Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

London's top stocks rallied near the close to finish well up on the day as traders speculated on possible measures to cut the UK's debt burden.A VAT rise to 20% is a likely measure according to a group of economists questioned by the BBC. Justin King, chief executive of supermarket Sainsbury's, warned the new government that if it is planning such a move it should give the retail industry plenty of notice. The supermarket giant was one of the day's better performers as it posted a rise in sales and profits in the year to March 20 and said it was confident of further progress. Underlying pre-tax profit of £610m was slightly ahead of expectations and up from £519m a year ago. Sales rose to £21.4bn from £20.4bn and grew 4.3% on a like-for-like basis excluding fuel.BT was the strongest riser on news that telecoms giant returned to the black in the last quarter and the full year and reported a 6% rise in the dividend. Pre-tax profit hit £1.01bn in the year to 31 March versus a loss of £244m before.Private equity group 3i also did well after the group saw a 15% return on its portfolio in the year to March 31 as its portfolio recovered strongly.Chiefs at ENRC are pleased with the Kazak miner's progress during the first quarter and say the recovery in demand, especially in China, continue to give it confidence for 2010. Rio Tinto and Kazakhmys also picked up.Financials were less assured on concerns over the new government's plans for breaking up the banks. Banks Lloyds Banking, Barclays, HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered fell.Prudential was among the top ten fallers on reports it had agreed terms for its rights issue, which is now likely to be launched early next week.South African insurer Old Mutual continued its momentum from the fourth quarter of 2009 into the current financial year, boosting Long-Term Savings (LTS) by 21% at the start of 2010. Total life assurance sales on an Annual Premium Equivalent (APE) basis for the Long-Term Savings division rose to £397m in the three months ended 31 March, up from £327m a year ago.Travel group Thomas Cook posted narrower losses in the six months to the end of March after continuing to cut capacity to cope with tough economic conditions and said that the impact of the volcano cloud disruption in April would be about £70m. Pre-tax losses totalled £252.2m, less than the £309m shortfall seen in the same period the previous year.The oil spilling out of the damaged rig in the Gulf of Mexico has cost BP $450m so far, the oil giant said on Thursday. The figure includes the cost of spill response, containment, relief well drilling, commitments to the Gulf Coast States, settlements and federal costs.Engineering and project management company AMEC performed in line with expectations in the first four months of the year and said it is seeing some improvement in customer spending. The group said it remains on track to deliver its 8.5 per cent EBITA margin target in 2010. Camping and short break specialist Holidaybreak's half year losses narrowed and it expects full year results to be in line with company forecasts. Headline loss before tax narrowed to £17.7m for the six months ended 31 March from £18.1m the same time a year before. Revenue fell to £150.2m from £153.2m.Oilfield support services group Petrofac has made a good start to 2010 and said it is confident that it will be another year of strong growth.Shares in inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon declined after it said revenue fell 12% and as it confirmed talks with a potential bidder have ended. Revenue in the first four months of 2010 was £312m, down 12% from the same time last year, after unfavourable currency movements. In a separate statement Tullett Prebon said discussions with a potential bidder, who was not identified, have now terminated.Shares in ground preparation specialist Keller slumped by a fifth as it warned problems in the US would hit its results overall this year.Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror said trading remained volatile in the period up to May 2, a factor that was exacerbated in the run up to the General Election. The warning about the impact of the election comes the day after peer Johnston Press said that companies had been reluctant to splash out on advertising ahead of the general election.FTSE 100 - RisersBT Group (BT.A) 133.60p +10.87%3i Group (III) 288.70p +7.64%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,137.00p +3.84%Fresnillo (FRES) 894.00p +3.71%Xstrata (XTA) 1,096.50p +3.69%FTSE 100 - FallersCobham (COB) 247.30p -1.98%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,464.00p -1.28%BAE Systems (BA.) 343.10p -1.15%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,691.50p -0.68%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 597.00p -0.67%FTSE 250 - RisersEuromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 568.00p +6.97%DSG International (DSGI) 29.99p +5.97%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 695.00p +5.22%SVG Capital (SVI) 163.20p +4.95%Premier Oil (PMO) 1,236.00p +4.83%FTSE 250 - FallersKeller Group (KLR) 632.00p -19.23%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 314.00p -13.26%Trinity Mirror (TNI) 121.50p -12.46%Rank Group (RNK) 118.40p -2.79%Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities (ECWO) 140.00p -2.78%