Ariana Share News (AAU)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Wm Morrison Supermarkets is one of the big fallers on the FTSE 100 Friday after it was hit by investor disquiet over its turnaround plan at its annual general meeting, with significant protest votes against the re-election of Chief Executive Dalton Philips and the company's remuneration policy for management bonuses.

While all the AGM resolutions were passed, more than 15.4% of shareholders voted against re-electing Philips as CEO, Morrisons said, and over 26.5% voted against approving the company's remuneration policy, which details the amounts of and conditions for management bonuses.

Also at the meeting, Chairman Ian Gibson said he will step down from the role at next year's AGM.

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FTSE 100: up 0.4% at 6,837.63
FTSE 250: up 0.9% at 16,141.23
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.6% at 804.61
GBP-USD: flat at 1.6812
EUR-USD: down at 1.3630
GOLD: flat at USD1,252.75 an ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD109.08 a barrel
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Top UK Corporate News
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Songbird Estates said the UK government has approved the plans its Canary Wharf unit has for redeveloping the Shell Centre site on London's south bank, meaning construction is set to start in late summer. The plans for the site had been approved by the local authority and London Mayor Boris Johnson, but the Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, who can have final say on any planning application, called in the proposals last September, describing them as a matter of "substantial controversy". The site is to be redeveloped by Braeburn Estates, a joint venture between Canary Wharf Group and the property arm of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund. Canary Wharf Group is 69.3% owned by Songbird Estates.
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London Pride brewer Fuller, Smith & Turner reported higher profit and revenue for its most recent financial year, on the back of strong growth in food and accommodation sales, as its managed pubs and hotels business continued to drive profits in the business. The independent family brewer continues to pump money into the business, with its managed pubs divisions having been the focus of investment in recent years. Chief Executive Simon Emeny said the company has now laid down its foundations for long-term growth. Fuller's adjusted pretax profit for the year ended March 29 rose 10% to 34.1 million in 2014, which was ahead of the consensus expectation of GBP33.0 million. Like-for-like sales at the group's managed pubs and hotels rose by 8.3%, with food and accommodation sales up 10%, and like-for-like drink sales up 7.5%.
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Video game retailer Game Digital saw its shares drop slightly below its initial public offering price in early conditional dealings, after it listed with an initial market capitalisation of GBP340 million. The company, whose IPO marks a turnaround of a business that collapsed just two years ago, priced its IPO at 200 pence, but was trading at 199.75 pence in early conditional dealings on the London Stock Exchange's main market. The company said it expected to receive gross proceeds of GBP20 million from the IPO, while its selling shareholders will receive GBP101 million. The main seller is US hedge fund Elliott Advisors, which funded the acquisition of the UK and Spanish business out of administration in 2012.
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Associated British Foods is to buy the Dorset Cereals brand from Wellness Foods for an undisclosed price thought to be slightly more than GBP50 million, the Financial Times reported late Thursday without saying where it got it the information. The British food conglomerate, which also owns the Primark clothing retail chain, will keep Dorset Cereal's factory in Poundbury, the report said.
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TSB has said its 8,600 staff will each receive GBP100 of shares and become "partners" when the bank floats on the stock market later this month, the Guardian reports Thursday. According to the newspaper, TSB's new policy will give Chief Executive Paul Pester an annual package worth up to GBP1.68 million. The policy is said to model that of the John Lewis partnership, with the GBP100 share award applying to all staff, including the CEO and Chief Financial Officer Darren Pope. TSB is currently owned by Lloyds Banking Group PLC.
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AIM MOVERS
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Red Rock Resources is trading higher after the company said the value of its investment in steel feed company Jupiter Mines Ltd had risen, and was supporting almost its entire market capitalisation. At the other end of the market, Iafyds has dropped after the firm, formerly known as VPhase, warned that its AIM listing will be lost if it doesn't identify and agree a reverse takeover, at least in principle, by the autumn. Redhall is a big faller after Chief Executive Richard Shuttleworth resigned. The company lowered its expectations for its current financial year for a second time in two months, hit by further delays in the timing of major contracts and as it took a more cautious line on the timing and impact of new business prospects.
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Top Economics And General
