UK MIDDAY BRIEFING: Lloyds Appoints TSB Chairman Ahead Of London Listing

LONDON (Alliance News) - Lloyds Banking Group has appointed Will Samuel, a former Citi investment banker and adviser to one of the UK financial services regulators, as Chairman of TSB Bank, the bank it split out as a separate entity last year and is expected to list this year.

LLoyds created TSB last year after it was forced by the European Commission to divest more than 600 branches as a condition of receiving a bailout from the UK government during the financial crisis. TSB is expected to be listed in London in the middle of this year.

Smith currently serves as Chairman at the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group as well as of Howden Joinery Group. Previously, he was a director of Schroders PLC, a vice chairman of investment banking at Citigroup Europe, a senior adviser at Lazard & Co Ltd and a senior adviser the Prudential Regulatory Authority, one of the UK's financial services regulators.

"Will brings a wealth of experience to the role and is well-regarded by the market and across the financial services industry. He is a key hire and will be instrumental in building TSB's independent future as a challenger to the other high street banks," Lloyds Banking Group, Chairman Winfried Bischoff said in a statement.

Vodafone Group has spent some of the money it got from its Verizon Wireless deal in India, buying up mobile spectrum licenses for GBP1.9 billion. The new spectrum will enable it to roll out 4G services and bolster its 3G services in key cities like Mumbai and Delhi.

A US appeals court has allowed certain shareholders to proceed with some securities claims against BP, after deciding that the oil major may have had made misleading statements during a 2006 oil spill in Alaska, according to a report from Reuters.

The ruling from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco comes after a shareholders class action against BP in 2008 was dismissed by a lower court judge in Seattle.

Tesco is "urgently investigating" after a list of more than 2,000 Tesco.com accounts was posted to a popular text-sharing site. In a blow to the supermarket giant, the BBC reported that Tesco has deactivated some customers' net accounts after their login names and passwords were shared online.

In economic news, Eurostat estimates show that economic growth in the euro area accelerated more than expected in the fourth quarter, with fourth-quarter gross domestic product up 0.3% sequentially, faster than the 0.1% rise posted in the third quarter and above the 0.2% forecast by economists.

On a yearly comparison, the economy rose 0.5%, reversing the 0.3% decline in the third quarter. It was forecast to grow by 0.4%.

According to Germany and France's national statistics agencies, the two biggest economies in the Eurozone accelerated more than forecast at the end of last year. The French economy grew 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of 2013 while Germany's expanded by 0.4%.

Germany remains the economic stronghold of the eurozone," ING Bank economist Carsten Brzeski said. "Looking ahead, the German economy should gain further momentum."

Italy saw its first expansion in 10 quarters, growing 0.1%, lifting hopes for future growth in the struggling currency bloc.

However Italian premier, Enrico Letta has tweeted his official resignation. He told his followers that he is at the Quirinal Palace - the official residence of the Italian President - to tender his resignation.

Letta, who took office in April last year, was due to chair his final cabinet meeting today before handing in his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano. He is expected to step down to make way for the leader of his centre-left Democratic Party, Matteo Renzi, who on Thursday won backing from party colleagues to pull the plug on the government.

Expectations are that Renzi could get the job at the weekend and form a government early next week. He would than have to win a vote of confidence in both houses of parliament but is likely to be backed by the same coalition that supported Letta.

Fresh storms are set to batter flood-weary Britain over the weekend as the country continues to face its wettest winter in years, with the most rainfall in January since 1776 according to the Met Office. Thousands of homes in southern England have been flooded, with parts of Somerset under water for more than a month.

The Met Office warned that the weather was preparing a fresh "multi-pronged attack," with gusts of wind of up to 130 kilometres per hour in south-west England and up to 40 millimetres of rainfall in just six hours.

Prime Minister David Cameron promised to do, "whatever it takes" to help communities affected by the extreme weather and repeated his promised that "money is no object" in the relief effort.

"Obviously, we are facing a very difficult time because we have got the wettest start to the year for 250 years and these are extraordinary weather events, but we are fighting on every front to help people," he told ITV television.

Princes William and Harry joined their army colleagues in building flood defences, as the country braces for fresh storms. The brothers were spotted helping residents of the badly affected town of Datchet, near London, protect their properties with sandbags.

Elsewhere, Syrian regime helicopters pounded rebel-held areas of Aleppo with barrel bombs, killing at least 51 people, a pro-opposition watchdog has reported, as state TV said a humanitarian ceasefire in the besieged Old City of Homs has been extended by three days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 38 civilians - including a family of seven - as well as 13 rebel fighters were killed in Wednesday's raids on northern Aleppo. Some 400 people have been killed in Aleppo by the explosives-filled barrels since the first face-to-face talks between the Syrian government and opposition started in Geneva on January 22.

