Weekly Review

The FTSE 100 closed the week up 31.46 points at 6,946.66.

Equity view

Primark owner and food ingredients group AB Foods reiterated its guidance for a small fall in full-year profits this year, saying that underlying trading in the first half has been in line with expectations.

HSBC reported a 17% drop in pre-tax annual profit to $18.68bn, after the lender was hit by fines for its involvement in the foreign exchange rigging scandal.

Tobacco industry giant British American Tobacco is set to buy out the minority in its Brazilian arm for about $3bn.

BHP Billiton pledged to keep its progressive dividend policy unchanged despite the proposed demerger of its non-core operations, as it beat forecasts with a less-than-expected decline in profits in the first half.

After delivering an outstanding set of results, in line with expectations, housebuilder Persimmon announced it was further accelerating its return of cash to shareholders.

Engineering group GKN forecast "another year of growth" after underlying profits improved in 2014, helped by a strong performance in its Driveline division.

Making the most of the strong housing market, housebuilder Barratt Developments delivered first-half profits up over 70%, well ahead of expectations, as the its disciplined approach to growth paid off in spades.

Wealth management group St James's Place impressed City analysts on Wednesday with a strong set of annual results, as strong cash generation led it to hike its final dividend by 50%.

Supermarket chain Wm Morrison named David Potts, the former head of Tesco’s Asian business, as its new chief executive officer.

Shares in British engineering giant Weir Group plummeted after warning that the sharp decline in the price of oil will have a "significant reduction" in constant currency group revenues this year.

Royal Bank of Scotland more than halved full-year losses to £3.47bn as it continued to slim down its risk profile and confirmed the appointment of Sir Howard Davies as its new chairman in a shake-up of its top ranks.

Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch "professional information company", has announced plans to simplify its corporate structure and rename itself RELX Group as it forecast another year of growth in 2015.

Standard Chartered has appointed former JPMorgan investment banking boss Bill Winters as its new chief executive as it confirmed current boss Peter Sands and four other directors would leave the board.

Diversified mining group Rio Tinto has announced plans to streamline its product groups and corporate functions, dividing up its energy division as it looks to cut costs and simplify its structure.

Full year profits soared at IAG in 2014 as its turnaround looks to be truly taking off, with the Anglo-Spanish carrier steering toward a near-doubling of operating profits this year.

Lloyds resumed the payment of its dividend after six years with a small payment of 0.75p as its balance sheet grew more solid, though full year profits fell short of market forecasts.

Economic news

The Confederation of British Industry's total UK sales index fell sharply, to a reading of +1%, its lowest since November 2013, from +39% in the month before. That was far below expectations for a print of 42%.

England and Wales' electoral registers shrank by 920,000 between March and December 2014, according to the Electoral Commission (EC).

The UK economy grew 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2014, in line with the preliminary reading and economists' expectations.

Mortgage approvals in the UK increased in January beating expectations, the British Banker's Association said on Wednesday. The number of mortgage approvals rose to 36,400 in January against 35,700 the previous month and forecasts of 36,2000. This was the first increase since June last year.

According to a report released on Friday by research firm GfK, low inflation and an increase in wages made Britons more confident about their finances. GfK's consumer confidence index held at +1 in February, matching January's reading that was the highest since last August

International events

Apple is spending €1.7bn to construct its first two data centres in Europe.

The European Union has opened a probe into General Electric's planned acquisition of French group Alstom SA's energy arm.

A list of proposed economic reforms submitted Greece was approved on Tuesday afternoon by the Eurogroup, which paves the way for the county to be given a four-month bailout extension.

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen told the Congress the central bank was making plans to drop the word "patient" from its statement, though she said the Fed would take a cautious approach in the timing of the first rate hike.

Manufacturing activity in China ended a two month reversal by moving back into expansion zone in February, according to a preliminary reading of HSBC's index which tracks the sector.

Russian energy company Gazprom has threatened to stop delivering natural gas to Ukraine in the next two days after incurring in late payments.

Fast food restaurant chain McDonald's has been accused of deliberately avoiding paying €1bn in taxes.

US consumer prices drifted into negative territory in January as energy prices dropped by an out-sized 9.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

US gross domestic product in the fourth quarter fell to 2.2% from a 2.6% in the previous quarter, but above analysts' expectations of a 2.0% reading.