TOP NEWS: Standard Chartered Suffers First Profit Decline In Decade

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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Standard Chartered PLC reported its first annual decline in pretax profit after a decade of growth, as it was hit by emerging market fears and a writedown in its Korean business, but warned that its 2014 first-half performance faces challenges. The emerging markets-focused bank reported a USD6.06 billion pretax profit for 2013, compared with USD6.85 billion in 2012, as operating income was slightly lower at USD18.78 billion. Operating expenses fell to USD10.19 billion from USD10.72 billion. Profits suffered as a result of lower transaction banking income in wholesale banking and higher impairments in the unsecured book in consumer banking.
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Admiral Group PLC reported a 7% increase in 2013 pretax profits despite a fall in net revenue as it faced significantly lower costs, mainly because of a reduction in the cost of net insurance claims. The motor insurer, that is also famous for owning price comparison website Confused.com, said it made a GBP370.2 million pretax profit, compared with GBP344.6 million in 2012. According to consensus estimates provided by the company, analysts had been forecasting a GBP363.9 million pretax profit. "2013 was the year of the baked potato. It was a good, solid year, something on the plate that is appreciated but doesn't really grab the spotlight. This is a comfort food set of results," Chief Executive Henry Engelhardt said.
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Legal & General Group PLC reported a 10% rise in 2013 pretax profits, supported by strong growth across the business, particularly its retirement and investment management divisions. The life pensions and investment company reported a GBP1.13 billion pretax profit, compared with GBP1.03 billion in 2012, while total revenue grew by 12% to GBP39.3 billion.
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Melrose Industries PLC reported a large increase in profit and revenue for the full year, largely driven by the acquisition of Elster Group in August 2012. The company said, its 2013 results are not directly comparable to 2012 as the prior year performance includes only four months of Elster trading, after its acquisition in a deal worth USD2.3 billion.
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Carillion PLC reported a fall in profit and revenue for the recent full year, after it shrunk its UK construction activities by being more selective about the contracts it took during the economic downturn. In response, it decided to focus on winning public-private partnership contracts, where the financing risk is shared with government, and on winning support services clients. Carillion also said it has won two contracts worth a combined GBP520 million. Carillion posted pretax profit of GBP110.6 million in 2013, down from GBP164.8 million, as total revenue fell 6.8% to GBP4.1 billion, from GBP4.4 billion a year earlier.
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SOCO International PLC said its pretax profit fell significantly in its full year 2013 on lower revenues and exploration write-off costs, but the company is confident of strong future progress. The oil-and-gas exploration-and-production company said its pretax profit fell 25% to USD333.3 million from USD445.6 million the previous year as revenues fell 2.2% to USD608.1 million from USD621.6 million in 2012.
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Rentokil Initial PLC said it has acquired Chilean pest control, hygiene and office services company Bestway, a deal that makes it the biggest hygiene services provider in the country and gives it a platform to expand in Colombia as it continues to expand in emerging markets.
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Dignity PLC, the UK's only listed funeral company reported higher profits and revenues for its 2013 financial year, helped by strong sales of pre-arranged funeral plans, and said it expects further growth in 2014 despite a slow start to the year.
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Online gaming software company Playtech PLC said its founder Teddy Sagi had ended up selling a 15% stake in the business after strong demand for his share placing. Sagi has been left with 98.6 million shares, or a 33.6% shareholding.
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MARKETS
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UK indices are trading mixed to slightly lower after a slight dip in PMI data.
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FTSE 100: down 0.4% at 6796.73
FTSE 250: down 0.4% at 16632.97
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.5% at 892.77
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The euro is down against the dollar after the second reading of eurozone GDP showed no changed in fourth quarter figures. The pound is up against the dollar.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6679
EUR-USD: down at USD1.3718

GOLD: down at USD133.87 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD108.65 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The UK service sector continued to expand at a healthy pace in February, supported by another marked increase in new business, data from Markit Economics showed. The headline Business Activity Index fell marginally to 58.2 in February from 58.3 in January. The score was above the expected level of 58.
