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London midday: Footsie still flat

Wed, 08th Jul 2009 12:02

On another directionless day with little in the way of company news to guide sentiment, Footsie sits just in the blue.Heavily weighted miners are limiting the extent of the fall on Footsie after positive broker comment this morning. Investec has upgraded Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, advising its clients to take advantage of recent share price weakness to buy the stocks. US bank Citigroup sings a similar tune and now rates BHP Billiton a "buy".Outside of miners, defensive stocks are about the only other stocks in favour with utilities such as Scottish & Southern Energy, Severn Trent and Pennon, tobacco stocks IMPs and BATs plus pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline defying the weaker trend.In contrast, the retreat by global stock markets is hurting the big life assurance stocks such as Aviva and Legal & General.Shareholders at Marks & Spencer are expected to vent their frustration at executive pay and Sir Stuart Rose's dual role as chairman and chief executive at the food and clothes retailer's annual meeting this afternoon.Oil stocks are weak as the price of crude retreats on fears the US economy may be turning down again. Tullow Oil is a prominent faller. An update today stated that it expects annual production to average 58,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) following a 16% drop in output during the first half. Struggling private equity group 3i halved its debt in the three months to June, largely due to its £732m rights issue. Realisation proceeds outweighed new investment as it stopped putting money into its portfolio companies. Net debt at end June was £961m, compared with £1.91bn at March 2009.Support services group Carillion remains on track to deliver 'materially enhanced' earnings for the full year after good performances across its divisions.The support services division continues to make the largest contribution to operating profit, the firm said.Oil and gas firm Melrose Resources is proceeding as expected at its oil and gas fields in Egypt, although recent government elections have held things up in Bulgaria. Production averaged approximately 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) on a net entitlement basis versus current guidance of 15,700 boepd.Facilities and energy management solutions provider GSH Group warns that larger than expected non-recurring costs will leave full-year profit even further below forecasts. The company, which also confirmed it will de-list its shares on 10 August, said closure costs linked to a restructuring would likely double to £3m.Pure Circle, the maker of high intensity sweeteners used in a range of well known soft drinks, expects to report an 85% jump in sales in 2009 after gaining several high profile customers.Cash and carry group Booker said profits and net debt remain in line with expectations after seeing total sales rise by 7.8% in the 12 weeks to 19 June.FTSE 100 - RisersNext (NXT) 1,544.00p +1.71%Randgold Resources (RRS) 3,802.00p +1.63%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 301.00p +1.60%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,086.50p +1.59%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 117.30p +1.38%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,315.50p +1.19%Inmarsat (ISAT) 544.00p +1.02%Cobham (COB) 178.70p +0.96%Serco Group (SRP) 420.75p +0.96%BP (BP.) 472.00p +0.90%FTSE 100 - FallersLegal & General Group (LGEN) 51.96p -4.66%Aviva (AV.) 316.25p -4.46%Land Securities Group (LAND) 424.00p -3.36%Fresnillo (FRES) 449.50p -2.97%British Land Co (BLND) 367.00p -2.91%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,286.00p -2.72%Prudential (PRU) 384.50p -2.66%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,396.00p -2.65%Barclays (BARC) 288.75p -2.45%Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 645.00p -2.27%FTSE 250 - RisersBrown (N.) Group (BWNG) 221.75p +4.85%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 175.75p +3.38%Carillion (CLLN) 255.75p +2.71%Fidessa (FDSA) 1,177.00p +2.35%Premier Foods (PFD) 36.50p +2.10%Restaurant Group (RTN) 146.50p +2.09%Croda International (CRDA) 551.50p +2.04%Michael Page International (MPI) 239.50p +2.02%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 208.00p +1.96%SDL International (SDL) 307.75p +1.90%FTSE 250 - FallersPV Crystalox Solar (PVCS) 73.75p -6.94%Tomkins (TOMK) 146.50p -6.39%Novae Group (NVA) 301.75p -4.66%Debenhams (DEB) 79.50p -4.22%Helical Bar (HLCL) 300.00p -4.00%DS Smith (SMDS) 62.25p -3.86%GKN (GKN) 77.75p -3.72%Dana Petroleum (DNX) 1,274.00p -3.63%SIG (SHI) 87.75p -3.57%Cookson Group (CKSN) 231.50p -3.54%
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28 Aug 2009 09:45

Midcap round-up: JKX Oil, Melrose, SVG Capital, ...

