Wood Group (J) Share News (WG.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Marks and Spencer Group PLC is planning to open 250 new stores outside the UK over the next three years, as part of its global expansion plans.

M&S currently operates a total of 455 stores in 53 territories outside the UK, as well as nine local websites. Inside the UK, M&S has more than 760 stores.

The FTSE 100 food and clothing retailer told an investor day in Paris on Tuesday that it will be entering new territories with existing partners, and that it expects the global expansion to increase revenues by 25% and profits by 40% over the next three years.

The stock has been trading positively throughout Wednesday morning and is one of top three gainers on the FTSE 100 heading into afternoon trading.

Also in the FTSE 100, BP announced it intends to halt refinery operations at its major Bulwer Island refinery in Brisbane, Australia by mid-2015, as the Australian operations of major commodities players continue to struggle.

The oil and gas major said the growth of very large refineries in the Asia-Pacific region was driving structural change within the fuels supply chain in Australia and putting significant pressure on smaller scale plants.

“It’s against this background that we have concluded that the best option for strengthening BP’s long-term supply position in the east coast retail and commercial fuels markets is to purchase product from other refineries," BP Australasia President Andy Holmes said.

The news comes as other major commodities players have struggled in Australia, with losses being booked at refineries due to the strong Australian dollar, tighter fuel quality standards, and the development of large refineries in Asia reducing their competitiveness.

Royal Dutch Shell recently reached an agreement to sell its Australia downstream businesses, including its Geelong Refinery, to Dutch-owned oil trader Vitol for a total transaction value of around AUD2.9 billion. And last month, Glencore Xstrata said it is planning to suspend operations at its Ravensworth underground coal mine in Australia, due to lower coal prices, high production costs, the strength of the Australian dollar, and geological problems in future mining areas.

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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,660.31
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 16,465.58
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 850.12
GBP-USD: up at 1.5643
EUR-USD: down at 1.3787
GOLD: up at USD1,283.71 an ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD104.49 a barrel

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Key UK Corporate News

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FTSE 100: Tullow Oil said it intends to offer USD500 million worth of senior notes that will be due in 2022 to raise funds to repay certain other existing debts. GlaxoSmithKline said it had chosen to stop the Phase III trial of its MAGE-A3 cancer immunotherapeutic in non-small cell lung cancer patients, as it said it would not be possible to identify a sub-population of MAGE-A3 positive patients with a specific gene signature that might benefit from the treatment. WPP's Kantar Media research and analytics business has acquired Spanish social media data analytics agency The Data Republic S.L. No financial details were provided. G4S has won a seven-year deal with Netherlands Railways to provide cash services like transporting cash to ticket offices and managing ticket machines. It didn't give any financial details bar saying it was a multi-million pound deal. Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton said the company expects global growth in demand for both energy and metallurgical coal over the coming decades, with productivity key to generating acceptable returns.

FTSE 250: Bus and rail company FirstGroup said operating profit in its recent financial year was in line with expectations, excluding a GBP14 million hit on its First Student and Greyhound bus operations from the severe winter weather in the US. The Restaurant Group has named Danny Breithaupt as its new CEO, replacing Andrew Page, who is retiring at the end of August. Hikma Pharmaceuticals said the US Food and Drug Administration had lifted its compliance warning for its Eatontown facility in New Jersey. John Wood Group said it has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction services contract at the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture's projects in Victoria, Australia. Domino's Pizza Group made a strong start to the year, recording a 15% rise in the last quarter, as the number of sales made online continued to grow. Workspace Group said it has secured further planning permission for the second phase of its mixed use development in Wandsworth, south London.

AIM: Green Dragon Gas it trading higher after the company inked an agreement with China United Coalbed Methane Corp to extend their partnership on five production-sharing contracts in China. Also trading up is Minoan Group. The travel agency operator said it has successfully developed its international travel and leisure business, which drove its total transaction value up 37% in its last financial year, and led to the group narrowing its full-year losses. Shares in Plus500 have been rising after the spread betting company said it expects to exceed profit and revenue expectations for 2014 after it saw a strong first quarter, posting doubled revenues of USD60.7 million. Optare's shares have risen; the firm has won an order worth GBP3.5 million for 13 Versa hybrid buses and 3 Versa electric buses from Transport for Greater Manchester, its third big order in a week. Shares in Alecto Minerals are also trading higher. The mining exploration company has reported an 80% increase in the resources estimate for its Kossanto gold project in Mali following recent drilling at two of the three main target areas at the project. At the other end of the AIM market sits Rare Earths Global. Shares in the company have plummeted after it said it will ask shareholders for approval to delist its shares from AIM as part of its efforts to cut costs and because the listing is no longer useful in terms of access to capital. Shares in Sunkar Resources have also taken a hit during morning trading. The firm has warned that it has been hurt by economic uncertainty in Kazakhstan and may not be able to meet loan repayments unless it can raise new funds from its biggest shareholder. Sweett Group is trading lower. The construction and property consultancy said it is investigating further after evidence came to light suggesting that "material instances of deception" may have been perpetrated by one or more former employees between 2009 and 2011. Shares in Inditherm are down; the firm cautioned that its uneven order flow pattern is set to persist, even though it reported narrower annual pretax losses in 2013. Cupid's shares have also dropped. The online dating company said it swung to a loss in 2013, posting a pretax loss of GBP7.9 million in 2013, compared with a pretax profit of GBP9.2 million in 2012, after selling off its casual business.

