IMJ.L Share News (IMJ)

Footsie staged a small revival over the lunch time session, helped by a recovery by mining stocks, but the majority of FTSE 100 constituents are still in the red with laggards outnumbering leaders by three to one. BP is again among the worst performers as US president Barack Obama said he'd sack the British company's chief executive Tony Hayward in an interview with NBC to be aired tonight, Obama took exception to Hayward's comments that he wanted his "life back" and that the Gulf of Mexico was "a big ocean". BP suffered another blow when Russia's state-run gas giant Gazprom said it had no need for the British oil company's massive Kovykta gas field in Siberia. The Russian export monopoly had planned to buy the field from BP's 50:50 joint venture TNK-BP in 2007 for as much as $900m, but the deal eventually fell apart. It had been hoped that Gazprom had revived its interest in the gas field, which contains 2trn cubic metres of gas, and would pay up to $1bn for the asset.Tesco is also on the ropes after chief executive Sir Terry Leahy announced he'll retire next March, with Philip Clarke moving up to take his place as CEO at the UK's top supermarket chain. Leahy steps down after 14 years in the top job, a period that has seen Tesco become the dominant force in UK grocery retailing and start to make significant inroads into overseas markets in Asia and more recently the US. Clarke is a lifelong Tesco man.Demand at the World Cup and a pick-up in business elsewhere means temporary power and temperature control services firm Aggreko expects performance this year will be significantly better than previously anticipated. At the interim stage group revenue in constant currency and excluding pass-through fuel will grow by around 10%, and trading profit by about 20%, the company said.Catering firm Compass Group has snapped up a North American provider of soft support services operating in the education and business and industry sectors. The company is paying $65m (£45m) in cash for Southeast Service Corporation (SSC), a company which last year had revenue of $153m (£106m).Chloride leads the second line after agreeing an £860m, 325p per share takeover bid from ABB. Emerson Electric is the other suitor interested in the power supplies group.Newsagent chain WH Smith announced the retirement of chairman Robert Walker as it revealed a 4% fall in like-for-like sales in the 14 weeks to June 5. Like-for-like sales were down by 4% in both the High Street and Travel divisions, with like-for-like sales at travel outlets down by 2% excluding the impact of the volcanic ash cloud that grounded flights across Britain.Falkland Basin oil explorer Rockhopper has wasted little time in tapping shareholders after its recent discoveries in the South Atlantic. The firm is to raise £48.5m through a placing of 17.3m new shares at 280p apiece, a small discount to last night's close of 290p.Revenues edged up at mobile phone messaging group Synchronica in the year to December 31, but converting its sales pipeline into revenues will need to speed up if the company is to meet expectations for the year.Optical components and systems maker Gooch & Housego said first half profit soared after it saw a recovery across most product and market sectors.Shopfitter and point of sale printing group Havelock Europa plunged after it announced its intention to give up its full stock market listing and move to AIM.imJack, a social networking business for the education sector, has returned from five months suspension at almost half the price after promising to publish results for the year ended 30 September 2009 tomorrow. Oxus Gold thinks a deal done with the Chinese in January means the Asia-focused miner will "be able substantially to increase the value of the group for the benefit of shareholders, employees and the economy of Uzbekistan." Shopping trolley maker Supercart has come back down to earth following Monday's rally after full-year profit almost doubled to £2.17m as administrative expenses soared by over £700,000. Exchange rate moves were behind an increase in full-year losses at instant messaging solutions group Mobile Tornado, although the sale of 10,000 BB3G phones to InTechnology boosted revenue by £1.9m.