TOP NEWS: Tears Of Joy As Boohoo Shares Start Trading

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Shares in online fashion retailer Boohoo.com PLC started unconditional dealings at a large premium to its offer price, after it became the fifth UK retailer to float on the London Stock Exchange so far this year. The retailer raised GBP300 million via an initial public offering of 600 million shares with institutional and other investors at 50 pence per share, giving it a market capitalisation at the IPO price of GBP560 million. Boohoo shares were trading at 78.50 pence in early trading Friday, 57% above its IPO price.
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Gulf Marine Services PLC shares dropped slightly on the first morning of conditional dealing on the London Stock Exchange main market after it had priced its initial public offering at 135 pence per share, giving it an initial market capitalisation of GBP472 million.
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UK lender OneSavings Bank PLC said it is considering an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, as it reported a near quadrupling in 2013 pretax profit. Pretax profit was GBP31.4 million for 2013, as the lender benefited from higher margin new business and reduced funding costs. The company currently has a bond listing on the London Stock Exchange, and if it goes ahead with an equity listing, it will have to comply with tougher listing rules.
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The US government on Thursday decided to lift the ban on British oil giant BP PLC from federal government contracts, four years after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in April 2010. The decision will enable BP to bid for new contracts that could generate million of dollars of new business for the company. The Environmental Protection Agency said it has executed an agreement with BP that settles all suspension and debarment actions against the company that prevented BP from doing business with the US government following the company's guilty plea in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The administrative agreement will be in place for five years and takes effect immediately.
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British pub chain JD Wetherspoon PLC said sales and profits grew in the first half of its financial year, but it warned of slower like-for-like sales in the second half of the year and said investments, including on higher salaries and training for its staff, weighed on its profit margin. The group reported a 3.2% increase in pretax profit boosted by an increase in sales of its food, beverages, hotel rooms and machine income. The UK-base pub owner and operator said the strong trading momentum has continued, with total sales up 11.6% but the group warned that it expects input costs to continue to rise, and is expecting like-for-like sales growth to slow in the second half of the year.
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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said it has found evidence of misconduct by UBS AG traders in the submission of Hong Kong interbank offered rate rates (HIBOR) but found no evidence of collusion among it and eight other banks. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched its investigation into UBS in December 2012, later adding eight other banks: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Citibank, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC PLC, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Société Générale. It said that it had found evidence of misconduct only at UBS, and none of the others, as well as no evidence of collusion between the banks to rig the HIBOR fixing.
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Moody's Investors Service late Thursday downgraded Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's supported long-term ratings to Baa2 from Baa1, one month after placing the bailed-out bank on review. RBS's "ambitious and comprehensive multi-year restructuring" played its part in the decision, with the ratings agency stating that a standalone credit assessment of Ba1 better reflects the risk the restructuring poses to bondholders.
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MARKETS
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UK indices are lower with the leading indexes down for the sixth consecutive day, due to a lack of top-tier economic data leaving investors focusing on tensions among Russia, Ukraine, and the West.
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 6537.78
FTSE 250: down 0.7% at 16078.89
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.9% at 871.8
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The pound is down against the dollar following the widening of the UK trade deficit
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6612
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3889

GOLD: down at USD1370.00 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD106.97 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The UK visible trade deficit widened more than expected in January due to a fall in exports amid rising imports. The visible trade shortfall increased to GBP 9.8 billion from GBP 7.7 billion in December, the Office for National Statistics showed.
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Eurozone employment increased marginally in the fourth quarter, Eurostat. Employment rose 0.1% sequentially after remaining stable in the previous quarter.
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Germany's harmonized consumer price inflation slowed as initially estimated in February, final data published by Destatis showed. EU harmonized inflation slowed to 1% in February from 1.2% in January. Compared with January, the harmonized index of consumer prices gained 0.5% in February. The statistical office confirmed the preliminary estimate published on February 27.
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Warnings from business leaders and the Bank of England about the uncertainties facing an independent Scotland are not a "myth," British Prime Minister David Cameron was to warn Scots on Friday. The premier is to use a speech at the Scottish Conservatives conference in Edinburgh to attempt to dispel accusations that his government has been trying to frighten Scots into remaining British when they vote in an independence referendum in September. "This referendum is a major life decision - and you don't make one of those without getting all the information you can," he was to say.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry was due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in London, in an 11th hour attempt to stop Crimea's secession from Ukraine. The Moscow-backed authorities in the Black Sea peninsula plan to hold a referendum on "rejoining" Russia on Sunday. The US and the EU have threatened sanctions against Russia if the vote goes ahead. Kerry and Lavrov already met twice in recent days, without result.
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The search for a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet expanded westwards towards the Indian Ocean, amid new information gathered by US investigators that the aircraft may have flown for hours after it dropped off the radar. The Indian government said it has sent three boats and three aircraft to help with the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet in the Andaman Sea, which is part of the Indian Ocean.
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The members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board said that the country's economy is continuing its moderate recovery, and that recovery is expected to continue, minutes from the central bank's February 17-18 meeting revealed."Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately, and a front-loaded increase in demand prior to the consumption tax hike has recently been observed. Overseas economies -- mainly advanced economies -- are starting to recover, although a lackluster performance is still seen in part," the minutes said.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to take the "difficult" decisions needed to reach a framework agreement with Israel by an April 30 deadline. He had made the same plea to Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli lawmakers a day earlier in nearby Jerusalem. But his visit to Israel and the West Bank was overshadowed by the worst flare-up in violence in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip since November 2012, when a fragile Egyptian-mediated truce ended a fierce, eight-day Israeli offensive.
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The Syrian conflict has caused the world's largest refugee crisis as it has forced 40% of the population from their homes, the UN refugee agency said in Geneva. More than 9 million Syrians have been displaced since the conflict started three years ago, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said. More than 6.5 million have sought refuge within Syria, while 2.6 million have fled to countries in the region.
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Tobacco products in the EU will feature bigger and more graphic health warnings in coming years, after the bloc's governments approved new rules to curb smoking. The European Parliament had already endorsed the reforms last month. Officials hope they will help discourage young people from starting to smoke. The new legislation will require tobacco companies to cover 65% of the front and back of their packages with health warnings, including graphic photos, including of diseases caused by smoking.
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