Oil explorer JKX Oil saw the lower oil prices crimp profits for the half-year but said its second half performance is expected to be in line with expectations. Pre-tax profit slumped to £44.6m from £83.5m before revenues fell to $78.5m versus $116.8m in the same period last year. Revenues were wei

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26 Aug 2009 16:27

London close: Footsie runs out of steam

Wall Street's inability to hold onto new home sale-inspired gains was the final nail in the coffin for London, bringing to an end a six-day winning streak. Much of the blame lay with the UK-listed miners who hogged the list of largest losers on weaker metal prices. Antofagasta was among the worst

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26 Aug 2009 14:32

London afternoon: RBS buoyed by pension moves

Equity prices are mixed with a lower bias. The Footsie continues to drift lower, weighed down by underperforming resource stocks. Pre-tax profits plunged at Tullow in the first half of the year as the firm felt the pinch of the slide in oil prices. The oil company posted a pre-tax profit of £34.

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26 Aug 2009 12:09

London midday: Resource stocks a drag

Given that resource stocks are in the dog-house the Footsie is doing well to be only moderately in the red on a day of mixed results for blue chips. Pre-tax profits plunged at Tullow in the first half of the year as the firm felt the pinch of the slide in oil prices. The oil company posted a pre-t

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26 Aug 2009 08:12

Melrose ups production guidance

Oil and gas firm Melrose Resources saw first half revenue and profit tumble as a result of lower oil prices and the planned cessation of production from its Galata field. Revenue in the six months to 30 June 2009 fell to $97.6m from $234m the year before. The company achieved an average price per

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11 Aug 2009 07:35

London pre-open: Small gains ahead

London's top stocks look set to open marginally higher with traders expecting Footsie to add 5 points in early trading. Clive Cowdery's insurance investment vehicle Resolution will be catapulted into the FTSE 100 index after life insurer Friends Provident accepted a new £1.86bn bid on Tuesday. Fr

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11 Aug 2009 07:23

Melrose cheers successful Kaliakra well

Melrose Resources said gas samples obtained from its Kaliakra No.2 well in Bulgaria confirmed that the reservoir has very good properties, with an average porosity in excess of 30% high gas productivity. Given the quality of the reservoir, it was not necessary to run flow tests in the well and it h

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15 Jul 2009 06:37

Wednesday tips round-up: Britvic, Mothercare, BG

The sun shines, ergo, the drinks companies do rather nicely. When the group in question, Britvic, owns the Robinson squash brand and Wimbledon turns out to be more entertaining than usual, you would expect it to release good news to the market. Britvic is likely to have a good time of it over the

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14 Jul 2009 12:59

Small caps round-up: NetDimensions, Ocean Power, Qonnectis...

Training software provider NetDimensions traded in lien with expectations in the first half of 2009. Cash balances at the end of June stood at $6.8m, up from $5.3m at the end of 2008. The company said its cash balance is equivalent to 16.5p in cash per share, a few pence above the current share pric

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8 Jul 2009 17:04

London close: Footsie dives as miners reverse course

The decline of the Footsie gathered pace in the final hour as miners, which had provided some measure of support for the blue-chip index for most of the day, turned lower. As global equity markets continue to retreat life assurance stocks were the main losers. Aviva, Legal & General and Prudential

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8 Jul 2009 15:36

London afternoon: Downward drift continues

The majority of blue-chip stocks remain lower on the day, though heavily weighted miners are limiting the extent of the fall on Footsie after positive broker comment this morning. Investec has upgraded Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, advising its clients to take advantage of recent share price weakne

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8 Jul 2009 09:00

London open: Down as banks await fate

Footsie has slipped in early dealings after a three-digit fall on Wall Street last night. Miners are going well despite the fall on Wall St overnight led by Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Antofagasta. Banks will be in focus later on when Chancellor Alistair Darling unveils the government's White Pape

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8 Jul 2009 07:19

Melrose on target at half-way point

Oil and gas firm Melrose Resources is proceeding as expected at its oil and gas fields in Egypt, although recent government elections have held things up in Bulgaria. Production averaged approximately 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) on a net entitlement basis versus current full ye

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19 May 2009 08:15

Melrose Resources ramping up production

Oil and gas firm Melrose Resources has raised its production forecast for 2009 by around 5%, reflecting continued strong performance of its Egyptian assets and the earlier than expected start of production at its South Zarqa and North East Abu Zahra projects. The net entitlement production forecast

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