Wood Group (J) Share News (WG.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have continued their drift lower early Tuesday, as market participants await UK inflation data due at 0930 BST.

Aberdeen Asset Management, down 2.3%, leads FTSE 100 decliners, after the Financial Times reported that the fund manager confirmed it had received an unexpected tax bill from India.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 7,055.34
FTSE 250: flat at 17,826.16
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 738.49
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Hang Seng: down 1.6% at 27,557.21
Nikkei 225: closed flat at 19,908.68
DJIA: closed down 0.5% at 17,977.04
S&P 500: closed down 0.5% at 2,092.43
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GBP: down at USD1.4662
EUR: down at USD1.0539

GOLD: down at USD1,193.69 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD58.25 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)

09:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
09:30 UK Consumer, Retail and Producer indices
09:30 UK DCLG House Price Index
10:00 EU Industrial Production
13:00 US Fed Minneapolis's Narayana Kocherlakota speech
13:30 US Producer Price Index
13:30 US Retail Sales
13:55 US Redbook index
14:00 US NFIB Business Optimism Index
15:00 US Business Inventories
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UK retail sales grew by more than expected in March, as food sales posted its strongest expansion since July 2013 due to the timing of Easter, survey data published by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG showed. Retail sales advanced 3.2% on a like-for-like basis in March from last year, when they decreased 1.7%. Sales were expected to rise by a more modest 0.5%. On a total basis, retail sales were up 4.7%, the fastest in a year, in contrast to a 0.3% fall in March 2014. "An early Easter and better economic news helped lift retail sales out of the doldrums in March and the sector posted the strongest sales growth seen in nearly a year," David McCorquodale, head of retail, KPMG, said.
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Germany's wholesale prices continued to fall in March but the pace of decline slowed for the second straight month, data from Destatis showed. Wholesale prices fell 1.1% year-on-year in March, following a 2.1% drop in February. The wholesale price index has been declining since July 2013. The annual decline was largely driven by a 11.9% fall in prices of solid fuels and related products. Month-on-month, wholesale prices rose 1% in March, faster than February's 0.5% increase. This was the second consecutive rise in prices and the strongest since September 2012, Destatis said.
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India's retail inflation eased to a three-month low of 5.17% in March from 5.37% in the previous month, giving the Reserve Bank of India room to go for another 25 basis point cut by June. Economists had expected consumer inflation for March to rise to 5.5%. "A subdued reading for food inflation contributed to the easing in CPI inflation. If the monsoon is normal and crude oil prices do not post a significant rebound, the inflation could average 5.5% in 2015," said, Aditi Nayar, senior economist, ICRA.
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The foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany called for an immediate stop to resurgent combat operations in eastern Ukraine. The joint declaration, issued after four hours of at-times hefty discussions, called for a stronger role for the observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and for the withdrawal of heavy weapons . The ministers also called for formation of the long-planned work groups including the parties to the conflict and the OSCE to formulate a concrete political solution.
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Russia lifted a ban on delivering sophisticated surface-to-air defence missiles to Iran, citing recent progress in the nuclear arms talks with Teheran. The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree cancelling the ban, which was introduced in 2010 in the wake of a UN resolution. Russia and Iran signed a $800 million deal to sell the missiles in 2007, but their delivery was never carried out. Political observers at the time linked Moscow's reluctance to opposition from Israel. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday's decision was based on the "significant progress" achieved at the talks over Iran's nuclear programme, but noted that "commercial and reputation aspects" had also played a role.
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Marco Rubio, a first-term Republican senator from Florida, declared he is a candidate for his party's 2016 presidential nomination, promising a a room full of cheering supporters a "new American century." If elected, Rubio, 43, would become the first Latino president of the US and one of the youngest contenders ever for the presidency.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: JEFFERIES CUTS SHELL TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP CUTS BP TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY')
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP RAISES TULLOW OIL TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Fears that hundreds of international fund managers could face unexpected tax bills in India have been heightened after Aberdeen Asset Management, one of the largest investors in the country, became the first foreign institution to confirm it had received a demand for payment, the Financial Times reports. “Our advice is that tax treaties apply, so we aren’t liable. Mind you, that was what Vodafone thought, and look what happened to them,” the paper quotes Hugh Young, Aberdeen’s managing director in Asia as saying.
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Centrica appointed insurance industry veteran Mark Hodges as the new managing director of its gas and electricity supply arm British Gas, a move that puts him firmly in the spotlight amid intense pressure and scrutiny on the UK's energy suppliers. Hodges worked for more than 20 years at Norwich Union and Aviva, which he quit in 2011 to run specialist insurance broker Towergate Partnership. He quit that firm last October.
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British Land extended its portfolio at the Paddington Central development in West London by acquiring the One Sheldon Square office development for GBP210 million. The property developer has bought the building, comprising nearly 200,000 square foot of office space over nine floors, from the Employees Provident Fund, Malaysia, meaning it has now invested in 800,000 square foot at Paddington Central, with a further 146,000 square foot under construction and 210,000 square foot consented for future development at the site.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is planning to sell its Luxembourg-based fund management business as part of it wider restructuring plan to refocus on its core UK commercial and retail banking operations, the Financial Times reported. The bank has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to advise on the sale of the business, which serves as an independent custodian of fund assets on behalf of other companies and handles around GBP20 billion in assets.
