TOP NEWS: Barclays Sets Aside GBP500 Million For Forex Market Probe

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Thursday.
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COMPANIES
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Barclays said it has set aside GBP500 million in light of regulators' investigations into alleged foreign exchange manipulation, as the British lender beat analyst forecasts with the level of its rise in third-quarter adjusted pretax profit. Barclays also announced an extra GBP170 million provision for the payment of payment protection insurance claims, but this was offset by a GBP160 million release of provision for interest rate hedging redress. It said it made a GBP1.22 billion pretax profit in the third quarter of 2014, compared with GBP1.17 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. On an adjusted basis, which strips out items such as the foreign exchange provision, own credit, and gains and losses on acquisitions and disposals, Barclays' third-quarter pretax profit increased to GBP1.59 billion from GBP1.39 billion.
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Barclays, HSBC Holdings and Royal Bank of Scotland Group will make a total provision of about GBP1 billion for settlements with regulators following a probe into the abuse of foreign exchange benchmarks, Sky News reported on Wednesday. Sky News said it understands the banks plan to make the provision as part of their third-quarter results.
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A Saudi Arabia-based real estate company has sued Barclays for USD10 billion, claiming the bank stopped pursuing lease payments from the Saudi government on military complexes in the country in order to obtain a banking licence there, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Jadawel International, a unit of London-based MBI International Holdings Inc, claimed Barclays "hatched a fraudulent scheme" to secure a rare banking licence for the kingdom, according to the suit filed in New York.
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Royal Dutch Shell said quarterly earnings rose by a quarter from a year ago as weak oil prices were offset by higher-margin production and improved earnings from gas. During the third quarter ended September 30, Shell said earnings on a current cost of supplies basis totalled USD5.3 billion compared to USD4.2 billion in the third quarter of 2013. Revenue totalled USD107.85 billion, down from the second quarter when it totalled USD111.22 billion, mainly due to weak oil prices. Revenue also was down compared to a year earlier, when it generated USD116.51 billion.
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BT Group raised its interim dividend by 15%, after reporting growth in profits, buoyed by growth in BT Sport subscribers and its fibre broadband operations and due to cost cutting. The company reported a pretax profit of GBP1.11 billion for the six months to September 30, up from GBP948 million a year earlier, even though revenue declined to GBP8.74 billion, from GBP8.94 billion. Its pretax profit in the fiscal second quarter rose to GBP690 million, from GBP609 million a year earlier, even though revenue fell to GBP4.38 billion, from GBP4.49 billion. Chief Executive Gavin Patterson said the results were slightly ahead of market expectations, driven by reduced costs and higher operating earnings.
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US federal and state prosecutors have reopened investigations into Standard Chartered to determine whether the bank withheld evidence of Iran sanctions violations, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing two people briefed on the matter. The US Justice Department, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr and New York Department of Financial Service Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky are all reopening their inquiries into the bank to determine if it deliberately withheld information from regulators prior to the 2012 deferred prosecution agreement, Bloomberg added.
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Wealth manager St James's Place reported strong growth in funds under management in the third quarter, buoyed by a 23% increase in net inflows as clients took the opportunity of the higher limits now allowed on the amount that can be put into Individual Savings Accounts. The company said its funds under management stood at GBP49.1 billion at the end of September, up from GBP41.8 billion a year earlier and up 11% since the start of 2014, as it booked net inflows of GBP1.27 billion in the quarter, up from GBP1.03 billion a year earlier.
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AstraZeneca said the US Food and Drug Administration has approved its once-daily XIGDUO XR drug for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes. XIGDUO XR is already approved in Australia for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes, along with diet and exercise. XIGDUO, meanwhile, is approved in the European Union.
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Aviva reported an 12% rise in value of new business from continuing operations, driven by increases across Europe and Asia more than offsetting a drop in the UK and Ireland. The insurer's value of new business from continuing operations in the first nine months of the year rose to GBP690 million from GBP619 million in the corresponding period last year.
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Kazakhmys reported increases in sales volumes during the first nine months of the year and stated it is on target to hit full-year production guidance. During the third quarter ended September 30, the company extracted 9,520 kilotonnes of ore compared to 9,351 kilotonnes in the second quarter. A year earlier, the company produced 9,984 kilotonnes of ore. Kazakhmys saw the copper grade decrease, averaging 0.97% in the third quarter compared to 1.01% in the previous quarter. A year earlier it averaged a copper grade of 1.00%.
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Henderson Group said its assets under management increased in the third quarter, with net inflows boosted by its UK and European retail businesses and global institutional flows. The FTSE 250 investment manager said assets under management increased 2.5% to GBP76.6 billion at September 30. That number was further boosted to GBP79.9 billion on October 1 following the completion of its acquisition of US equity manager Geneva Capital Management for GBP120 million. The group said it saw net inflows of GBP1.4 billion in the period, driven by the performance of its UK retail, European retail and global institutional performance.
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Millennium & Copthorne Hotels said its pretax profit rose in the third quarter, broadly in line with a rise in revenue, but said it continues to be impacted by the strength of sterling. The FTSE 250 hotels company said its pretax profit in the three months to the end of September was GBP50.2 million, up 6.6% on the GBP47.1 million posted a year earlier. The rise was broadly in line with the 6.2% increase in revenue during the period to GBP215.9 million from GBP203.3 million the year earlier.
