TOP NEWS SUMMARY: All Eyes On Brussels Ahead Of Emergency Meeting

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Marks & Spencer Group reported year-on-year growth in sales in the first quarter of its financial year and said that all guidance for the full year remains unchanged. The clothing and food retailer said that total group sales were up 1.3% in the 13 weeks to June 27 from a year before, as food sales grew 3.2% and general merchandise revenue rose 0.2%. On a like-for-like basis, food sales grew 0.3% but general merchandise declined 0.4%. M&S said it is on track to deliver its full-year guidance of 150 to 200 basis points gross margin improvement in general merchandise.
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Engineer Weir Group said it has struck a USD47 million deal to acquire Delta Industrial Valves. Delta is a US-based manufacturer of knife gate valves for the mining, oil sands and other industrial markets. The consideration will comprise a USD37 million initial consideration, with USD21 million to be paid in cash and USD16 million to be paid in Weir equity. Up to another USD10 million will be paid over the next 18 months based on Delta meeting profit growth targets.
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The UK Competition and Markets Authority published its provisional findings following a year-long investigation into the energy market, finding that a range of problems have hindered competition in the market and proposing a series of potential remedies to the issues it has identified. The Big Six energy providers in the UK comprise British Gas, which is owned by Centrica, SSE, ScottishPower, E.On, EDF and nPower.
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RSA Insurance Group named Scott Egan, the interim chief executive of UK competitor Towergate Insurance, as its new chief financial officer. Egan is expected to join the insurer in the fourth quarter of 2015, with the exact date to be confirmed at a later date, succeeding Richard Houghton, who stood down from the board of directors in May of this year.
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Smiths Group said it has appointed Andrew Reynolds Smiths as its new chief executive, with plans for him to take the helm on September 25. Reynolds Smith is currently the chief executive of GKN Automotive, the driveline systems and powder metals components arm of GKN, another FTSE 100-listed engineering company. He replaces Philip Bowman, who announced his plans to retire by the end of 2015 back in December.
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Innate Pharma, a French biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases, announced that the co-development and commercialisation agreement with AstraZeneca on Innate Pharma's proprietary anti-NKG2A antibody, IPH2201, received HSR clearance. The company also said that on June 30, Innate Pharma received the initial payment of USD250 million from AstraZeneca.
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AstraZeneca has agreed to pay the US and participating states a total of USD46.5 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that it knowingly underpaid rebates owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, the US Justice Department announced. Of that amount, AstraZeneca will pay roughly USD26.7 million, plus interest, to the US, and the remainder to states participating in the settlement.
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Cinema operator Cineworld Group said it grew revenue across its business in the first 26 weeks of the year, boosted by a strong slate of films, and said it expansion plans are on track. Cineworld said its pro-forma total revenue for the 26 weeks to July 2, which includes the Cinema City Holding BV business in Central and Eastern Europe, was up by 11.2%. It also sees a promising second half in store, with a robust film release schedule, including new Star Wars, Hunger Games and James Bond films, and it remains confident of meeting market expectations for the full year.
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Defence company Ultra Electronics Holdings said it has won a contract for the design and development of reactor control and cooling systems for Royal Navy submarines in the UK. Ultra said the GBP18 million deal has been awarded by Rolls-Royce Holdings and is the result of a collaboration between the two companies.
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Stagecoach Group said it has been notified by the UK's Department of Transport that it has ended talks with its Stagecoach South Western Trains subsidiary on the award of the new South West rail franchise. Stagecoach said the current franchise is due to end in 2017, and South West Trains has submitted proposals to the department as part of government plans for a new direct franchise award through to at least April 2019. But the department has now indicated it plans to invite potential applicants to tender for a new long-term franchise, will will start sometime in 2017.
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ASOS reported growth in sales in the four months to June 30 in both its UK and international businesses and said that sales for the full year should be at the higher end of its guided growth range. The online fashion retailer said that retail sales in the four months grew 20% on the same period the year before, with UK sales rising 27% and international revenue up 16%, all at actual currency rates. It said that the rise in international sales benefited from price investments which it is making to try to turn that part of the business around.