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Analysts have warned Tesco could post a bigger-than-expected writedown on its UK supermarkets, the Financial Times reported. The FT said analysts have forecast the writedown could be GBP3 billion to GBP4 billion, ahead of previous expectations that the company will book a GBP1 billion to GBP2 billion charge. The writedown is expected to push Tesco to a reported loss for the financial year to the end of February, the analysts said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Recruitment firm Michael Page International said its gross profit grew in the first quarter of 2015 on the back of strong performances in the UK and Asia Pacific, even as the strength of sterling held back profit from its Europe, Middle East and Africa division. Michael Page said its group gross profit for the quarter to the end of March was up 7.2%, though currency movements resulted in a GBP5 million hit to the gross profit number for the period. Gross profit rose to GBP135.6 million in the quarter from GBP126.6 million a year earlier, but was up 11% in constant currencies.
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John Wood Group said its Wood Group PSN business has won a five-year contract from fellow UK-listed oil and gas company EnQuest for the Thistle, Heather and Northern Producer assets in the North Sea. The oil services company said it will provide engineering, design, construction, procurement and commissioning services to EnQuest on the projects.
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Poundland Group reported an increase in revenue for the fourth quarter of its financial year and said results for its full year are in line with market expectations. The retailer said total revenue, excluding operations in Spain, increased by 6.5% in the 13 weeks to March 29 to GBP255 million, from GBP239.5 million in the same period a year earlier. However, it said that the contribution from new store trading weeks in the fourth quarter has been lower than last year due to the timing of store openings. Ten fewer stores were opened in the year as a whole than in the previous year which was a factor in a lower contribution to sales growth, it said.
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Alliance Trust said it performed well in the first quarter of 2015 as the investment trust continues to battle against the criticism levelled at it by activist investor Elliott Advisors. Alliance Trust said its total shareholder return for the first quarter to the end of March was 6.9%, while its net asset value total return for the quarter was 7.9%. The trust said the performances are ranked in the top or second quartile of the global sector peer group over one year.
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Private equity firm Cinven completed the sale of a 10% stake in healthcare provider Spire Healthcare Group, raising a total of GBP136.4 million. Cinven sold 40.1 million shares in Spire at 340 pence per share, with JPMorgan Cazenove handling the disposal. Spire shares closed at 367.1 pence on Monday. Following the deal, Cinven holds 153.8 million shares in Spire, representing a 38.3% stake.
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Investment manager Ashmore Group said its assets under management fell in the first quarter of 2015 through a combination of net outflows and weaker investment performance. Ashmore said its assets under management at the end of March, the end of its financial third quarter, were USD61.1 billion, down 4.1% against the USD63.7 billion under management at the end of December. The decline was caused by a combination of net outflows, which totalled USD2 billion in the quarter, and USD0.6 billion of negative investment performance.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Quindell said it has appointed Mark Williams as its incoming finance director, with Williams set to join the insurance outsourcing company following the completion of the sale of its professional services division to Australian law firm Slater & Gordon. Williams has been working as part of the consultancy team hired to assist Quindell's board in January. As a result of his appointment, current finance chief Laurence Moorse will step down from the board following completion of the Slater & Gordon deal. In addition, Quindell said it has started an external and internal search process for a new chief executive officer, with current CEO Robert Fielding set to transfer to Slater & Gordon after the deal.
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Petards Group said it has won a GBP0.6 million contract from an unnamed "major" UK defence systems contractor to provide test equipment for use on a UK Ministry of Defence programme. The contract is for the design, manufacture and supply of equipment that will form part of a Defensive Aids Suite system integration test rig that will enable the customer to carry out verification of electronic countermeasure configurations prior to their installation on aircraft, Petards said.
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EasyHotel said it has appointed Marc Vieilledent as chief financial officer, effective from May 5. Vieilledent joins the company after 16 years at French hotel group Accor, where he worked until 2013. His most recent role at Accor was as vice president of asset management and prior to this had worked as senior vice president in charge of corporate finance and real estate.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Responding to recent media speculation, Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent confirmed that they are in advanced discussions with respect to a potential full combination, which would take the form of a public exchange offer by Nokia for Alcatel-Lucent. Nokia said that there can be no certainty at this stage that these discussions will result in any agreement or transaction.
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Cadian Capital Management, TIG Advisors and several other shareholders of Altera Corp sent letters to the company's management, urging them to resume takeover talks with Intel Corp., Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter. The letters question Altera's ability to create enough value on its own to match Intel's offer
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Procter & Gamble Co appears to be laying the groundwork for Chief Executive Officer AG Lafley to step down as soon as this summer and hand the top job to an internal successor, the Wall Street Journal reported. In private meetings with Wall Street analysts and investors, senior P&G executives including Lafley himself reportedly have made comments that signalled the 67-year-old CEO, now in his second turn at the helm, could vacate the post this year. Lafley is likely to remain chairman for another year or two to help smooth the transition to a new CEO.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Law Debenture Corp
Ultrasis
Porvair
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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