TOP NEWS: Shell Raises Dividend Despite Weak 1st Quarter

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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Royal Dutch Shell said its earnings almost halved in the first quarter of the year, as it wrote down some of the value of its refineries in Europe and Asia due to declining refining margins and as its production fell. However, like peer BP PLC, Shell said it would pay a higher dividend for the quarter as it returns some of the funds from its asset sale programme to its shareholders. That helped pushed its shares higher. Shell's net profit was USD4.51 billion in the three months to end-March, compared with USD8.18 billion a year earlier. Its closely-watched earnings on a current cost of supplies basis was USD4.47 billion, down from USD7.95 billion. Still, the company said it would pay a first quarter dividend of USD0.47 a share and USD0.94 per American Depositary Share, up 4% compared with last year's payout.
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BT PLC said its BT Broadband customers will continue received its BT Sport service for free for a second football season, as it kept pressure on rival British Sky Broadcasting PLC.
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Next PLC raised its profit and sales guidance forecasts for the year ahead, after reporting strong sales growth in the first quarter of the year from both its retail stores and online business. Next revised up its full-year guidances for both sales and profit growth for the current financial year, as the group continues to be powered forward by a familiar set of drivers - the addition of net retail space, an increase in costs savings offsetting cost inflation, and more importantly an increased profit from its online and catalogue business called Next Directory.
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Standard Life PLC said its assets under administration increased 1.5% in the first quarter driven by net inflows, but said recent changes to annuity regulations in the UK resulted in a reduction in UK annuity sales of around 50%. The long-term savings and investments provider said assets under administration totaled GBP247.8 billion at March 31, up from GBP244.2 billion on December 31, 2013, and up from GBP233.1 billion on March 31, 2013, boosted by net inflows of GBP2.4 billion. However it said it had been affected by recent changes announced by the UK Chancellor George Osborne with regards to the UK annuity market. "While it will be some time before long-term trends become clear, the negative profit impact of the changes will reflect the relatively small size of our annuity business," the firm said.
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Antofagasta PLC said production of copper, gold and molybdenum fell in the first quarter but was ahead of internal expectations, as it was beset by a number of problems including maintenance at its sites. The firm said said copper production fell 7.4% to 169,400 tonnes, from 182,900 tonnes in the fourth quarter 2013, due to lower plant throughput levels as a result of scheduled maintenance at its Los Pelambres and Esperanza sites. Gold production fell 10% to 56,800 ounces during the quarter, from 63,300 as a result of lower production at Esperanza, while molybdenum production at Los Pelambres fell to 1,700 tonnes from 2,300 tonnes due to lower plant throughput and grade.
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Heritage Oil PLC saw its shares surge after it said it had recommended a GBP924 million takeover offer from Al Mirqab Capital, an investment vehicle controlled by the royal family of Qatar. In a statement, Heritage said Al Mirqab had offered 320 pence per share in cash for the company, a deal that it is recommending and that is supported by the independent directors on its board. The takeover would give Al Mirqab producing assets in Nigeria and an exploration portfolio in Papua New Guinea and Tanzania.
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British American Tobacco PLC said that revenue grew slightly at constant exchange rates in the first quarter, but dropped significantly when taking into account currency movements in the quarter. BAT said it continued to grow market share on the back of strong growth from its key brands. However, it said that group revenue for the three months to end of March, at current exchange rates, declined by 12%, hit by the current strength of sterling against some of BAT's key revenue-generating currencies. The tobacco giant also said that price increases this year will be weighted towards the second half of the year.
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Tullow Oil PLC pushed ahead with the sale of its UK gas assets in the southern North Sea, selling stakes in two assets to Faroe Petroleum for USD75.6 million plus a royalty on developments at one of the assets. The deal will nearly double Faroe's production this year, and marks the company's first move into operating assets already in production. Its shares hit their highest level for more than a year on the news. Tullow Oil, which also said its 2014 production guidance remains unchanged at between 79,000 and 85,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, said that Faroe is buying 60% of its Ketch asset and 53.1% of the Schooner asset in which Tullow holds 93.1%. Tullow said it will pay USD58.8 million when the deal completes and the rest when cumulative production milestones are hit.