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MARKETS
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London shares are lower mid-morning with retail stocks in focus as shares in Marks & Spencer Group and ASOS are down even though both posted growth in sales in their latest updates.
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,527.26
FTSE 250: down 0.2% at 17,410.55
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.1% at 757.61
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The euro is down against the dollar ahead of a new eurogroup meeting on the Greece crisis in Brussels scheduled for 1200 BST.
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GBP: down at USD1.5498
EUR: down at USD1.0977

GOLD: down at USD1166.08 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD57.53 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament that he would like to see financially embattled Greece stay in the eurozone. "Nobody should even think about throwing the Greeks out," Juncker said ahead of a crucial summit of eurozone members Tuesday evening in Brussels to discuss new proposals expected out of Greece. Talks with Greece must be renewed, he said, although admitting there was little chance of a solution being found at the summit, which will be preceded by a meeting of the common currency's finance ministers.
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French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that they respect the outcome of the weekend's Greek referendum opposing more austerity and are open to negotiations, a day before Greece's prime minister heads to Brussels to lay out his newest plans for other eurozone leaders. Hollande stressed the "urgency" of finding a solution to the economic impasse, while Merkel said it is up to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to make proposals about how to lead the Greek economy forward. "The situation has to be solved," Merkel said, adding that the last offer made to Greece before it opted for a controversial referendum was "generous."
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Greek banks are fast running out of money despite been propped up for months by funds provided to the nation's central bank through the European Central Bank's Emergency Liquidity Assistance scheme. Reports said that banks in Greece would remain closed through Wednesday. On Monday, the ECB said it will maintain the ELA provisions to Greece at around EUR90 billion - the same level that was agreed on June 26, prior to Sunday's anti-austerity referendum. "The governing council is closely monitoring the situation in financial markets and the potential implications for the monetary policy stance and for the balance of risks to price stability in the euro area," the ECB said in a statement issued after a meeting in Frankfurt. Greece is due to repay EUR3.5 billion in loans to the ECB on July 20.
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UK industrial output expanded unexpectedly in May on strong oil and gas production, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. Industrial production rose 0.4% month-over-month in May, defying economists' expectations for a 0.2% fall. At the same time, manufacturing production fell 0.6% in May, while it was expected to increase by 0.1%. On an annual basis, industrial production climbed at a faster pace of 2.1% in May, following a 1.2% hike in April. Economists had expected a 1.6% growth for the month. Production has been rising since September 2013. Manufacturing production grew 1.0% in May from a year ago, but slower than a 1.8% rise expected by economists.
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The UK is showing signs of 'two-tier' growth in the second quarter, as the service sector continued its steady progress ahead of the weaker growth of manufacturing, the results of the quarterly economic survey released by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) showed. The survey provided further evidence that the service sector results remain broadly positive in the second quarter, while all the key manufacturing balances fell. The BCC's survey showed that most balances in the service sector are now higher than the average 2007 pre-recession levels, while that for the manufacturing sector are now lower.
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Germany's industrial production remained unchanged in May from the prior month, Destatis reported. Production was forecast to rise 0.1% after expanding 0.6% in April, which was revised down from 0.9%. Excluding energy and construction, production was up 0.4%.
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Foreign ministers from Iran and six world powers gathered Monday in Vienna to clear away the few remaining - but stubborn nonetheless - stumbling blocks standing in the way of a broad nuclear deal that could bring Iran back into the international fold. "A comprehensive agreement is within reach," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters, with less than 48 hours remaining before the talks reach a self-imposed deadline of midnight Tuesday. The chief diplomats met at the Palais Coburg hotel for a final push on the long-term accord that would limit Iran's civilian nuclear activities and prevent them from being used for making weapons. The group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany would lift embargoes on Iran's oil, banks and other sectors in return. One of the key unresolved issues is the timing and sequence of lifting the sanctions.
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Islamic State jihadists struck back at Kurdish forces in northern Syria, launching a major offensive along a 150 kilometre front. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jihadists had recaptured the town of Ain Issa, 50 kilometres north of the group's stronghold of al-Raqqa, two weeks after it fell to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). With clashes continuing around Ain Issa, the Observatory said YPG said it had regained control of a nearby village, thanks in part to strikes on the jihadists by a US-led coalition.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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