Synthomer Share News (SYNT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares prices in London opened slightly higher Wednesday, the last day of political campaigning before Thursday's crucial referendum on the UK's membership in the European Union.

Most of the early stock-market action was among mid-caps. Shares in Elementis were down 13% after the specialty chemicals company reported difficult market conditions for its chromium division, particularly outside North America. Those of fellow chemical firm Synthomer were down 3.0% after UBS cut its recommendation to Sell from Neutral.

Department store Debenhams warned that the retail trading environment in the UK has weakened since the turn of the year, particularly for clothing, while also trimming its guidance for its own trading margins. The stock was down 4.7%.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.4% at 6,252.25
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 17,010.98
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 721.30
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Hang Seng: up 0.8% at 20,821.02
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.6% at 16,065.72
DJIA: closed up 0.1% at 17,829.73
S&P 500: closed up 0.3% at 2,088.90
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GBP: firm at USD1.4687 (USD1.4661)
EUR: firm at USD1.1271 (USD1.1262)

GOLD: down at USD1,264.64 per ounce (USD1,270.61)
OIL (Brent): up at USD51.00 a barrel (USD49.87)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)

1000 Switzerland ZEW survey
1200 US MBA mortgage applications
1330 Canada retail sales
1400 US housing price index
1400 Switzerland SNB Quarterly Bulletin
1500 China Conference Board leading economic index
1500 US existing home sales
1500 US Fed Chair Yellen testifies
1500 EU consumer confidence preliminary
1530 US EIA crude oil stocks
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Britain will be a more "insular and inward-looking country" if it votes to leave the European Union, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said as the marathon referendum campaign entered its final 24 hours. Cameron hit out at the Leave campaign's "narrow" focus on immigration and heavily criticised UKIP leader Nigel Farage's "breaking point" poster depicting non-white migrants in mainland Europe as an attempt to breed intolerance. In an apparently co-ordinated response from the Remain camp to Leave's perceived advantage on the issue of immigration, London Mayor Sadiq Khan used a showpiece BBC TV debate to accuse Boris Johnson of peddling "project hate" against migrants.
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The head of the US central bank warned Tuesday that "considerable uncertainty" remains in the economic outlook and said the Federal Reserve will proceed cautiously with plans to raise interest rates. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen pointed to risks posed by the global economy, including slower growth in China and the potential of a UK exit from the EU. In the US economy, she noted inflation remaining below the Fed's target and an improving but slowing job market "suggesting that our cautious approach to adjusting monetary policy remains appropriate."
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump trails far behind Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in fundraising for their campaigns, according to financial statements for May. Trump had just USD1.3 million in cash in his campaign coffers at the end of the month compared to USD42.5 million for Clinton as the campaigns reached the end of the primary season and begin efforts geared toward their November election battle. The figures put Trump at a serious disadvantage against the Clinton fundraising juggernaut in the ability to stage a national campaign as several major Republican donors continue to express reservations about the party's unconventional presumptive nominee.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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UBS CUTS SYNTHOMER TO 'SELL' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 300 (310) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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UK energy regulator Ofgem said it is consulting on legally-binding commitments from major utility firm SSE in regards to its investigation about whether the company's behaviour impeded competition in the electricity distribution network. Ofgem has been investigating SSE after identifying competition concerns relating to SSE's behaviour in providing services needed to enable it and its competitors' to connect up new development sites within the distribution network. Ofgem said the "behaviour in question" includes inconsistencies in SSE providing "essential information" to competitors when competing to provide connections.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Department store retailer Debenhams said its annual pretax profit is set to meet its guidance, though it slightly pulled back its margin forecasts as like-for-like sales declined in the 15 weeks to June 11. Debenhams said gross transaction values in the 15 weeks to June 11 grew 0.5% year-on-year, while like-for-like sales in the period declined 0.2%. Online sales grew 7.0% year-on-year. Group constant currency like-for-like sales were down 1.6%. Debenhams said the trading environment in the UK has been weaker since the turn of the year, particularly for clothing.
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Specialty chemicals company Elementis said its earnings for 2016 are set to meet market expectations amid difficult conditions for its chromium division. The company, which manufactures additives used in industrial, personal care and oilfield drilling markets, said that while sales and margins in its North American chromium business are set to be broadly in line year-on-year, market conditions outside the North American market are proving challenging.
