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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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The Sage Group said a claim for damages made by former shareholders of software firm MYOB Group Ltd, in relation to Sage pulling out of a deal to buy MYOB from Australian private equity firm Archer Capital in 2011, has been dismissed on all counts. The software company said it will now be taking steps to recover the costs it incurred during the legal proceedings.
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Advertising and marketing giant WPP said its MediaCom subsidiary has acquired a minority stake in Australia's Rapid Media Services. Rapid Media Services is a media communications agency with offices in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. It has been affiliated with MediaCom in Australia since 2001. No financial details on the deal were disclosed.
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Jimmy Choo reported a huge rise in profit in the first half of 2015 as revenue grew in its retail division and it booked lower exceptional costs and capital expenditure. The luxury shoe, handbag and accessories maker said it made a GBP20.2 million pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, multiplying from the GBP1.3 million profit it made in the first half of 2014. But whilst the company's revenue grew 6.5%, its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - adjusted for exceptional costs - rose only 0.5% to GBP27.7 million from GBP27.6 million.
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Property, residential, construction and services company Kier Group said it has been retained by Scape Group as the sole contractor on its GBP1.5 billion book of construction and maintenance work to take place over the next four years. FTSE 250-listed Kier said the Scape National Minor Works framework covers the whole of the UK and delivers schemes valued between GBP50,000 and GBP4.0 million, ranging from refurbishment and maintenance to new construction projects. Scape is the local authority-owned public sector works company.
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Computacenter said it expects its 2015 adjusted profit performance to be slightly ahead of its original expectations due to a boost from one-off gains, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for the first half of 2015. The IT services company reported pretax profit of GBP70.7 million, up significantly from GBP18.0 million a year before, despite revenue declining slightly to GBP1.44 billion from GBP1.46 billion, boosted by a GBP42.2 million gain from its sale of its recycling business R.D Trading Ltd in February. Computacenter proposed an interim dividend of 6.4 pence, compared to 5.9p the previous year. On a pro-forma basis, taking into account a share consolidation, the company's interim dividend in the previous year was 6.7p.
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Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment said it made a profit in the first half of 2015, having suffered a loss in the first half of 2014, even though revenue was hit by the introduction of VAT in some EU countries and a tough comparative period which included the football World Cup. The online gaming company said it made a pretax profit in the six months ended June 30 of EUR3.1 million, after it made a EUR100.4 million loss in the same period the year before, but revenue declined to EUR296.5 million from EUR317.1 million. Bwin.Party is in talks with smaller peers 888 Holdings and GVC Holdings regarding a possible takeover of the company. "Whilst discussions with GVC are continuing, there has been no change to the board's recommendation for 888's offer," Bwin.Party said. The company said it will pay an interim dividend of 1.92 pence, up 2% on the 1.89p it paid the prior year.
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Rotork said it has agreed a GBP125.0 million deal to acquire Manchester-based pneumatic and hydraulic instrument valves and components company Bifold Group. The FTSE 250 actuators and flow control products manufacturer said Bifold has leading positions in a number of niche sectors, including subsea and wellhead control systems. It will be integrated into Rotork's instruments division following the acquisition. Rotork will pay GBP115.0 million in cash upon closure of the agreement, with a further GBP10.0 deferred. It said it will finance the acquisition with new committed debt facilities.
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The Restaurant Group reported growth in profit in the first half of 2015 as it achieved strong trading in each of its brands and business areas and said that the company is set for continued strong growth for the remainder of the year. The restaurant operator said its pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended June 28 rose 10% to GBP36.9 million from GBP33.7 million in the same period the year before, as revenue grew 8% to GBP334 million from GBP308 million. The Restaurant Group will pay an interim dividend of 6.8 pence, an 11.5% rise on the 6.1p it paid the prior year.
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MARKETS
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UK indices have stabilised, boosted by mining and oil-related stocks, following a tumultuous week which saw the FTSE 100 hit multi-year lows.
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FTSE 100: flat at 6,191.50
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 16,943.24
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.5% at 730.45
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GBP: flat at USD1.5405
EUR: up at USD1.1279

GOLD: flat at USD1126.99 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD47.45 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The UK economy grew at a faster pace in the second quarter as initially estimated, latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. Gross domestic product advanced 0.7% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, confirming the flash data. In the first quarter, the economy expanded 0.4%. On an annual basis, GDP growth eased to 2.6% in the three months ended June from 2.9% in the preceding quarter. The figure was also came in line with preliminary report.
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House prices in England and Wales climbed at a slower pace in July, data from the Land Registry showed . The house price index rose 4.6% year-over-year in July, slower than previous month's 4.9% climb. In May, prices had risen 4.5%. On a monthly basis, house prices climbed 1.7% in July, following a 0.7% mere rise in the preceding month. It was the fourth month of climb in row. The average price for a property was GBP 183,861 in July, up from GBP 180,765 in the preceding month.
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Consumer confidence in the UK jumped in August, data collecting website GfK said, as its index climbed to a reading of +7. That beat forecasts for +4, which would have been unchanged from the July reading. It also matched the June figure as a 15-year high. "Rising house price inflation and improving employment growth prospects, combined with falling petrol prices and day-to-day living costs, as well as low interest rates, are translating into high levels of confidence across all major measures," said Joe Staton, head of market dynamics at GfK.
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Eurozone economic confidence rose unexpectedly in August to the highest since June 2011, survey results from European Commission showed. The economic sentiment index came in at 104.2 in August. Economists had forecast the indicator to fall to 103.8 from 104 in July. This is the highest since June 2011, when the index was 106.0.
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Profits earned by Chinese industrial enterprises decreased in July after rising in the previous month, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Industrial profits fell 2.9% year-over-year to CNY471.56 billion in July following a 0.3% rise in the preceding month. The agency said the fall in industrial profit for the month was impacted by a slowdown in industrial production and sales growth, a decline in industrial producer prices and raw material purchase price, and a fall in investment income.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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