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Playtech PLC expressed confidence in its continuing growth prospects for 2014, as it saw revenue rise in the quarter to end-March. Playtech posted revenue of EUR102.7 million in the quarter, up from EUR87.5 million a year before, driven by strong performances in its Casino, Services and Sport divisions.
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Integrated property services and project-delivery specialist Styles & Wood Group PLC said it swung to a loss in the recent full year, as it announced a move from the London Stock Exchange's main market to AIM and proposed a capital reorganisation. Styles & Wood Group said it is in the best interests of its shareholders to move to the "less regulated" AIM market, which will offer greater flexibility regarding corporate transactions, enabling it to agree and execute certain transactions more quickly and cost effectively than on the Official List.
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Barclays PLC is to create a "bad bank" to transform its investment banking operations, according to the Financial Times Tuesday. British bank Barclays is expects to announce the creation of an internal bad bank next week, into which it will put all its bad assets. Barclays is using the bad bank to help transform is ailing investment banking operations, the FT said, which have been hit by the departure of Skip McGee, head of Barclays Americas. McGee's role is being replaced by Joe Gold, currently global head of client capital management. The internal bad bank will be run by the co-head of its investment bank Eric Bommensath, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the situation.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks trade mixed across the board, with oil and gas producers among the biggest risers.
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6778.84
FTSE 250: down 0.4% at 15825.85
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.8% at 821.55
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The euro dropped to a three-week low against the dollar after Eurozone inflation data came in lower than expected.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6815
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3828

GOLD: down at USD1292.85 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD108.38 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Eurozone inflation accelerated from a 52-month low in April as the decline in energy prices slowed from last year, flash data from Eurostat showed. Flash inflation increased to 0.7% in April from 0.5% in March. However, the rate was slightly slower than the 0.8% forecast by economists. Inflation has been staying below the European Central Bank's target of 'below, but close to 2%' for the fifteenth consecutive month. Core inflation, excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rose to 1% from 0.7% a month ago.
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German unemployment declined by more than expected in April, official data showed. The number of people out of work declined 25,000 in April from March, the Federal Labor Agency reported. This was the fifth consecutive decline in unemployment. Economists had forecast unemployment to decline by 10,000 in April. At the same time, the jobless rate remained unchanged at seasonally adjusted 6.7% in April, in line with expectations.
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German retail sales declined unexpectedly in March driven by a notable decrease in food product turnover. Retail sales fell 1.9% from last year, offsetting February's 1.9% increase, Destatis reported Wednesday. This was the first decline since December. Economists were expecting a 1.7% rise.
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The Bank of Japan maintained its upbeat forecast of hitting its 2% inflation target in fiscal 2016 without adding more stimulus. Earlier in the day, the bank left its monetary policy unchanged as widely expected by economists. At the Policy Board meeting, members voted unanimously to continue to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY 60-JPY 70 trillion. In its latest semi-annual outlook report, the bank said inflation excluding the effects of tax hikes, will reach 2.1% between April 2015 and March 2016. The estimates for fiscal 2016 were issued for the first time.
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Japan's central bank also downgraded the nation's economic growth forecast for the current financial year. The central bank expects the world's third-largest economy to expand 1.1% for the year through March 2015, revised down from a 1.4% growth it estimated in January. The bank also predicts the country's consumer prices will climb 1.3% in the current financial year, unchanged from the previous prediction.
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The second day of a 48-hour Tube strike caused more misery for London commuters, though London Underground said it was managing to run limited services on all 11 lines. Underground workers began the strike - over a dispute about hundreds of planned job cuts and ticket office closures - at 9 pm (2000 GMT) on Monday. Commuters crowded outside tube stations from early in the morning, though many trains were too packed for people to board. Others formed long queues for buses or chose to walk, drive or cycle to work. The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, which called the strike, accused London Underground of "misleading" the public about the level of services available, saying it had left "platforms and stations dangerously overcrowded."
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