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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Irish building-materials group CRH PLC said it swung to a loss in 2013, as bad weather hurt trading and it progressed with a review of the business. Last year CRH said it would embark on a detailed review of its portfolio which could see a number of its assets sold. It said this will allow it to focus on the assets that deliver better returns to shareholders and to help it prioritise where it spends its capital to ensure profitable growth across its network of businesses.
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Persimmon PLC echoed the sentiment of its peers as it cited a recovery in the UK housing market and government mortgage-financing initiatives for driving up profit in its recent full year. The FTSE 100 housebuilder posted pretax profit of GBP337.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 from GBP218.2 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 21% to GBP2.09 billion from GBP1.72 billion in 2012.
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Croda International PLC said pretax profit rose 5% to GBP250.1 million for the year as the firm raised its dividend on progress made amid "demanding market conditions." The chemicals firm said the rise in pretax profit demonstrates solid growth for the year, increasing to GBP250.1 million from GBP238.3 million the previous year, despite demanding conditions.
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Advertising and PR giant WPP PLC said, ahead of its full-year results on Thursday, that its wholly owned operating company JWT is acquiring creative digital marketing company Lemon Sky in Poland. WPP did not disclose any financial details about the acquisition, but said Lemon Sky's revenues for 2013 were EUR2.7 million, with gross assets of approximately EUR2.4 million. It said some of the agency's clients include Nestle, Orange,Tesco PLC and Leroy Merlin.
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GKN PLC said that pretax profit fell to GBP484 million for the year, as the firm faced challenges in some of its end markets and recorded smaller gains on FX contracts. The firm, which makes the wings for Airbus planes, said pretax came in 15% lower, down from the GBP568 million reported last year. GKN said that the decrease was primarily attributable to a smaller gain on the mark to market of foreign exchange hedging contracts than in 2012.
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Betting firm Ladbrokes PLC reported disappointing earnings, with a huge drop in profits and only a slight increase in revenues. The company reported a pretax profit GBP67.0 million for calendar 2013, just a third of the pretax profit of GBP200.7 million it reported in 2012.
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Marketing, media and events company UBM PLC said that it has appointed Tim Cobbold as its new chief executive, following the departure of David Levin last September. Cobbold joins UBM from commercial banknote printer De La Rue PLC, where he has held the position of chief executive since 2011. Cobbold previously worked as chief executive of Chloride Group PLC, and had roles at Smiths Group PLC.
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Cobham PLC said is has informed the US Department of Justice of an internal investigation into potentially irregular sales practices relating to Asia sales. The firm said it voluntarily contacted the DoJ to inform of the initial internal investigation into, "potentially irregular sales practices concerning sales to Asia of certain products manufactured by TracStar Systems Inc.
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Ashmore Group PLC reported weak first-half results, with pretax profits down by a third and a USD2.9 billion net outflow, as emerging markets instability hurt the investment manager.
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Investment manager St. James's Place PLC said it is in "advanced talks" to acquire an adviser business in Asia, as it reported a 42% increase in annual profits. In a big year for St. James's Place, as former majority shareholder Lloyds Banking Group PLC sold off its stake in the business, the company reported a GBP190.7 million profit before shareholder tax for calendar 2013, compared with the GBP134.6 million in 2012, driven by a surge in both fee and commission income and investment return.
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NMC Health PLC raised its final dividend and expressed confidence for 2014, as it saw pretax profit rise in the full year ended December 31, 2013. The United Arab Emirates-based private sector healthcare operator posted revenue of USD550.9 million, up from USD490.1 million in the previous year. The company saw a strong performance across its two main business lines, seeing 15% growth in its Healthcare division and 11% revenue growth in it Distribution division.
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John Wood Group PLC said its Wood Group PSN business has been awarded its first major UK contract of the year. The contract is a five year extension of a current contract with Talisman Sinopec Energy UK, valued at USD500 million and includes an option for two additional, two year extensions, said the firm.
