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London afternoon: Footsie cruises towards 6,000

Thu, 03rd Mar 2011 14:13

Footsie has 6,000 within its sights once more as stocks bounce back strongly on hopes that the Libyan situation might be resolved. Reports that the Arab League is considering a proposal to end the fighting in Libya have boosted sentiment, and has sent the price of oil into reverse. Heavy oil users such as airline International Consolidated Airlines and cruise operator Carrnival react positively to the oil price fall.Engineering and project management company Amec is enjoying a spell at the top of the Footsie leaderboard, as it shrugged off any worries of a double-dip recession by saying it expects to grow regardless of the pace of economic recovery. Pre-tax profits in 2010 soared to £258.2m from £203.5m the previous year as revenues grew to £2.95bn from £2.54bn. The company is on the look-out for acquisitions but said it would consider returning cash to shareholders if it could not find anything worth buying.Fellow engineer IMI is also on a lot of investors' shopping lists, after an increase in demand and cost cutting helped the company grow full-year profits by 44% to a new record, though the search for a new chairman goes on. Profit from continuing operations before tax and exceptional items rose to £304.4m from £211.7m in 2009 on revenue up 7% to £1.91bn. Reported profit leapt 64% to £306.1m and organic sales growth was 6%.Insurer Aviva ramped up profits by 35% in 2010, helped by cost cutting, and had a record year in the UK. The firm, which has 19m customers in Britain, posted a profit before tax of £2.44bn, up from £1.81bn in 2009. Operating earnings jumped 26% to £2.55bn. Oil and gas firm Tullow Oil hailed an "exceptional result" on its drilling of the Enyenra-2A appraisal well, in the Deepwater Tano licence offshore Ghana. Drilling successfully encountered oil in excellent quality sandstone reservoirs, with solid evidence of communication with the Owo-1 well, which confirms that the Owo oil discovery, now renamed Enyenra, is a major light oil field. The government has agreed to let Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, the publisher of the Times and Sun, buy satellite broadcaster BSKyB in a deal that will see Sky News placed under independent control."While News Corporation continues to believe that the proposed acquisition of the shares in BSkyB that it does not already own will not result in insufficient plurality for any audience in the UK, it has submitted this comprehensive proposal in order to avoid a lengthy and costly review by the Competition Commission," News Corp said, as it welcomed the announcement.Full year earnings for mining giant Kazakhmys were a little higher than expected as the price of copper raced higher in 2010. Stripping out any contribution from the group's 26% stake in fellow Kazakh resources firm ENRC, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled $1.93bn, up 59.5% from $1.21bn the year before and ahead of market expectations of $1.86bn. Defence firm Cobham's profits in 2010 were hurt by delays in orders in the US and the company sees continuing difficulties this year as the world's only superpower seeks to rein in spending following the financial crisis. Statutory pre-tax profits in the year to 31 December fell to £189m from £245m on revenues that edged up to £1.8bn from £1.75bn. The profits slide did not stop the shares outperforming the rest of the FTSE 250, however.Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey returned to profit in 2010 and has made a positive start to the current year with prices up in some places. The firm made a profit before tax and one-off items of £75.1m compared with a £96.1m loss in 2009 on revenue up a fraction at £2.6bn despite total completions falling from 15,166 to 14,272. Identity theft and credit card insurer CPP celebrated a strong first year as a public company, with profits increasing by a third. Underlying profit before tax in 2010 rose 33% to £46.7m from £35.2m the year before on revenue that rose 12% to £325.8m from £292.1m in 2009. Telecoms testing group Spirent reported a 32% rise in 2010 pre-tax profit, increased its dividend and said it is confident of further growth in 2011. The company, which tests the performance of IT and communications systems, said pre-tax profit for the year rose to $112.2m compare with $84.9m in 2009. Revenue was up 13% at $482.2m. Newspaper group Trinity Mirror has taken a dive. It held back from reinstating its dividend despite a big jump in profits as it slashed costs to cope with the tough times the newspaper industry is facing. The publisher of the Mirror and a host of local titles said pre-tax profits in 2010 were up to £101.5m from £72.7m the previous year, even as revenues slipped to £761.5m from £763.3m. Some analysts had been expecting a slight rise in revenues.Online gaming operator Partygaming has been bid up, after it announced a rise in "clean" earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to £100.4m in 2010 from £93.2m the year before, despite the continued loss of appetite among punters for online poker.Marketing services provider Communisis reported 2010 operating profit in line with expectations but there were additional amortisation costs relating to the refinancing of debt.Shares in information technology services firm Parity were below par after the company's full year results disappointed. Revenues in 2010 slumped to £93.0m from £119.0m the year before, while the group suffered a loss before tax and exceptional items of £3.1m, compared to a profit of £0.3m the year before. Canamens BNG is not making the final $11.98m payment to AIM-quoted oil and gas explorer Roxi Petroleum for the purchase of BNG Ltd, which has a stake in exploration interests in Kazakhstan. Canamens will forfeit a 6.25% interest in the BNG contract area to Roxi as a result.JJB Sports is offering its landlords as much as £7.5m if they agree to a series of proposals that might save the hard-up sports retailer from going bust. Under the terms of a proposed company voluntary arrangement (CVA), 43 stores will shut by 24 April 2012, while a further 46 shops could close during the following year if their performance doesn't improve.
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22 Oct 2010 12:22

