TOP NEWS SUMMARY: WPP Warns Against Misplaced Optimism As Profit Rises

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
----------
COMPANIES
----------
WPP said its pretax profit rose in 2015 despite a currency drag on its revenue, but it said that while 2016 had started well, the general sense of optimism in the industry for the coming year looks misplaced. The advertising and marketing giant said its pretax profit for the year to the end of December was GBP1.49 billion, up 2.8% year-on-year from GBP1.45 billion. Pretax profit would have increased 7.3% in constant currencies. WPP will pay a final dividend of 28.78 pence per share, up 8.3% year-on-year, meaning its total dividend will rise to 44.69p, a 17% increase. WPP said 2016 had started well, with like-for-like revenue growth of 4.2%, ahead of budget. Despite that, WPP said the general optimism in the advertising industry for 2016 does appear misplaced, with general client behaviour not reflecting this amid "tepid" global GDP growth, weak inflation and a consequent lack of pricing power.
----------
London Stock Exchange Group reported higher annual operating profit and lifted its dividend, as merger talks with Deutsche Boerse continue. Adjusted operating profit, which is stated before amortisation of purchased intangible assets and non-recurring items, rose by 27% to GBP709.6 million in 2015, as total revenue increased by 72% to GBP2.38 billion. LSE Group declared a final dividend of 25.2 pence per share, resulting in an implied 20% increase in the total dividend to 36.0p per share.
----------
easyJet reported year-on-year growth in passenger numbers in February, but a slight slip in its load factor. The low-cost airline said its passenger numbers increased by 9.8% in February to 4.9 million from 4.5 million, but its load factor decreased by 0.4 percentage point to 90.5% from 90.9%.
----------
Bob Diamond, the former chief executive of Barclays, has held talks with investors to buy the bank's African operations outside of South Africa, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Earlier this week, Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley set out plans to sell down the bank's African operations, in a restructuring designed to focus the lender on its main activities in the UK and US. Diamond created the London-listed Atlas Mara vehicle to invest in African banks after he was ousted as Barclays' chief executive in 2012 amid the Libor interest-rate benchmark rigging scandal.
----------
Alliance Trust said its net asset value total return beat the benchmark index in 2015, as it raised its dividend and said its investment arm managed more third-party assets in what Chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin described as an "eventful" year. The results come within weeks after Alliance Trust announced the departure of Katherine Garrett-Cox, the former group chief executive. Lord Smith himself replaced former chair Karin Forseke, who departed at the end of 2015. "I am acutely aware of the lack of gender diversity on the current board as a result of the recent changes. Alliance Trust has long been a leader in the area of board diversity, and this is an issue which I am determined to address at the earliest opportunity," Lord Smith said. The net asset value total return for the trust was 5.4% in 2015, compared to the MSCI ACWI benchmark return of 3.8%. Alliance Trust raised its dividend for the 49th year running, up by 0.4% to 12.43 pence.
----------
MARKETS
----------
UK indices were in the green supported by firmer oil and gold prices, the latter at its highest level in over a year. Investors are looking ahead to jobs data from the US at 1330 GMT. Wall Street was pointed to a higher open.
----------
FTSE 100: up 0.4% at 6,153.24
FTSE 250: up 0.5% at 16,828.19
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.4% at 699.50

GBP: flat at USD1.4134 (USD1.4169)
EUR: flat at USD1.0978 (USD1.0944)

GOLD: up at USD1,272.90 per ounce (USD1,257.30)
OIL (Brent): up at USD37.07 a barrel (USD36.95)

(changes since previous London equities close)
----------
ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
----------
New car registrations in the UK climbed further in February, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed. The total new car registrations grew 8.4% year-over-year in February to 83,395 units, which was the biggest February figure since 2004. In the corresponding month last year, registrations totaled 76,958 units. The increase in February was driven by a 22.6% surge in private registrations.
----------
Schools have been closed, flights delayed and commuters are facing hazardous road conditions after heavy snowfall in the UK on Thursday night. The north of England has been blanketed, with as much as 10 centimetres of snow reported on high ground. Leeds Bradford Airport was forced to close as crews work to clear the runway, which could cause delays to flights later Friday.
----------
The Bank of Japan is not considering lowering interest rates further, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said. The BoJ will continue to scrutinize risks and would not hesitate to adjust policy if necessary, he told parliament. Kuroda said the bank will use three dimensions of quantitative and qualitative easing and negative interest rates to achieve its inflation target. In January, the bank unexpectedly introduced negative interest rate to achieve its 2% inflation target.
----------
The establishment of the Republican Party pulled out all the stops, taking desperate steps to try and slow the march of businessman Donald Trump in his quest for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Hours after 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney savaged the real estate mogul, fellow candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz took turns attacking Trump in the 11th GOP debate of the election cycle. Facing off in the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, Trump took fire from all quarters as Rubio and Cruz finally found something they could agree on - stopping the bombastic GOP frontrunner. The primary schedule picks right back up with contests Saturday in Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine. Puerto Rico is Sunday, followed by Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan and Mississippi on Tuesday.
----------
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.