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Interdealer brokers ICAP and Tullett Prebon have agreed that ICAP will no longer hold a 19.9% interest in TP ICAP PLC as previously announced, Tullett said on Tuesday, as the pair offered to sell ICAP's London-based oil desks, in a bid to address the UK Competition & Markets Authority's competition concerns. Tullett said ICAP no longer will hold a 19.9% interest in the business and the shares will be issued directly to ICAP shareholders, meaning shareholders will hold the entire 56% stake. This came after a statement from the CMA in which it said it was considering the offer for the pair to sell the London oil desks, instead of launching an in-depth investigation into the deal.
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Self-storage provider Safestore Holdings said it expects to complete the GBP44.4 million acquisition of Space Maker Ltd on July 29. Safestore announced the deal in March and said the acquisition is set to be immediately earnings accretive. It added the purchase will support its future dividend-paying capacity. Like Safestore, Space Maker also provides self-storage facilities.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Models and collectibles retailer Hornby tabled a turnaround plan and a share placing to refinance the business, as it reported a significantly wider annual loss. Hornby said its turnaround plan will reduce the scale of the business and its cost base whilst maintaining its key brands and more keenly focusing its product range. The turnaround plans were accompanied by an GBP8.0 million equity financing plan. The company will issue 29.6 million shares at 27.00 pence per share, a discount to its 32.00p closing price on Tuesday. In addition to the placing, the refinancing includes an amended revolving credit facility of GBP10.0 million with lender Barclays. Hornby reported a pretax loss of GBP13.5 million in the financial year to the end of March, much wider than the GBP200,000 loss made a year earlier. It booked GBP7.9 million in exceptional items over the course of the year as it restructured its operations to cope in a tough environment. Revenue was lower, down 4.0% year-on-year to GBP55.8 million from GBP58.1 million.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Spain's Telefonica is understood to have drawn up plans to float its O2 mobile business in the UK as it looks to raise funds from the business, the Financial Times reported Tuesday. Telefonica has started talks with banks on advising on the float process for O2, according to two people briefed on the situation cited by the newspaper, with the thinking said to be leaning towards a London listing. One of the FT sources cautioned no decision has yet been made on the future of O2 and Telefonica will continue to study all options for the business, including a sale to private equity buyers. Telefonica has been considering options for O2 UK since a sale of the business to Hong Kong's CK Hutchison was blocked by European competition regulators in May.
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Facebook's photo platform Instagram announced it has reached the half-billion user mark. More than 300 million of those users interact with the service on a daily basis, the San Francisco-based company said in blog post. More than half the users live outside of the US. Facebook paid USD1 billion for Instagram about four years ago, when the company had approximately 30 million users. Since then, Facebook began placing advertising between Instagram photos.
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Boeing has signed a deal to sell commercial passenger airplanes to Iran, Boeing confirmed Tuesday, marking the first time the US airplane manufacturer has done business with the country in nearly 37 years. The deal was negotiated "under authorizations from the US government following a determination that Iran had met its obligations under the nuclear accord reached last summer," Boeing spokesperson Paul Bergman said in an email. In an interview published Sunday, Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, said Iran Air intended to buy 100 aircraft from the US aviation giant, but was waiting for the US to approve the deal.
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Elon Musk's Tesla Motors made an offer to buy his SolarCity Corp for as much as USD2.8 billion.
Tesla's all-share proposal represents a premium of approximately 21% to 30% over the closing price of SolarCity's shares. Tesla said the combination of the companies is subject to the approval of a majority of disinterested stockholders of both SolarCity and Tesla voting on the transaction. In addition, as a result of their overlapping directorships, Elon Musk and Antonio Gracias have recused themselves from voting on the proposal.
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The US Securities & Exchange Commission is preparing a civil enforcement case against Merrill Lynch over an investment that fell as much as 95% in value and was marketed in a way that one of the firm's financial advisers called "borderline crooked", the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. The expected case against the brokerage arm of Bank of America underscores some of the risks of so-called structured notes, securities custom-built by banks out of options and other derivatives and often sold to retail investors.
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Air France-KLM Group pilots cancelled a strike scheduled for Friday after chief executive officer-designate, Jean-Marc Janaillac, offered them a deal. The agreement will keep pilots on the job while suspending implementation of compensation changes. Pilots oppose productivity measures requiring them to work longer hours for the same pay.
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Wednesday's Shareholder Meetings

Oxford Pharmascience Group
Richoux Group
CDialogues
TLA Worldwide
Defenx
Venture Life Group
Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings
Sovereign Mines of Africa
Ubisense Group
DW Catalyst Fund
Ithaca Energy
Rexam
Wentworth Resources
Taliesin Property Fund
Condor Gold
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite

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