YouGov Share News (YOU)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices have opened mostly lower in London Friday, despite mostly positive leads from Wall Street and Asian markets, as German industrial production figures disappointed and investors await the key US nonfarm payrolls report later in the session.

Barratt Developments and Compass Group lead FTSE 100 losers, down 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively, both after receiving analyst downgrades.

Shares in FTSE 250 constituent Poundland are up 6.2% after it went slightly down market, agreeing to buy rival 99p Stores Ltd for GBP55 million in cash and shares.

Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.4% at 6,842.07
FTSE 250: down 0.3% at 16,637.61
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 699.11
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.4% at 24,679.39
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.8% at 17,648.50
DJIA: closed up 1.2% at 17,884.88
S&P 500: closed up 1.0% at 2,062.52
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.5319
EUR-USD: down at USD1.1449

GOLD: up at USD1,267.56 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD57.50 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)

09:30 UK Trade Balance
13:30 US Nonfarm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate, Average Earnings
13:30 Canada Building Permits
13:30 Canada Unemployment Rate
17:45 US Fed's Lockhart speech
20:00 US Consumer Credit Change
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UK firms hired staff at a slower rate in January despite growth in demand for staff, results of a survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, or REC, and KPMG showed. Permanent staff appointments rose at a slowest rate in twenty months in January. Temporary staff appointments increased at the weakest rate since October. However, overall job vacancies grew at the fastest rate in three months as growth in permanent and temporary vacancies quickened. Average starting salaries for people placed in permanent positions increased at the strongest rate in four months. Pay for temporary staff also climbed, though at the weakest pace in nine months.
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Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis adopted a conciliatory tone towards Germany, just hours after the European Central Bank cut off Greek banks' access to cheap credit and roiled financial markets. The eurozone's central bank said late Wednesday it would no longer accept Greek government bonds as collateral for lending money to commercial banks. After talks with German Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin, Varoufakis, who has been on a roadshow of European capitals this week, said he was not seeking to have any of Greece's sovereign debt wiped out but reiterated he wanted the terms of his country's bailout renegotiated. Schaeuble, known for his hardline stance on eurozone fiscal issues, spoke of "agreeing to disagree" with Varoufakis.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande joined top US diplomat John Kerry in Kiev as they mounted a fresh diplomatic push to halt the escalating violence in eastern Ukraine. Merkel and Hollande met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday and will travel to Moscow for a meeting Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hollande said he and Merkel will present "a new proposal for a comprehensive settlement based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine." Following a meeting between Poroshenko and Kerry earlier in the day, the US secretary of state laid out so-called confidence-building measures that should be taken by Moscow as a first step towards ending the conflict.
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Germany's industrial production growth remained stable in December, defying expectations for a faster rate of increase. Industrial output grew 0.1% in December from a month ago, Destatis reported. Production was forecast to rise 0.4% after expanding by a revised 0.1% in November. Annually, production fell 0.7% in December, more than the 0.3% decline expected by economists.
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The Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its GDP growth and inflation forecasts after announcing its decision to cut rates earlier in the week, painting a gloomy picture of the economy. Growth overall is now forecast to remain at a below-trend pace somewhat longer than had earlier been expected, the RBA said in its quarterly Monetary Policy Statement. The bank said that the economy is expected to grow at a pace of 2.25% to 3.25% through December 2015 and 3% to 4% in the following year. This was less than the previous forecast for 2.5% to 3.5% GDP growth in 2015 and 2.75% to 4.25% in 2016.
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Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is to face a first major test to his leadership next week after one of his own party members said Friday he would bring a motion against him at a party meeting. The motion would be brought at the next Liberal party meeting on Tuesday.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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GOLDMAN CUTS COMPASS GROUP TO 'SELL' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 1005 (980) PENCE
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN RAISES PRUDENTIAL TO 'NEUTRAL' ('UNDERWEIGHT')
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TRADERS: LIBERUM CUTS BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Capita said it has been approved to join the lead provider framework for NHS England's commissioning support services. Capita said clinical commissioning groups in the UK will be required to re-procure many support services by April 2016 in order to comply with European procurement law. The FTSE 100-listed outsourcing company said NHS England anticipates this will result in GBP3 billion to GBP5 billion in services being procured through the framework.
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GlaxoSmithKline said it has received positive results from the phase 3 study investigating the combination of the dabrafenib and trametinib drugs. Glaxo said the overall survival rates from the combination of the drugs showed a statistically significant fall in the risk of death from combining the pair in comparison to dabrafenib monotherapy in patients with BRAF V600E/K mutation-positive metastatic melanoma.
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London Stock Exchange Group late Thursday said it is beginning a formal sale process of the investment management business of Russell Investments, deciding to sell that part of the company in its entirety. The exchange operator has been reviewing the best path to take with the investment management business that came with the USD2.70 billion acquisition of Frank Russell Co last year.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Poundland Group said it has struck a deal to buy rival 99p Stores for GBP55 million in cash and shares. FTSE 250-listed Poundland said it will pay GBP47.5 million in cash for its fellow high-street discounter, along with a further GBP7.5 million in shares. Based on its closing price of 357.8 pence on Thursday, that would see Poundland issue 2.1 million shares. The deal includes 99p Stores' network of 251 stores, Poundland said. Poundland said the deal will be conditional upon the approval of the UK Competition and Markets Authority. Poundland said that following initial talks with the competition regulator, it may have to offer concessions to get the deal passed.