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Shop prices in the UK reported deflation for the tenth straight month in February, and at the fastest pace on record, as food inflation dropped sharply and retailers resorted to heavy discounting on apparels and electrical goods, a report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed. The February data suggests that consumer price inflation is set to remain low in the coming months, with many of the larger food retailers cutting prices and investing heavily in promotions, BRC said. The shop price index dropped 1.4% on an annual basis, after falling 1% in the beginning of the year. Economists had forecast a weaker decline of 1.1% for February. The contraction was the biggest since the series began in 2006, and indicated the longest sustained period of price decreases ever recorded.
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The British government was facing calls to publish a report that reportedly suggests that the impact of immigrants on British workers was not as severe as previously thought. Data often quoted by ministers of 23 British workers left unemployed for every 100 immigrants is far too pessimistic, says the cross-governmental report by civil servants, the BBC reported. However it did not give a new figure.
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The euro area economy expanded at a faster pace in the fourth quarter, as initially estimated, underpinned by investment and exports, second estimates showed. Gross domestic product grew 0.3% from the third quarter, in line with the estimate released on February 14. That follows third quarter's 0.1% expansion. Year-on-year, the economy grew 0.5%, reversing the 0.3% fall registered in the third quarter.
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Eurozone retail sales grew more-than-expected at the start of the year, recovering strongly from a slump in the previous month, figures from Eurostat showed. Retail sales rose 1.6% from December, when they fell 1.3%, revised from a 1.6% slump. Economists had expected 0.8% growth for January.
The latest increase is the biggest since November 2001, when sales grew 1.6%.
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Italy's services sector grew for the first time four months in February as activity rose at the fastest pace in nearly three years, survey data from Markit Economics showed. The ADACI Purchasing Managers' Index for the services sector rose to 52.9 from January's 49.4. Economists were looking for a score of 49.9. A PMI reading above 50 suggests expansion in the sector and the latest print is the highest since March 2011.
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The Chinese government set 7.5% growth target for this year, unchanged from its last year's goal, and vowed to build on domestic spending, while also declaring a war against pollution. At the annual session of National People's Congress, Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday making breakthroughs in reforms is the main agenda, as the government plans to focus on consumption rather than investment to create a balanced economy. China's steady growth has exceeded target in 2013 even as Beijing pledged to press ahead with reforms to achieve a reasonable growth. The 2013 GDP growth stood at 7.7% in 2013 and matched the 2012 growth figure.
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Irish service sector growth slowed significantly in February, despite strong increases in activity, new business and job creation, survey data from Markit Economics showed. The Investec Purchasing Managers' Index for the services sector dropped to 57.5 from January's 61.5. A score above 50 suggests expansion in the sector.
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The EU is ready to help cash-strapped Ukraine with support totalling EUR11 billion euro over the next few years, the bloc's executive says.
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The US on Tuesday accused Russia of acting on false pretences in Ukraine, while Moscow warned of consequences if Washington and the EU impose sanctions. US Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia was engaging in "falsehoods, intimidation and provocation" in seizing Crimea, in order to "create a pretext for further invasion" in Ukraine. Kerry spent a few hours Tuesday in Kiev, including a stop on Institutska Street where he laid flowers and left a candle at a shrine for victims of government violence during deadly protests, which toppled the country's pro-Moscow regime last month. He then flew to Paris where he is expected to meet Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the first time since the Ukrainian Parliament removed President Viktor Yanukovych and appointed a pro-Western interim government.
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Opposition prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi appears to have stolen a march over his rivals in the race to be India's next prime minister after the elections were announced. A total of 814.6 million people, more than the population of Europe, will be eligible to vote in the world's largest democracy, 150 million of them for the first time. The world's biggest democracy will hold its next general election between April 7 and May 12, over nine polling days, India's Election Commission announced.
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A Canadian bitcoin exchanged has closed after hackers stole all its virtual coins, the exchange said Tuesday. Flexcoin was attacked and robbed Sunday, the company said. The attacker made off with 896 bitcoins.
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