Lonrho Share News (LONR)

Footsie moved sideways over the lunch time session, as investors digested a busy morning of big company announcements.Beleaguered oil giant BP comfortably beat third quarter profit forecasts though it has had to take an additional $7.7bn charge in respect of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The market had been expecting underlying net income on a replacement cost basis to be around $4.5-$4.6bn, but after what it termed a "strong operating performance" BP boosted profits by 18% from a year earlier to $5.5bn.Elsewhere in oil, BG Group grew third quarter earnings by 27% and now thinks there's an extra 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) at its oilfields in the Santo Basin offshore Brazil, 34% more than previous estimates. Best estimates of gross resources in the Tupi, Iracema, and Guará fields increase to 10.8bn boe from 8.1bn boe before.Both BP and BG are firmer but both trail in the wake of sector peers Tullow Oil and Royal Dutch Shell as the oil price adds to yesterday's gains. Meanwhile, miners are strong in line with firmer metals prices. Kazakhmys and Antofagasta are two of the best performers. Cigarettes maker Imperial Tobacco is another in demand after it topped market forecasts with its full year profits, and took a big bite out of its debt mountain. Adjusted profit before tax in the year to 30 September rose 10% to £2,467m from £2,233m the year before. The market had pencilled in a figure of £2.320m. Net debt was reduced over the period by £1.5bn to £9.3bn. Sector peer BATs rises in sympathy.Better margins at its core banking business and bad debts under control kept state-controlled bank Lloyds, down 3%, on track over the past three months, despite 'subdued' loan demand. Impairments, or bad debts, have continued to decline and for the full year the level is expected to be in line with Lloyds' recent indications. Wholesale impairments will be lower than expected offset by higher Wealth and International charges, originating in Ireland and Australia primarily.Serco is suffering more losses today after the outsourcing group yesterday had to make a grovelling apology for demanding a rebate from suppliers to cope with government cost-cutting.Insurer Aviva is on track to deliver strong profitable growth for 2010 after a decent third quarter following "good sales growth" from both life and general insurance businesses. Worldwide total sales were up 5% during the first nine months of 2010 at £35.9bn, long-term savings sales rose 6% to £28.6bn, and total life and pension sales also grew by 6% to £25.6bn. Dettol and Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser lifted third quarter profits by a fifth and has raised it full year targets thanks to strong sales growth in developing markets and a full contribution from its prescription pharmaceuticals businesses. Among FTSE 250 stocks environmental consultant RPS Group comes up smelling of roses after RBS upgraded the stock from "hold" to "buy". Panmure Gordon already has a "buy" recommendation on the stock but has now upped its price target to 251p from 221p. "At this juncture we believe the worst effects of the recession are now over for RPS, although areas such as Ireland remain tough, with ongoing evidence of pricing pressure, albeit this has stabilised along the bottom," the broker said. Bus and train group Stagecoach reported an increase in ticket sales at its train and bus operations in the first half and remains on track to meet profit expectations for the year. Like for like revenue at its UK rail business increased 6.5% in the 24 weeks to 17 October. Usage of Rightmove's property web site has been at or close to record levels in the period since the beginning of July, with August proving to be the site's second busiest month ever. The number of advertisers on the Rightmove website at the end of September stood at 18,100, up 2.5% since the start of the year. Changes to pricing are progressing according to plan, the company said.Laundry and workwear firm Davis Service reported a modest improvement in interim earnings and is confident of posting full year results in line with expectations. Revenue in the three months from 30 June 2010 to 30 September 2010 rose 1% on the same period last year. Operating margins improved from the first half.Wealth management group St James's Place is having a "very successful year", growing total new investments by 32% during the third quarter. Total single investments hit £1.1bn in the three months ended 30 September, up from £0.8bn in 2009, and total new business on an annual premium equivalent (APE) basis jumped 30% to £136.5m.North Falkland explorer Desire Petroleum has been unable to glean any extra information from the 14/15-1Z sidetrack well on the Rachel prospect after failing to fix a broken wellbore, but that has not stopped the share price from rising back above 100p.Public sector services provider Tribal Group saw one third of its value sliced by a third after it said it has ended talks with a potential bidder. A strong fourth quarter helped Africa-focused agribusiness and leisure group Lonrho turn a profit last year.AIM-quoted Hydro International has a won a £15.6m order for its Zickert Sludge Scraper technology and this has sparked a jump in the share price of more than 10%