(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Accounting software firm Sage Group posted a rise in profits for financial 2020 despite a slight reduction in revenue as it forecast an improvement in its earnings for the year ahead. For its financial year ended September 30, Sage reported pretax profit of GBP310 million, up 17% from GBP266 million. This was despite statutory revenue falling 1.7% year-on-year to GBP1.90 billion from GBP1.94 billion. A final dividend of 11.32p was declared, taking its full year dividend to 17.25p, a 2.0% increase from 16.91p paid the year prior. Looking to the new financial year, Sage said it expects organic recurring revenue growth to be around 3% to 5%.
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Segro said it will begin trading on the Paris stock exchange next week after having a secondary listing approved. The FTSE 100 real estate investment trust expects admission to Euronext Paris take place on or around Tuesday. Segro said the listing is of great importance, particularly due to the looming end of the Brexit transition period at the end of the year. The London-based company noted its base of continental European investor and operations and added that it manages a EUR6.2 billion portfolio in the region.
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Gilead's anti-viral drug remdesivir should not be used to treat Covid-19 patients no matter how severe their illness as it has "no important effect" on survival chances, the World Health Organization said. Scratching one of the few treatments that had shown some initial promise in severe patients, a WHO Guideline Development Group of international experts said there was "no evidence based on currently available data that it does improve patient-important outcomes". The US, the EU and other countries have granted temporary approval for the use of remdesivir after initial research showed it may shorten recovery time in some coronavirus patients.
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AstraZeneca said Imfinzi has been approved in the US for an additional dosing option, a 1,500 milligram fixed dose every four weeks. Imfinzi is used in the approved indications of unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer after chemoradiation therapy and previously treated advanced bladder cancer. The Cambridge, England-headquartered pharmaceutical company said this new option is consistent with the approved Imfinzi dosing in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer and will be available to patients weighing more than 30 kilograms.
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MARKETS
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London stocks were on course for a positive end to the week with markets calm after a recent flurry of vaccine news. The pound strengthened after some better-than-expected retail sales data.
"Tentative European gains this morning appear to maintain the ongoing consolidation phase," said IG's Joshua Mahony.
Wall Street was looking more mixed ahead of the US market open, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both called down 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was poised for a 0.1% rise.
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FTSE 100: up 0.7% at 6,381.12
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 19,584.75
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.5% at 1,024.64
GBP: higher at USD1.3269 (USD1.3225)
EUR: firm at USD1.1856 (USD1.1840)
GOLD: higher at USD1,866.94 per ounce (USD1,861.42)
OIL (Brent): higher at USD44.63 a barrel (USD44.22)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK retail sales growth slowed month-on-month in October, but still managed to beat forecasts as consumers started Christmas shopping early. Retail sales rose 1.2% month-on-month in October, marking the sixth consecutive month of growth in the industry, according to the Office for National Statistics. While this was slower than the 1.4% posted for September, it beat expectations, according to FXStreet, of stagnation in the month. Annually sales growth accelerated to 5.8% from 4.6% in September, again beating forecasts for a slower 4.2% increase. Feedback suggested that consumers had started Christmas shopping earlier this year, the ONS said, further helped by early price discounting by a range of stores.
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The UK's debt-to-gross domestic product ratio has reached 100.8% - levels not seen since the early 1960s, the ONS said in a separate release. Total public sector net debt, excluding public sector banks, rose by GBP276.3 billion in the first seven months of the financial year to reach GBP2.076 trillion at the end of October, or around 100.8% of UK GDP. "Debt to GDP ratios in recent months have reached levels last seen in the early 1960s," the ONS commented.
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UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak is preparing to impose a pay cap on five million public sector workers as he seeks to rebuild the public finances, according to reports. The chancellor will use next week's spending review to limit pay rises in the public sector to at or below inflation, the Daily Mail reported. Only frontline NHS doctors and nurses will be exempt from the cap in recognition of their work during the coronavirus pandemic, the paper said. However teachers, police, members of the armed forces as well as NHS managers will all be affected. The move is likely to be met with fury by public sector unions who say their members bore the brunt of Conservative austerity cuts following the global financial crisis. The chancellor is already under fire over widespread reports he is preparing to set aside the commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas aid as he looks for savings. The treasury would not comment on the reports ahead of the chancellor's statement on Wednesday.
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Americans were on Friday facing a growing raft of coronavirus restrictions, even as pharma giant Pfizer and partner BioNTech prepared to file an emergency request to roll out their vaccine. California announced a night-time curfew and authorities urged people everywhere not to travel for Thanksgiving as the country was hit by a spike of more than 2,200 deaths – the worst daily toll since May. The surge comes as India surpassed nine million infections since the pandemic began, with hospitals in the capital Delhi under immense pressure. The global outbreak shows no sign of abating after killing more than 1.35 million people and infecting 56 million, with many governments pinning their hopes on several promising vaccine candidates to end the misery. An emergency use authorization request for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was expected to be filed with the US Food & Drug Administration on Friday, the government and BioNTech's co-founder said.
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The People's Bank of China left interest rates unchanged again as expected, the central bank said. The Chinese central bank has now kept its benchmark interest rate at the same level for the seventh month in a row. The one-year loan prime rate was held at 3.85%, the last time the rate was changed was back in April. The five-year rate also was unchanged at 4.65%. The loan prime rate is a lending reference rate set monthly by 18 banks. The People's Bank of China revamped the mechanism to price loan prime rate in August 2019, loosely pegging it to the medium-term lending facility.
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The Japanese private sector economy continued to struggle in November, estimates from IHS Markit showed, amid weakening demand conditions. The headline au Jibun Bank Japan manufacturing purchasing managers' index stood at 48.3 in November compared to 48.7 in October, signalling a deterioration in the health of the manufacturing sector for the nineteenth straight month. Production and new orders fell at fastest rates. Employment consequently fell further, albeit marginally. Business expectations about the year-ahead outlook slipped to a three-month low. The au Jibun Bank flash Japan services business activity index was 46.7 in November versus 47.7 in October, indicating a decline in output across the service sector. New business inflows shrank at a market rate, contributing to a faster decline in backlogs of work. Business sentiment remained positive, but the degree of confidence was less upbeat when compared to October, IHS Markit said. The au Jibun Bank flash Japan composite output index was at 47.0 in November after 48.0 recorded in October.
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