London midday: Shares sit lower as IPOs take centre stage

Shares are struggling to move into the blue on a sluggish day's trading, with IPOs hogging much of the limelight. AIA, the Asian arm of the American insurance giant AIG, is raising $20.5bn from the float, which it priced at HK$19.68, at the top of the indicated range. The price values AIA at $30.5b

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22 Oct 2010 08:46

London open: Blue chips lower as IPOs roll-out

London has opened lower, with attention distracted by the huge AIA float in Hong Kong and Betfair's listing in London. AIA is raising $20.5bn from the float, which it priced at HK$19.68, at the top of the indicated range. The price values AIA at $30.5bn - exactly matching the price Prudential event

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22 Oct 2010 07:55

Duffy to chair PartyGaming-bwin business

Internet gambling firm PartyGaming, which is merging with rival bwin Interactive Entertainment, raised revenue by 9% in the third quarter and has named Simon Duffy as chairman of the enlarged group. Revenue increased to €85.3m during the three months to 30 September, up from €78.3m a year ago, wit

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6 Aug 2010 16:49

London close: US unemployment rise sinks Footsie

London's leading share index gave up a brief rally to close in the red after a jittery day in which well-received company results were overshadowed by disappointing US unemployment figures. The economy shed 131,000 jobs in July, according to figures from the Labor Department, with 143,000 public se

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6 Aug 2010 15:31

London afternoon: Footsie bounces back

Footsie has crept higher after a spell in negative territory on the back of disappointing US jobs data. The economy shed 131,000 jobs in July, according to figures from the Labor Department, with 143,000 public sector census workers being laid off. Over here, the results stream has continued, albe

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6 Aug 2010 13:05

London midday: Footsie maintains early momentum

Footsie is still well ahead, though all eyes are on the 1.30pm announcement of US non-farm payroll figures. Consensus is for a job loss figure of between 65,000 and 100,000, anything worse than that would be considered very bad news. Within the numbers, economists will also watch for private emplo

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6 Aug 2010 12:37

Broker tips: Rio Tinto, PartyGaming, Trinity Mirror

Yesterday's profit from Rio Tinto was a record and better than expected, but the shares aren't trading far from where they were at February's finals, too low for Charles Stanley. The miner made US$5.8bn in the six months to 30 June, up from £2.6bn in the same period last year on sales of $26.8bn co

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6 Aug 2010 11:58

Broker snap: PartyGaming worth a bet

PartyGaming's numbers reveal the online gaming firm is trading "relatively well" in KBC Peel Hunt's view, and well enough for it to repeat 'buy' advice Friday. The increase in revenue to €181m beat Peel Hunt's forecast of €179m, while the clean EBITDA figure of €48.1m topped expectations of €44.8m.

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6 Aug 2010 08:44

London open: Bright start as RBS pleases

London's blue chips have made a bright start with Royal Bank of Scotland dominating the morning headlines after the bank returned to the black. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is "on track" to achieve goals set out in its five-year recovery plan after posting a pre-tax profit of £1.16bn for the second

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6 Aug 2010 08:05

PartyGaming upbeat as profits rise

Online gaming firm PartyGaming grew underlying interim profit by 14% and has continued to trade in line with expectations at the start of the second half. The group, which is merging with Austrian rival bwin, reported underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)

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3 Aug 2010 14:08

Brokers urge 888 to seek deal

Online gaming firm 888 Holdings is glad to see the back of the FIFA World Cup as trading during July returned to historical seasonal patterns. Total operating income in the second quarter of 2010 was much the same level as the year before at $61m, but was down on the $69m of revenue in the first qu

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30 Jul 2010 13:17

Broker tips: BAE Systems, Pace, Partygaming

Strong results and upgraded full year profits guidance has not been enough to overcome investor concerns about future prospects for BAE Systems, a situation acknowledged by Nomura Securities' decision to slice its price target for the defence systems firm. The broker is sticking with its "buy" reco

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30 Jul 2010 13:01

Broker snap: bwin a good match for Party

Scale matters in online gaming which is why Peel Hunt is a fan of Partygaming's proposed merger with Austrian rival Bwin, describing it as potentially 'a match made in heaven.' 'In online gaming, scale matters. However, not only will a bwin/PartyGaming merger bring scale - it creates a balanced pr

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30 Jul 2010 12:14

PRESS RELEASE: Fitch: Online Consolidation Puts Pressure on UK Bookmakers

Fitch Ratings-London-30 July 2010: Fitch Ratings says the recent merger between two leading European online gaming companies, Partygaming and bwin, could reshape the online gaming industry by creating a leader across each of the core products of sports betting, casino and poker. This will put more p

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30 Jul 2010 10:47

MARKET TALK: Collins Stewart Raises PartyGaming Price Target

0947 GMT [Dow Jones] Collins Stewart raises PartyGaming (PRTY.LN) price target to 350p from 265p, following its proposed merger with bwin (BWIN.VI). Says the fit with bwin looks particularly strong, and the group would have an even balance between poker, casino, sports and a good spread of country r

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