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has dismissed a "coup" attempt by military commander General Khalifa Haftar, who proposed the formation of a presidential committee and the suspension of parliament.

Haftar was a leading figure in the 2011 conflict against long-time dictator Moammer Gaddafi. He outlined his roadmap in a video statement and said his loyalists had taken control of several government facilities.

Zeidan denied Haftar's claims and said he will be referred to trial for his "coup language. Zeidan said no longer holds a position in the military, the Prime Minister said.

Thai police on Friday launched an offensive to reclaim parts of Bangkok occupied by anti-government protesters, but withdrew from key intersections after meeting slight resistance.

Hundreds of riot control police seized control of intersections leading to Government House, the seat of administration, but later abandoned the sites after small explosions, believed to be firecrackers, injured one female protester and a Thai reporter in the vicinity, The Nation reported.

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FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 6,670.43
FTSE 250: up 0.5% at 16,112.48
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 874.11
GBP-USD: 1.6703
EUR-USD: 1.3708
GOLD: USD1,315.98 an ounce
OIL (Brent): USD108.32 a barrel

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KEY UK CORPORATE NEWS:

FTSE 100: GlaxoSmithKline has begun a Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis with Mepolizumab. The condition is a rare disease that causes inflammation in the walls of small blood vessels, and can be life threatening. Anglo American swung to a pretax profit in 2013 as improved production and weakening producer currencies helped company finances. Severn Trent said trading from October 1 2013 to date remains in line with expectations and operating expenditure in line with expectations for the year. The utility firm said operating costs are expected to rise year-on-year due to the impact of inflation and power costs, partially offset by efficiency improvements, adding that the current flooding in the UK is not expected to have a financial impact on the company. Royal Dutch Shell is set to announce the sale of its Anasuria, Nelson and Sean assets in the North Sea as part of its ongoing divestment programme, according to The Daily Telegraph. Coca-Cola HBC, Europe's largest bottler of Coca-Cola products, swung to a net profit in the fourth quarter of 2013 as it boosted margins by cutting costs and as volume growth returned.

FTSE 250: Hikma Pharmaceuticals has raised its revenue growth forecasts for 2013, saying its injectables and generics businesses performed strongly towards the end of the year, although it cautioned that generics revenues will likely be lower in 2014. The company now expects revenue growth of 23% for 2013, up from its previous forecast for 20% growth. Kenmare Resources has agreed a restructuring of the project financing for its Moma Mine in Mozambique. The deal with its lenders has been designed in a way that will allow Kenmare's project subsidiaries to service the debt in a sustainable manner, and, in due course, accelerate pay down of the debt from available cash while also making distributions to the parent company. Intermediate Capital Group said its investment in gaming arcade operator Loewen Play has been realised at some EUR12.8 million above what was paid in 2008. Pennon Group said its struggling waste business Viridor has made "excellent" progress establishing its energy-from-waste business, which it hopes will transform it into a leading player in the UK renewable energy sector. The company said Viridor's operational performance since September 30 last year was broadly in line with expectations and expects pretax profit for the business to be similar to last year. PZ Cussons has completed the sale of its home care brands in Poland to Germany's Henkel for GBP46.6 million in cash. Riverstone Energy said it made a net profit in its first financial results since joining the index. Petra Diamonds has sold the 29.62 carat blue diamond it discovered at its Cullinan mine on January 21 for USD25.6 million.

AIM: Shares in Mariana Resources have dropped after the exploration and development company said one of its field technicians is believed to have been abducted from near the Condor de Oro project in Peru. The technician was supervising a project to introduce coffee plants to the Los Naranjos community on its site, and is believed to have been abducted by members from the neighbouring community of Supayacu. Mariana, along with its partner Exploraciones Aguila Dorada SAC, provide social programmes to the community in order to maintain good relations as it develops the proposed gold-copper site. Mariana said the incident was immediately reported by EAD to local authorities.

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AFTERNOON WATCHLIST: US Import Price Index, US Export Price Index, US Industrial Production, US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Preliminary

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Monday's Key UK Corporate Events

Hammerson Full Year Results
MJ Gleeson Full Year Results
Telecom Plus Interim Management Statement
Torotrak Interim Management Statement
Fidessa Group Preliminary Results

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Sunday's Key Economic Events

23:50 Japan Gross Domestic Product

Monday's Key Economic Events

All Day EU Eurogroup meeting
All Day US President's Day
00:01 UK Rightmove House Price Index
04:30 Japan Capacity Utilization
04:30 Japan Industrial Production

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By Alice Attwood; aliceattwood@alliancenews.com; @AliceAtAlliance

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