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Transport operator National Express Group said its third-quarter pretax profit was up nearly 15% on the year, driven by revenue growth, performance improvements and cost cutting, and said it is on track to meet its profit and cash expectations for the year as a whole. In a statement, it said the growth meant it was progressively recovering the one-off hits and currency translation impact it suffered in the first half of the year. National Express said passenger numbers and revenue are up in all its divisions so far this year. Revenue was up 4% on the year in the three months to end-September in its UK bus unit and 3% in the year to date.
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Al Noor Hospitals Group said its revenue increased in the third quarter in line with its expectations and said it is on track to meet forecasts for the full year. The FTSE 250 company, which provides healthcare services in Abu Dhabi, said revenue in the three months to September 30 was up 20.5% to USD101.2 million from USD84 million a year earlier. Al Noor said the rise was in line with its expectations and said its earnings before income, taxation, depreciation and amortisation margins were stable in the period.
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Countrywide said its earnings and revenue both increased in the third quarter, though it said it was seeing an impact from the slowdown in the London market and sounded a note of caution on the possible challenges it may face in 2015. The FTSE 250 estate agency said revenue in the third quarter to the end of September was GBP188.4 million, up 22% year-on-year, with earnings before income, taxation, depreciation and amortisation at GBP40.2 million, up 38%.
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RPS Group said it will again increase its full-year dividend by 15%, after saying it is on track to report good growth for 2014 on a constant currency basis, while investments in its international platform are providing "significant" growth opportunities. In a statement, the energy and environmental consultancy did caution that currency volatility and the uncertainty affecting the oil and gas sector make it difficult to predict the full-year result with precision, but trading so far in 2014 suggests it is on track to achieve market expectations.
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Afren reported flat net profit for the first nine months of 2014 as a tax exemption credit offset a fall in pretax profit and revenue driven by lower production, and it said it is implementing the recommendations in a recent review of its business practices as it tries to put a recent payments scandal behind it. Afren reported a net profit of USD167.9 million for the nine months to September 30, compared with GBP170.1 million profit a year earlier, mainly thanks to a income tax credit of USD1.3 million as a result of now being in a five-year tax exemption period for the Ebok field in Nigeria and thanks to a smaller loss on derivative financial instruments of USD0.6 million, down from USD38.7 million.
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MARKETS
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UK stock indices have given up early strength to trade lower as the optimism provided by some strong corporate earnings ahead of the open has faded into wider concerns over the health of the global economy, after the US Federal Reserve ended its stimulus program on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100: down 1.0% at 6392.62
FTSE 250: down 0.2% at 15209.81
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 714.2
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The price of gold fell to its lowest level in three weeks overnight, as the dollar strengthened in the wake of the Fed decision. The yellow metal bottomed at USD1,201.10 per ounce.
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GBP-USD: flat at USD1.6010
EUR-USD: down at USD1.2588

GOLD: down at USD1205.40 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD86.30 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The US Federal Reserve voted Wednesday to end its monthly purchases of government-backed debt, citing "sufficient underlying strength in the broader economy" to halt the unconventional monetary stimulus programme. The central bank also kept its benchmark interest rate near zero, which it said "remains appropriate" - more than five years after the US escaped the 2007-09 recession. The unprecedented low Federal Funds rate, in place since December 2008, is likely to remain in place "for a considerable time," the Fed's monetary policy committee said, "especially if projected inflation continues to run below the committee's 2% longer-run goal."
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UK house prices rebound more than expected in October, survey figures from the Nationwide Building Society showed. The house price index recovered by 0.5% from September, when it fell 0.1% for the first time after sixteen consecutive months of rising. Economists were looking for a 0.3% increase. Year-on-year, house prices rose 9%, after an 9.4% gain in the previous month. Economists had forecast a 8.5% climb in prices. The unadjusted average house price rose to GBP189,333 in October from GBP188,374 in September.
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Germany's jobless rate remained unchanged in September, provisional results from the Federal Statistical Office showed. The unemployment rate held steady at adjusted 5% in September. In the same period of 2013, the rate was 5.2%. On an unadjusted basis, the jobless rate fell marginally to 4.9% from 5% in August.
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China's current account surplus grew in the third quarter from the previous three months, figures from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed. The current account surplus rose to USD81.5 billion from USD73.4 billion in the second quarter. The capital and financial account deficit, meanwhile, widened to USD81.6 billion from USD16.2 billion in the previous three months.
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EU-brokered efforts to resolve a gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine were due to resume late Thursday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told local media, after talks in Brussels the previous night failed to deliver a breakthrough. Russia has not sold gas to Ukraine since June due to a row over billions of dollars in arrears. The EU is concerned that the showdown will disrupt gas supplies across the continent, where the energy-intensive winter is approaching. A sticking point in the talks late Wednesday had been Kiev's inability to provide a written guarantee for its next upfront gas payments, as demanded by Moscow, Novak told Russian media.
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An Israeli counter-terrorism unit shot dead a Palestinian man suspected of trying to kill a far-right Jewish activist. Officers surrounded the suspect's house in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Abu Tur and opened fire when the Palestinian suspect shot at them, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad faction, identified him as Mutaz Hijazi, 32, one of its members. It said Hijazi had served 11 years in Israeli jails and was released in 2012.
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The party of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko claimed victory Wednesday in parliamentary elections held at the weekend, while the pro-Russian separatists in the country's east said they were preparing for war.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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