Wood Group (J) Share News (WG.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares have opened lower in London, despite a partial rebound by Asian equities markets, as Greece looks set to miss Tuesday's month-end deadline for its debt payment to the International Monetary Fund.

Shares in vehicle rental company Northgate lead FTSE 250 losers, down 7.0%, despite reporting a surge in provide and a 45% hike to its annual dividend.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.8% at 6,569.28
FTSE 250: down 0.6% at 17,428.76
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 753.94
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Hang Seng: up 1.4% at 26,323.96
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.6% at 20,235.73
DJIA: closed down 2.0% at 17,596.35
S&P 500: closed down 2.1% at 2,057.64
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GBP: down at USD1.5709
EUR: down at USD1.1173

GOLD: down at USD1,175.76 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD61.89 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

08:55 Germany Unemployment
09:00 Italy Unemployment
09:30 UK Gross Domestic Product
09:30 UK Current Account
09:30 UK Business Investment
09:30 UK Index of Services
10:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
10:00 EU Unemployment Rate
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
11:00 Italy Producer Price Index
13:30 Canada Gross Domestic Product
13:55 US Redbook index
14:00 US S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
14:45 US Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index
15:00 US Consumer Confidence
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Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has threatened to take legal action against the EU if his country is thrown out of the euro, even as Athens said it may not make a major debt repayment due Tuesday. "The EU treaties make no provision for euro exit and we refuse to accept it," Varoufakis told the Daily Telegraph in an interview published late Monday. Athens was taking advice and would consider applying for an injunction from the European Court of Justice, the report quoted Varoufakis as saying.
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Thousands of Greek people rallied on Monday in Athens to back their government's rejection of a tough bailout dictated by its creditors after the Greek government closed banks and imposed capital controls due to its failure to clinch a debt deal with its creditors.
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Consumer confidence in the UK surged in June, the latest survey from marketing research company GfK revealed, with an index score of +7. That handily beat forecasts for a reading of +2, and it was up from +1 in May. The survey showed that UK residents are more optimistic about their personal financial situation than they have been since January 2000. Analysts suggest the spike in confidence is the result of a solid victory by conservatives in the recent national elections.
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US President Barack Obama signed two measures that pave the way for completion of a 12-nation trans-Pacific trade agreement. Obama called the legislation, which passed last week in one of the most important legislative victories in his second term, "a true bipartisan achievement". Obama signed the trade laws at a White House ceremony. One of the measures is trade promotion authority, which gives the president so-called fast-track power to negotiate trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a key part of his economic agenda. The second measure renews and expands a programme designed to help American workers whose jobs are lost because of trade deals or foreign competition.
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Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang declared open the next chapter in his country's relations with the European Union, at a Brussels summit featuring new economic plans but also long-standing disagreements between the two sides. "The 17th China-EU summit can serve as a new starting point," Li said at a joint press conference with top EU officials - a first for a Chinese leader at a Brussels summit. Keqiang announced that his country is willing to participate in a new investment plan being touted by the EU as a response to its economic doldrums, while European officials expressed interest in a Chinese strategy to improve infrastructure links with Europe.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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GOLDMAN CUTS HSBC TO 'NEUTRAL' ('CONVICTION BUY LIST') - PRICE TARGET 690 (760) PENCE
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SOCGEN CUTS COMPASS GROUP TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - TARGET 1040 (1190) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Banco de Sabadell's takeover offer for TSB Banking Group has become unconditional after the Spanish bank's move won approval from Bank of England regulators, confirming Lloyds Banking Group's disposal of the bank. In a statement, Sabadell said the Prudential Regulation Authority, part of the Bank of England, gave its approval to the change of control of TSB.
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X2 Resources, the private-equity firm founded by former Xstrata Chief Executive Officer Mick Davis, is in talks to buy Rio Tinto's controlling stake in three Australian coal mines, reports said citing two people familiar with the matter. According to the reports, the negotiations are at an early stage and any deal, which may fetch USD2 billion to USD4 billion, could take two months to finalise. The Rio mines in New South Wales have positive cash flow, despite the current coal-price slump.
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Hikma Pharmaceuticals is among bidders for Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH's Roxane Labs business in the US, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. The report said that other potential buyers for the generic pharmaceutical unit, which may fetch as much as EUR2 billion, include Mallinckrodt and Perrigo. A decision on the winner could be made within weeks, though the German drugmaker may still choose to keep the asset.
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Admiral Group has struck a connected-car deal which will mean the motor insurer will be able to generate video footage of a crash using Google Earth within minutes of the accident happening, despite no camera being present in the car, the Financial Times reports. Admiral has signed a three-year deal with Redtail Telematics, a car-tracking hardware and software company, to supply its Plug & Drive policy. Policyholders will be given a device which will plug into the car and will communicate to Admiral how the customer is driving.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Ocado Group reported a small decline in profit in the first half of its financial year even though sales grew, as it booked costs associated with investments, distribution and administration. The online grocery business said pretax profit in the 24 weeks ended May 17 slipped to GBP7.2 million from GBP7.5 million in the same period the year before, despite revenue rising 18% to GBP507.7 million from GBP429.7 million.