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The UK visible trade deficit widened in April reflecting a decline in exports amid rising imports, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The goods trade deficit increased to GBP 9.6 billion from GBP 8.3 billion in March. The deficit was forecast to widen slightly to GBP 8.6 billion. Exports declined 4.4% month-on-month in April to GBP 23.4 billion. Imports of goods, meanwhile, increased by 0.8% to GBP 33 billion. The surplus on trade in services fell to GBP 7.1 billion from GBP 7.2 billion. Consequently, the total trade balance showed a shortfall of GBP 2.5 billion compared with a GBP 1.1 billion deficit posted in March.
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Britain's eurosceptic UK Independence Party made strong gains in a by-election Thursday, jumping from fifth to second place and cutting the lead of the ruling Conservative party by half. Party leader Nigel Farage said the result in the central town of Newark was their "strongest ever by-election performance," Britain's Press Association reported. In the Newark by-election UKIP came 7,403 votes behind the incumbent Conservatives, winning 10,028 votes, up from 1,954 in 2010.
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Germany's industrial production recovered in April after declining in March, Destatis reported. Industrial production grew 0.2% in April from March, when it was down by revised 0.6%. However, the rate was slower than the 0.4% increase forecast by economists. Excluding energy and construction, production in industry edged up 0.1% in April.
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Commemorations began on marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France, even as many of the attending world leaders were engaged in a flurry of activity to defuse the crisis in modern-day Ukraine. The leaders of around 20 countries are due to attend a series of events in Normandy, culminating in a ceremony on Sword Beach in the afternoon evoking the events of June 6, 1944, when 130,000 Allied soldiers disembarked at dawn on Nazi-occupied territory. French President Francois Hollande started the commemorations by inaugurating a memorial to the 20,000 civilians who lost their lives on D-Day and in the weeks of fighting that followed. The D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France helped spur 70 years of democracy in the world, said US President Barack Obama as he paid tribute in Normandy.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for about an hour on the sidelines of World War II commemorations in France, sources in the German delegation say. More details about the talks in Deauville were not immediately available. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders since Russia controversially annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. The leaders sternly shook hands for photographers at the meeting, which was expected to focus on the tensions in Ukraine. Russian sources said that a plan to defuse the crisis would be on the table.
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Ukraine on Friday said it has given up more posts along the border with Russia because of ongoing attacks by separatist militias. Overall, eight border crossings were closed in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the border guard service said, adding that the move aims to reduce security risks to the local population. Border guards have come under heavy attacks from separatists insurgents, who have vowed to kick out all Ukrainian government forces from both regions.
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Bulgaria's ruling Socialist Party has thrown its weight behind early elections amid speculation that a poor result in European Parliament elections could upend the governing coalition. "We will ... begin consultations to organize early parliamentary elections," BSP leader Sergey Stanishev said, failing to determine a date for the vote. "I do not think that elections should be delayed when there is no legitimacy and support for this government", Stanishev said.
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A bomb targeted Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah's convoy as he was going to a campaign rally, police said. Two bombs exploded close to convoy vehicles, said a police official in the area who asked not to be named. He said the incident caused casualties but the number was not clear. "On my way to a rally in Kote Sangi area, a roadside bomb hit our convoy. I am safe and nobody has been hurt," Abdullah said in a televised rally
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times British Summer Time)
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13:30 US Nonfarm Payrolls
13:30 US Unemployment Rate
20:00 US Consumer Credit Change
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Monday's Key UK Corporate Events
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Sanderson Group Half Year Results
Redhall Group Half Year Results
Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust Half Year Results
Latchways Full Year Results
Falkland Island Holdings Full Year Results
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Sunday's Key Economic Events (all times British Summer Time)
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03:00 China Trade Balance
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Monday's Key Economic Events (all times British Summer Time)
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All Day Germany Whit Monday
All Day France Whit Monday
00:50 Japan Bank lending
00:50 Japan Current Account n.s.a.
00:50 Japan Gross Domestic Product
00:50 Japan Money Supply M2+CD
00:50 Japan Tertiary Industry Index
06:00 Japan Consumer Confidence Index
06:00 Japan Eco Watchers Survey
07:00 Japan Machine Tool Orders
09:30 EU Sentix Investor Confidence
16:30 US 3-Month Bill Auction
16:30 US 6-Month Bill Auction

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