from the weak pound and contributions from acquisitions, revenue in the quarter rose 28% year-on-year. Meggitt said it has hired Tony Wood as its COO, effective from December 1. Wood previously had been president of the Aerospace business at Rolls-Royce.
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FirstGroup said it swung to profit in the first half of its financial year, boosted by a currency-driven expansion of its operating margin. The public transport operator, running bus, rail and coach services in the UK and US, said it made a pretax profit of GBP11.1 million in the half-year to the end of September, compared to a GBP7.5 million loss a year prior. Revenue rose to GBP2.56 billion from GBP2.44 billion, up 5.1% thanks to good growth and a currency boost from the company's US-focused First Student and First Transit operations.
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MARKETS
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Share prices in London were adding to the gains made on Monday, as attention shifted back from US politics to UK economic and company news. Vodafone was the highlight of a string of high-profile corporate reporting, revealing a big impairment on it Indian business but otherwise solid results; the stock was up 0.5%. The pound was weaker against the dollar, but the euro, gold and oil all were higher. Wall Street stock indices were pointed up 0.1% to 0.3%.
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FTSE 100: up 0.9% at 6,810.98
FTSE 250: up 0.7% at 17,595.75
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.5% at 806.27

GBP: down at USD1.2401 (USD1.2452)
EUR: up at USD1.0778 (USD1.0718)

GOLD: up at USD1,224.80 per ounce (USD1,217.40)
OIL (Brent): up at USD45.45 a barrel (USD43.74)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK inflation eased unexpectedly in October, the Office for National Statistics reported. Consumer price inflation dropped slightly to 0.9% from 1% in September, while it was forecast to accelerate to 1.1%. Similarly, core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, slowed to 1.2% from 1.5% a month ago. Another report from ONS today showed that output price inflation accelerated to 2.1% in October from 1.3% in September. This was the fourth annual increase in a row.
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UK Prime Minister Theresa May's government has no Brexit plan and a poor understanding of what leaving the European Union means for industry, according to a leaked memo prepared for the Cabinet Office. The November 7 memo obtained by The Times also suggests that Cabinet splits are delaying the government's ability to agree a negotiating strategy ahead of its goal to begin the Brexit process by April. Titled "Brexit Update", it criticises the Prime Minister for "drawing in decisions and details to settle matters herself", and warns that big companies will "point a gun at the government's head" after Nissan was given assurances about trading conditions once Britain leaves the EU.
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May has denied she is anti-business and urged companies to work with the government to help those "left behind" by globalisation regain their faith in capitalism. The Prime Minister said the post-war liberal consensus has "failed to maintain the consent of many people" and told those who cannot see the breakdown in trust that they are the "enemy" of liberalism. She urged firms to cooperate with the government to ensure they "do business in the right way", because a minority have "gamed the system" and undermined the reputation of business as a whole.
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Passengers travelling on the East Coast and West Coast main lines will benefit from more services and extra seats once the HS2 high-speed rail project is completed, the UK Department for Transport said. The frequency of commuter and intercity trains to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds could "almost double" to 48 per hour, officials claimed. The number of seats could treble to around 15,000, according to the DfT. Phase 1 of the GBP55.7 billion HS2 railway is due to open in December 2026 and will see trains travel at high speed between London and Birmingham before running on from Birmingham on the existing West Coast Main Line.
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May is adamant she will not let Nigel Farage play a role in her relationship with US President-elect Donald Trump, despite some prominent Conservatives welcoming the UK Independence Party leader's offer to help "mend fences," according to media reports on Monday. Pro-Trump Farage became the first British politician to meet the US president-elect face-to-face on Saturday, while the British government scrambles to salvage its "special relationship". Farage warned in The Telegraph that Trump's advisers have "reservations" about May's government after senior Tories, including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, commented that Trump was unfit to be president.
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Trump spoke by phone on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a range of issues, including threats and challenges facing both countries, Trump's transition team said. Trump and Putin also discussed "strategic economic issues" and the US-Russia relationship, the transition team said. Trump told Putin he was looking forward to having "a strong and enduring relationship with Russia and the people of Russia". The two leaders agreed that the current relationship was extremely unsatisfactory, according to a statement issued by the Kremlin. Putin declared himself ready to enter into a dialogue of partnership with the new US administration on the basis of "equality, mutual respect and non-intervention in each other's internal affairs," according to the statement.
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Just before leaving on his final international trip as US president, Barack Obama said president-elect Trump had expressed a commitment to NATO and the transatlantic alliance between the US and Europe. Obama said that Trump, during a visit at the White House last week, showed great interest in maintaining core strategic relationships. Obama said he would relay that message on his visits this week to Greece and Germany. "One of the messages I will be able to deliver is his commitment to NATO and the transatlantic alliance," he told reporters at a news conference. "There is no weakening of resolve when it comes to maintaining a strong and robust NATO relationship."
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Eurozone economic growth stabilized in the third quarter, flash estimate from Eurostat revealed. Gross domestic product expanded 0.3% sequentially in the third quarter, the same pace of growth as seen in the second quarter. On a yearly basis, GDP growth held steady at 1.6%. Both sequential and annual growth figures matched the estimate published on October 31.
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Germany's economic growth lost some momentum in the third quarter as the improvement in domestic demand was largely offset by weak trade. Gross domestic product grew 0.2% sequentially, following second quarter's 0.4% expansion, figures from Destatis revealed. Quarterly growth was forecast to ease slightly to 0.3%. The latest expansion was the slowest since the third quarter of 2015, when the pace of growth was the same.
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German police launched simultaneous raids in ten states on Tuesday morning against suspected supporters of the Islamic State terrorist organization. Hundreds of police were involved in the raids on more than 200 apartments and offices belonging to organizers and supporters of the Salafist group "Die wahre Religion" (The True Religion), security sources told dpa.
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