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Telecommunications and IT services provider Colt Group outlined its new business plan to "refocus" its activities and improve its performance, but said it expects to book heavy exceptional costs in relation to the plan. The plan is unrelated to the recent offer from financial services group Fidelity made to buy up the remainder of Colt it does not already own and take it private. Fidelity made an offer that values Colt at around GBP1.72 billion. However, the independent directors of Colt said the offer "undervalues" the business, and at that time said the new business plan was an "important factor" in this conclusion. Colt said its new business plan will streamline the business to focus on its core network, voice and data centre services business by exiting IT services over the next two to three years.
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LondonMetric Property said it has struck a deal to acquire a Next distribution warehouse in Doncaster for GBP29 million. The FTSE 250-listed property investor said it has acquired the property off-market from a private company and said it will be funded from existing resources. The net initial yield on the purchase is 6.3%, it added.
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St Modwen Properties said it expects to see positive momentum continue into the second half of its financial year after reporting a jump in pretax profit for the first. The FTSE 250-listed regeneration property company said it made a GBP177.6 million pretax profit in the six months ended May 31, compared with GBP48.6 million in the corresponding period of the prior year.
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Construction, support services and property company Kier Group said all four of its divisions are performing in line with its expectations on an underlying basis for the year to the end of June. Kier said its property arm is continuing to trade well, with a pipeline of opportunities valued at more than GBP1 billion. The division has outperformed its 15% return on capital employed target and is still being boosted by a buoyant property market in the UK, Kier said.
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Oil and energy services company John Wood Group said it has struck a USD14.3 million deal to acquire BETA Machinery Analysis. BETA is a Calgary, Canada-based engineering consultancy, which focuses on advanced vibration analysis. John Wood said the business will complement its existing Wood Group Kenny consultancy arm.
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Residential property developer and manager Grainger said it has appointed Helen Gordon as its chief executive-designate, with plans for her to join the company in January 2016. Andrew Cunningham, the company's current chief executive, will retire following its annual general meeting in February 2016. Wood is currently the global head of real estate asset management at The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
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Commercial light vehicle rental company Northgate said pretax profit surged in its 2015 financial year as revenue rose across both hire and sale business, prompting the company to hike its dividend payout by nearly half. Northgate said its pretax profit in the year to April 30 was GBP83 million, up from GBP51.2 million a year earlier. Total revenue for the company rose to GBP614.3 million from GBP571.5 million. The results prompted the company to raise its final dividend to 10.2 pence per share from 6.8 pence a year earlier, meaning its total dividend payout rises by 45% to 14.5 pence from 10.0 pence.
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Galliford Try said it has signed a deal with the Greater London Authority to secure planning and then construct the Silvertown Way development in Canning Town, East London. The proposal involves building more than 1,100 homes across a series of individual blocks at the site and the scheme is valued at around GBP380 million, making it the largest standalone housing project Galliford has undertaken.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Carpetright said it made a profit in its recently-ended financial year, having suffered a loss the prior year, as revenue growth in the UK offset a decline in the rest of Europe, but like-for-like sales rose in both divisions. The carpet and floor coverings retailer reported a pretax profit of GBP5.4 million in the 52 weeks to April 25, after making a GBP7.2 million loss the year before, which it said was driven by revenue increasing 3.3% to GBP462.6 million from GBP447.7 million. Sales were up 5.4% in the UK but down 7.4% in the rest of Europe, but like-for-like sales in the UK and rest of Europe rose 7.3% and 0.3%, respectively.
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Imperial Innovations Group said it has led a GBP3 million investment in portfolio company Abingdon Health. The investment company said it invested GBP2.5 million in Abingdon alongside existing investors and now has a 33.7% stake in the business.
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Sirius Minerals requested to have its shares suspended ahead of an expected planning decision on its proposed potash mine in the North York Moors National Park.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Software giant Microsoft Corp will cut 1,200 jobs as it shuts down its web display advertising business and hands the operations over to AOL and AppNexus, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter. Microsoft is closing the business as it plans to sharpen focus on key areas. According to the Bloomberg report, some of the jobs will be moved to AOL and AppNexus, while some of the people will be offered other positions at Microsoft. All other jobs will be cut.
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Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking is nearing a deal to buy General Electric Co's European private-equity finance business, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. SMBC is expected to pay more than USD2 billion for the unit, known as a sponsors unit and which finances buyouts and other transactions for private-equity firms in Europe. A deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday in Europe. The Japanese bank prevailed over other bidders, including Apollo Global Management and Ares Management, the report said.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Proxama
Impellam
Serica Energy
Blur Group
Venn Life Sciences
Frontier Resources
Newriver Retail
Oxus Gold
DCD Media
Gulfsands Petroleum
Atlantic Coal
Crimson Tide
Sound Oil
Auctus Growth
Strat Aero
Flowgroup
Regal Petroleum
Herencia Resources
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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