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MARKETS
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The UK's main stock indices are trading lower, with the mining and metal sectors leading the falls after Chinese stocks underperformed in Asia overnight.
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FTSE 100: down 0.7% at 6,815.29
FTSE 250: down 0.5% at 16,462.65
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 890.57
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GBP-USD: at USD1.6691
EUR-USD: at USD1.3753

GOLD: up at USD1,329.19 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD110.00 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK mortgage approvals increased more than expected to the highest since September 2007, data from British Bankers' Association showed. The number of loans approved for house purchases increased to 49,972 in January, the highest since September 2007, from 47,086 in December. The expected level was 47,150.
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The German economy expanded moderately at the end of 2013, as initially estimated early this month, final data from Destatis showed. The gross domestic product increased 0.4% from a quarter ago, slightly faster than the 0.3% expansion seen in the third quarter. This was in line with the results of calculations published on February 14.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine should not hold presidential elections in May, arguing that this would violate an agreement between deposed President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition groups last week. That agreement was rendered largely irrelevant, when the opposition took power after Yanukovych fled the capital Kiev, but Lavrov insisted that at least parts of it should be honoured. Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague is to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington later for talks on offering emergency financial aid to Ukraine to prevent the country's bankruptcy.
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The Pentagon proposed spending reductions that would drop the US armed forces to pre-World War II troop levels and close bases at home and overseas, including in Europe. Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel, who outlined the defence budget that President Barack Obama will submit next week to Congress, said the cutbacks were not without risk in a world that is "growing more volatile, more unpredictable and in some instances more threatening to the US." He said the plan adjusts US military spending to current budget realities and reflects the scheduled end of Washington's combat commitment this year in Afghanistan, which leaves the Pentagon for the first time in 13 years without a "war footing."
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Italy's new government won an overnight vote of confidence in the Senate, after Prime Minister Matteo Renzi presented highly ambitious reform plans that he said could unleash the country's potential. Renzi's executive was supported by 169 senators, clearing the majority threshold by 14 votes. There were 139 votes against and one abstention. The government was expected to win a more comfortable majority in the lower house of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, in voting scheduled later Tuesday.
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A floor collapse at a hospital construction site near Bangkok killed at least 11 workers, and injured another 18, police said.
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Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem Beblawy on announced the resignation of his military-backed government in a surprise measure. Hours after Beblawy appeared on state-run TV and announced the resignation of his entire cabinet, interim President Adly Mansour issued a statement accepting the end of the ministers' tenure. Local media had been predicting a limited cabinet reshuffle to allow army chief and Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi to resign and run for president in an election scheduled for mid-April under a constitution approved in a referendum last month.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded tangible results in Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians, which are approaching an April 30 deadline. "We want to see progress here," she said ahead of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Calling for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, Merkel said she would focus on the issue during talks Monday and Tuesday with the Israeli government. Iran's nuclear programme was on the joint agenda, with Germany among the six world powers negotiating with Tehran.
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More than a dozen people were injured in clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Some 50 protesters had camped out overnight at the compound which houses the Aqsa Mosque and the ruins of the Jewish biblical Temple - after rumours that Jewish zealots planned to raise the Israeli flag on the platform.
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The Turkish government has denied the authenticity of leaked recordings of alleged conversations between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son Bilal about hiding large sums of cash obtained through corruption, local media. The recordings allegedly took place in December, when police conducted massive raids on individuals allegedly involved in corruption and arrested the sons of former ministers.
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Two more deaths bring the toll to 13 people killed and more than 150 injured in political violence that has gripped Venezuela since February 12, Attorney General Luisa Ortega said Monday. Ortega said that three agents of Sebin, the Venezuelan intelligence service, were arrested in connection with three killings on February 12 in Caracas, which set off the latest political confrontation in the South American country. An investigation was underway, and the agents were to be charged with weapons violations for carrying arms at the site of the protest, after being ordered to stay at their barracks during the opposition rally.
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