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Tate & Lyle said it expects its profit for the year to be below its guidance as it said its Specialty Food Ingredients business performed in line with expectations in the third quarter, but this was offset by a weaker performance in its Bulk Ingredients business. The FTSE 250-listed sugar company said it expects its profit for the year to the end of March to come in below its guidance in September of GBP230 million to GBP245 million, owing to the weak performance in the Bulk Ingredients business.
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Real estate investor Shaftesbury said interest rate movements could mean that terminating some of its financial contracts used to manage interest rate risk will cost between GBP30 million and GBP40 million and result in a hit to a measurement of its net asset value. In a statement, Shaftesbury said the reduction in long-term interest rates over the quarter meant the fair value deficit of its interest rate swaps - derivative financial instruments used to manage interest rate fluctuations - increased by GBP27.2 million to GBP106.0 million at the end of 2014. The company said discussions are continuing to refinance its remaining 2016 debt maturities, which total GBP150 million. Plans to refinance its debt mean the group could terminate some of those interest rate swaps at a cost.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Gulf Keystone Petroleum said it has temporarily suspended exporting its crude oil from the Shaikan project in Iraq by truck until it can agree a more "stable payment cycle" with the Kurdistan regional government, as it continues to try to recover money owed to the company. In December, the Kurdistan regional government and the federal government of Iraq signed an oil export agreement, which Gulf Keystone believes will lead to "a stable payment cycle" being established in the near term. The company is currently in talks with the Kurdistan regional government about outstanding payments owed to Gulf Keystone. In addition, Gulf Keystone said it was looking at longer-term financing options and said it will be prudent with its capital expenditure during 2015.
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Market research agency YouGov said its first-half trading was in line with its expectations. The company said trading in the first half to the end of January was in line with its forecasts and said it is making progress on its "stated strategy". Its YouGov Profiles media planning and audience segmentation tool was launched on schedule in November, the company said, and saw a positive response in the market.
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PowerHouse Energy Group said it has ceased all of its operations in Switzerland and Germany so it can solely focus on the construction of the company's gasification system in Australia. The company said it will put all of its efforts into constructing the newly designed PHE G-3 UHT gasification system in Australia, and the contract opportunities that stem from it.
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Anglo Pacific Group said it has raised GBP39.5 million via a placing and open offer as part of its deal to buy a royalty interest on coal sales from an Australian coal mine. Anglo said it placed 49.4 million shares at 80 pence per share. Its shares closed at 83 pence on Thursday.
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Xchanging said it has agreed to acquire spend-analytics company Spikes Cavell Analytic Ltd in a deal that could cost up to USD11.5 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis. Xchanging will pay USD6.75 million on completion of the acquisition and up to an additional USD4.75 million over the next two years depending on operating performance targets.
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Mecom Group said the Dutch competition authorities will hold a meeting on its proposed takeover by Der Persgroep NV on February 13. In January, Mecom had cautioned the deal may not complete by the end of that month after the Dutch Competition Authority raised concerns about the deal.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Telecom giant Verizon Communications agreed to sell some of its wireline and wireless assets in two deals valued at a total of about USD15.54 billion. The proceed from the sales will enable Verizon to sharpen its strategic focus and invest in its networks as well as return significant value to its shareholders through a USD5 billion accelerated share-repurchase program, it said. Verizon agreed to sell its local wireline business and related assets in the states of California, Florida and Texas to regional telecom firm Frontier Communications for about USD9.9 billion in cash, plus USD600 million in assumed debt. Verizon also agreed to lease the rights to over 11,300 of its company-owned wireless towers and the outright sale of about 165 Verizon towers to American Tower for an initial upfront cash payment of about USD5 billion.
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French telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent reported its fourth-quarter 2014 net income, group share, was EUR271 million, compared to EUR134 million in the year-ago period, mainly reflecting lower financial expenses and higher income tax benefits partially offset by higher restructuring expenses. Revenue for the latest quarter was EUR3.682 billion.
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Amy Pascal will step down as co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and as head of its Motion Picture Group months after hackers released her embarrassing private emails. Pascal will start a production company that will launch in May 2015, with financial backing and distribution from Sony under a four-year agreement.
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Swatch Group is planning to launch its own smartwatch within next three months, according to media reports. Swatch will start selling the smartwatch in two or three months, thus facing a hard debut against tech giant Apple's Apple Watch. The story was reported by Bloomberg based on an interview with Swatch Chief Executive Nick Hayek. The smartwatch will be able to connect to internet with out being charged by using NFC technology, Hayek said. The device will also allow make mobile payments and work with Windows and Android software.
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News Corp reported net income for the second quarter of USD142 million, compared to USD150 million for the year-earlier quarter. Second quarter total revenue rose 2% to USD2.28 billion from USD2.24 billion a year ago, reflecting strength in the company's Book Publishing and Digital Real Estate Services segments.
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Beleaguered consumer electronics retailer RadioShack filed for bankruptcy protection after it reached a deal to sell up to 2,400 of its US company-owned stores to an affiliate of New York-based hedge-fund Standard General, its largest shareholder. The sale agreement is subject to court approval and other conditions.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs

LED International
Shaftesbury
Salamander Energy
Ophir Energy
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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