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Top Economics And General

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UK house prices increased at the fastest pace since May 2010, data from Nationwide Building Society showed. House prices advanced 9.5% in March from last year, following a 9.4% rise in February. The increase was less than the 9.7% growth forecast by economists and was the biggest since May 2010, when prices rose 9.8%. A typical house now cost GBP180,264, the highest level since January 2008. On a monthly basis, house prices gained only 0.4% in March, which was slower than the 0.7% increase posted in February and 0.8% rise forecast by economists. Nonetheless, this was the fifteenth consecutive rise in prices.
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The UK construction sector expanded for the eleventh month in a row in March, survey data from Markit Economics showed. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply Purchasing Managers' Index fell marginally to 62.5 from 62.6 in February. The score was forecast to rise to 63 in March. The score for March was lower than the near six-and-a-half year high recorded during January.
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Eurozone producer prices declined unexpectedly in February reflecting lower energy prices, official data revealed. Producer prices dropped 0.2% month-on-month after easing 0.3% in January, Eurostat reported. Prices were expected to remain flat in February. On a yearly basis, producer prices were down 1.7% versus a 1.4% drop in the prior month. The decline also exceeded consensus forecast of 1.6% fall.
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British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is preparing to take on Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party, in a second televised debate on Britain's membership of the EU. The two men clashed in a first debate last week, with opinion polls afterwards suggesting that Clegg, leader of the pro-European Liberal Democrat party, had lost to the eurosceptic Farage. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition Labour party, have refused to take part in the debates, the first to see party leaders discuss the country's EU membership live on television.
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France's new prime minister, Manuel Valls, was meeting President Francois Hollande to discuss the formation of a new cabinet. The 51-year-old former interior minister replaced Jean-Marc Ayrault after voters punished his Socialist Party over the government's poor economic record by voting out scores of left-wing mayors. Valls, who is one of France's favourite politicians, is seen as a pragmatist.
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Politicians in Moscow criticized NATO for suspending all cooperation with Russia on civilian and military matters. The military alliance had lost all meaning with the end of the Cold War and was using the Ukraine crisis to pump fresh blood into its veins, said top foreign policy official Alexei Pushkov. This is an attempt to revive the alliance from its "half-dead" state, said Pushkov, the chairman of the Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee, according to the Interfax news agency.
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Top diplomats from the US and EU explored ways to vary their energy sources, amid an effort to cut Europe's dependency on Russia. The international community has been outraged by Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the ensuing pressure it has been accused of applying on its neighbour. On Tuesday, the state-owned energy giant Gazprom announced that gas prices for Ukraine will rise by 30% because of 1.7 billion dollars in bills that have gone unpaid by Kiev. Russia has in the past been accused of using gas prices as a tool for political pressure.
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NATO is suspending all cooperation with Russia on civilian and military matters, the alliance's foreign ministers said Tuesday, raising also the possibility of deployments as part of their response to the Ukrainian crisis. "NATO's greatest responsibility is to protect and defend our territory and our people," Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after the ministers' talks. "Russia's aggression against Ukraine is the gravest threat to European security in a generation."
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Fears faded of a destructive tsunami on the western seaboard of South America, after a magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck about 100 kilometres off northern Chile. The Chilean navy said a 2-metre wave had reached the northern coast about 45 minutes after the quake. The tsunami alert had been lifted across much of the country by 0500 GMT, Chilean daily La Tercera reported. Landslides cut roads and there were reports of infrastructure damage, after authorities in Santiago issued an evacuation order for the whole coastline.
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President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday he will press for Palestinian recognition at 15 United Nations bodies, a measure likely to jeopardize US efforts to save the faltering peace talks with Israel. The move comes after Palestinian outrage over Israel's refusal to release a fourth and final group of 26 Palestinian prisoners by a Saturday deadline.
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times British Summer Time)

13:15 US ADP Employment Change
14:45 US ISM New York index
15:00 US Factory Orders
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks change

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Thursday's Key UK Corporate Events

Tate & Lyle Trading Statement
Booker Group Interim Management Statement
Electrocomponents Trading Statement
BTG Trading Statement
Dunelm Group Trading Statement
Hyder Consulting Trading Statement

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Thursday's Key Economic Events (all times British Summer Time)

n/a Russia Purchasing Manager Index Services
00:15 Japan Markit Services PMI
00:50 Japan Foreign investment in Japan stocks
00:50 Japan Foreign bond investment
02:00 China Non-manufacturing PMI
02:45 China HSBC China Services PMI
08:50 France Markit Services PMI
08:55 Germany Markit Services PMI
09:00 EU Markit Services PMI
09:00 EU Markit PMI Composite
09:30 UK BOE Credit Conditions Survey
09:30 UK Markit Services PMI
10:00 EU Retail Sales
12:30 US Challenger Job Cuts
12:45 EU ECB Interest Rate Decision
13:30 EU ECB Monetary policy statement and press conference
13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims
13:30 US Continuing Jobless Claims
13:30 US Trade Balance
13:58 US Markit Services PMI
15:00 US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage change

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By Alice Attwood; aliceattwood@alliancenews.com; @AliceAtAlliance

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