WPP Share News (WPP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices in London have opened marginally lower Wednesday, amid risk aversion due to the start of US air strikes in Syria.

Miner Fresnillo is the leading blue-chip gainer, up 1.9%, after UBS added it to its Most Preferred List.

In the FTSE 250, meanwhile, Tate & Lyle has suffered a flurry of analyst downgrades, following its negative trading update on Tuesday. The likes of JPMorgan, Citigroup, UBS, Credit Suisse and Berenberg have all cut ratings and/or price targets for the starch and sweeteners stock.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,667.54
FTSE 250: marginally down at 15,533.59
AIM ALL-SHARE: marginally down at 755.79
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Hang Seng: up 0.4% at 23,939.07
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.2% at 16,167.45
DJIA: closed down 0.7% at 17,055.87
S&P 500: closed down 0.6% at 1,982.77
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GBP-USD: flat at USD1.6389
EUR-USD: up at USD1.2861

GOLD: up at USD1,225.00 per ounce
OIL (Brent): flat at USD96.86 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)

09:00 Italy Consumer Confidence
09:00 Germany IFO - Business Climate
10:00 Italy Trade Balance non-EU Preliminary
12:00 US MBA Mortgage Applications
15:00 US New Home Sales
15:30 US EIA Crude Oil Stocks
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The US told United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a letter that its airstrikes into Syria were requested by Iraq for its own protection. The letter, in keeping with the dictates of the UN charter, explains that Islamic State and other terrorist groups are a threat not only to Iraq but also to the US and its partners in the region.
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Ed Miliband, leader of the UK opposition Labour party, has threatened to fund new investment in the National Health Service by cracking down on tax loopholes used by hedge funds and other financial services firms, raising money through a tax on homes worth more than GBP2 million, and by requiring tobacco firms to contribute to the cost of treating smoking-related diseases, the BBC reports. The so-called mansion tax would raise GBP1.2 billion a year, the crackdown on tax loopholes used by hedge funds would raise GBP1.1 billion, and the tobacco company requirements would raise about GBP150 million, the BBC quoted Miliband as saying in a speech to the Labour party annual conference ahead of next year's general election.
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Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said Tuesday they will hold their own elections in November, a week after voting for a new Ukrainian parliament. "We will elect our Supreme Soviet and head of the republic on November 2," Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, told Russia's Interfax news agency. The neighbouring "Luhansk People's Republic" will hold elections on the same day, local separatist leader Alexei Karyakin told the Itar-Tass news agency. The separatists were adamant that they won't allow next month's Ukrainian parliamentary elections to go ahead in their territories. President Petro Poroshenko has announced snap elections for October 26.
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Russian lawmakers on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that severely restricts foreign ownership of media companies, a move that critics say deals a further blow to the country's already tenuous press freedom. The bill, which sailed through the first reading in the lower house of parliament, or State Duma, by 434-1, bans foreigners from owning more than 20% of any national media outlet. Currently, ownership is restricted mainly for radio and TV stations, where foreigners may only hold up to 50%. The law is likely to hit high-profile publications like business newspaper Vedomosti, published jointly with the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, and the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, which is published by Axel Springer Russia, a subsidiary of German media giant Axel Springer AG.
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The manufacturing sector in Japan continued to grow in September, albeit at a slower pace, preliminary survey results from Markit Economics revealed, with a PMI score of 51.7. That's down from 52.2 in August, although it remains above the line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
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West Africa could see up to 1.4 million cases of Ebola by January unless the international community quickly mobilizes to fight the disease, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday. The epidemic can be brought under control by taking effective measures to isolate the virus, the public health agency said.
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Vows to tackle climate change, commitments to meet emission reduction targets and promises of financial assistance were thick on the ground Tuesday as world leaders met at the UN Climate Summit. The summit was convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to build political momentum toward the 2015 climate summit in Paris, where a comprehensive deal is to be decided.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERNSTEIN RAISES REED ELSEVIER TO 'MARKET-PERFORM' ('UP'); TARGET 1000 (700) PENCE
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UBS ADDS FRESNILLO TO 'MOST PREFERRED LIST'
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TRADERS: JEFFERIES CUTS UNILEVER PLC TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('HOLD')
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UBS REMOVES POLYMETAL FROM 'LEAST PREFERRED LIST'
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BERENBERG CUTS TATE & LYLE TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - PRICE TARGET 665 (775) PENCE
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UBS RAISES TATE & LYLE TO 'NEUTRAL' ('SELL') - PRICE TARGET 615 PENCE
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JPMORGAN CUTS TATE & LYLE TO 'NEUTRAL' ('OVERWEIGHT') - PRICE TARGET 690 (825) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Commercial bank holding company Citizens Financial Group, owned by British lender Royal Bank of Scotland Group, priced its initial public offering of 140 million shares at USD21.50 per share, raising gross proceeds of about USD3 billion. The pricing was below the company's estimated range of USD23 to USD25 per share. The IPO immediately values Citizens Financial at about USD12 billion. ----------
United Utilities Group said it is currently trading in line with internal expectations for the six months ending September 30, while it remains confident of delivering its 2010-15 regulatory outperformance targets. In a trading statement, United Utilities said underlying operating profit for the first half 2014/15 is expected to be similar to the first half of 2013/14.
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Media buying giant WPP said it has launched a new joint venture company in China that will offer services to the country's booming e-commerce sector. In a statement, the company said the new Polestar Co Ltd joint venture will be led by its main investors, both entrepreneurs with experience of the sector, including with Alibaba. Founder Figo Yang will serve as chief executive and Allen Liu will be chief operating officer. WPP will have a minority stake in the venture.
