London pre-open: CRH and TSB in focus

The top flight index is being called to start the session higher by between six to seven points on a busy Friday morning in terms of news-flow.

Somewhat unexpectedly, overnight Greece agreed to draw up new reforms to meet the requirements of its lenders.

“The odds of a Greek exit have risen significantly since his election victory although I think the far more likely outcome will be his party failing to stand by its pre-election promises and either conforming to the norm or admitting defeat and calling new elections,” said Oanda Senior market Analyst Craig Erlam.

That comes amid reports that the economic sanctions against Russia have been extended.

On the macroeconomic side of things, the minutes of the Bank of Japan’s last policy meeting provided little new information for investors on the thinking of the central bank, Erlam added.

“Policy makers voting 8-1 in favour of keeping the annual increase in the monetary base at ¥80 trn, despite the minutes showing the Board expects inflation to remain around zero.”

TSB and Lafarge in the news

TSB has agreed to be acquired by Banco Sabadell in a transaction valued at £1.7bn after Lloyds Banking, which owns half of London-based TSB, provided an irrevocable undertaking to sell the remainder of its stake to the Spanish lender. Sabadell will now go cap in hand to its shareholders to raise €1.6bn (£1bn) to help fund the acquisition.

Exploration outfit Tullow Oil has been granted access to increased financing to support its activities on more secure terms from lenders. Lenders’ commitments under its six-monthly Reserve Based Lend (RBL) have been increased by $200m, while lenders have committed an additional $250m under the company’s corporate credit facility, to reach $1bn. The covenants on both sources of financing were amended to address the risk of potential breaches in case of oil price volatility.

Late on Thursday, French cement company Lafarge SA agreed on new terms for its $44bn merger with Swiss competitor Holcim, The Wall Street Journal reported, spelling good news for CRH as it had agreed to buy a handful of assets as part of the deal.

Shell, which last year said it lost nearly $1bn from the rampant oil theft and sabotage in Nigeria, offloaded its 30% interest in an Nigerian oil mining lease and related facilities in the Eastern Niger Delta. Oil mining lease 18 covers an area of 1,035 square kilometres and includes the Alakiri, Cawthorne Channel, Krakama, and Buguma Creek fields and related facilities, which produced on average around 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day during 2014.

Housebuilder Berkeley Group reiterated its earnings guidance for the next three years to 2017 as management demonstrated their confidence in the UK housing market recovery. In a trading update covering the period from 1 November 2014 to 28 February 2015, the group said all sites that have an implementable planning consent are in construction with 64 sites across London and the South of England, employing some 12,000 people on these sites.

Bookmaker Ladbrokes has appointed a new chief executive, promoting the managing director of its digital arm, Jim Mullen. He will take over from Richard Glynn 1 April 2015. Prior to working at Ladbrokes, Mullen was COO of online operations at William Hill.