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The Serious Fraud Office is understood to be closely following events at Tesco to consider whether any deliberate manipulation was involved in the GBP250 million overstatement of the supermarket's profits unveiled this week, The Times reported on Wednesday. Insiders at the SFO said the agency was "following developments at Tesco with interest" after the company this week suspended four senior executives and warned that around a quarter of its interim profits had been overstated, the paper said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate said it has completed a GBP184 million asset financing secured against some assets in the Jupiter real estate portfolio it acquired in June, and expects to draw down the facility in full. The facility was arranged with Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and has a five-year term. Once the facility is drawn down, Kennedy Wilson's loan-to-value ratio will rise to about 34%, with approximately GBP506 million of debt financing in place at the asset level and a weighted average maturity of approximately 4.6 years, it said.
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Metals miner Kazakhmys said it has awarded the contract to build a sulphide concentrator at Aktogay, the company's second major copper growth project, to Non Ferrous China, allowing it to firm up the expected total capital cost of the project. The sulphide concentrator contract is the largest item in the capital expenditure budget for Aktogay, and Kazakhmys said that it is now able to confirm that the total capital cost for the project is expected to be in the region of USD2.3 billion. Kazakhmys is hoping to produce the first copper from sulphide at Aktogay in 2017.
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Electra Says ISS, PIRC Recommend Vote Against Sherborne's Proposals
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Origin Enterprises, the AIM-listed subsidiary of Switzerland's Aryzta, Wednesday reported a slight increase in profit in its last financial year, citing a return to more normal growing conditions in Europe after the previous year was affected by bad weather conditions. It added that it is confident of delivering further earnings growth in the current financial year. The agricultural services and fertilisers company, which is 68.1% owned by Aryzta, reported a pretax profit of EUR87.4 million for the year to July 31, up from EUR84.6 million a year earlier, even though revenue was flat at EUR1.42 billion. Origin raised its dividend to 20.0 euro cents a share, from 17.25 cents a year earlier.
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Nanoco Group shares surged higher in early trade after it said The Dow Chemical Co will start construction on the first large-scale, cadmium-free quantum-dot manufacturing plant in the world in South Korea, with Nanoco quantum dots set to start commercial production at the plant next year. Shares in the company were up 18% to 140 pence in opening trade, making it the best performer on the AIM All-Share.
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Arrow Global Group said it is to acquire Capquest, a UK consumer-debt purchaser and outsourced collections provider, for GBP158.0 million on an enterprise value basis, in a move designed to reinforce its position in European debt purchase and management. In a statement, Arrow Global said that Capquest, which it is acquiring from a fund controlled by TowerBrook Capital Partners LP, will create a European debt purchase and debt management business with GBP15.4 billion in combined receivables under management by face value - GBP12.4 billion of which are owned.
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Flowgroup said its Flow Products subsidiary has signed a contract with an unnamed major international energy company for the testing and evaluation of its microCHP boiler. Flowgroup said the European market is key for its business and said securing the deal with this European energy market company would support its objective to launch its products across Europe.
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Mobile technology company IMImobile said the British Broadcasting Corp has awarded the company a mobile and social messaging contract under its framework agreement. Under the deal, IMImobile will provide its DaVinci Social platform to the BBC to allow the broadcaster to streamline its audience engagement process via mobile and social channels.
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Connect Group said it has extended its newspaper wholesaling agreement with Guardian News and Media for a further five years until February 2021. The contract extension, signed through its Smiths News division, is valued at GBP63 million per year. This means Smiths News has secured GBP1.2 billion of revenue per year through to 2019. The new deal secures the company's existing 60% market share of Guardian News and Media's distribution business.
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Minds + Machines Group said it has won the auctions for new generic top-level domains .law and .vip, although it lost out on .tech and withdrew from a number of others.
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Assura Group said it will raise up to GBP180.2 million gross through a share issue, money it will use to fund a GBP95 million near-term pipeline of acquisitions and developments and to reduce its debt by about GBP55 million. In a statement, the healthcare property developer said it will raise about GBP155.2 million gross, or about GBP150.0 million net of expenses, by issuing 356.8 million shares at 43.5 pence each through a firm placing, placing and open offer. It will raise a further GBP25.0 million gross by issuing 57.5 million shares at the same price through a share subscription.
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Alkane Energy said it has won a first set of demand-side balancing contracts for the 2014-15 winter season from National Grid PLC, providing a new revenue stream for the company. Under the contracts, Alkane will supply 56 megawatt capacity to National Grid during periods of high system demand during the winter period between November 1 and February 28. The contracts are among the first awarded by National Grid to ensure the group is able to deal with tightening margins in the winter season.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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BNP Paribas Chairman Baudouin Prot has decided to resign, about three months after the French lender pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a record fine of USD8.9 billion for violating US sanctions, according to media reports on Tuesday. Prot was chief executive officer of the BNP Paribas during most of the period in which US authorities alleged BNP Paribas violated US sanctions. BNP Paribas' board is reportedly slated to meet on Friday and confirm Prot's resignation.
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Pfizer Inc has evinced interest in buying Actavis, although no formal talks or offer have taken place, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Pfizer's interest in buying Actavis probably stems from its desire to shift its tax domicile overseas in order to benefit from lower tax rates, or tax inversion. Actavis, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, obtained an Irish tax domicile by last year's purchase of Warner Chilcott PLC.
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Wednesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

Accumuli
First Property Group
Miton Worldwide Growth Investment Trust
Marechale Capital
Ilika
mirada
DCG Iris Limited
Bushveld Minerals
Aurora Russia
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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