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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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29 Jul 2010 11:59

MARKET TALK: PartyGaming, Bwin Merger Makes Sense - D Stewart

1059 GMT [Dow Jones] The proposed merger between PartyGaming (PRTY.LN) and Bwin (BWIN.VI) makes sense, a Daniel Stewart analyst says. The analyst also says consolidation in the sector has been well-forecast. "This has been coming for a long time now." Says the tie-up has earnings growth potential an

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29 Jul 2010 11:57

London midday: PartyGaming jumps on bwin merger

Company results have given traders plenty to ponder and shares are broadly higher, but online betting group PartyGaming is the star performer after announcing a merger with Austrian rival bwin. PartyGaming said the merger would create the world's largest listed online gaming business. Elsewhere i

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29 Jul 2010 11:27

PartyGaming Shares Soar 22% On Proposed Merger With Bwin

By Simon Zekaria Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Shares in PartyGaming PLC (PRTY.LN) soared Thursday after the U.K.-listed gambling group said it plans to merge with Vienna-listed peer bwin Interactive Entertainment AG (BWIN.VI), one of Europe's largest sports book operators.

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29 Jul 2010 11:12

PartyGaming Proposed Merger With Bwin Interactive

LONDON (Dow Jones)--PartyGaming PLC (PRTY.LN) Thursday announces the proposed merger of PartyGaming and bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. MAIN FACTS: -Market leading positions in all key verticals of online poker, sports betting, casino and games (in particular bingo) -Pro forma 2009 ne

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26 Jul 2010 11:59

UK MARKET TALK ROUNDUP: SHARES GAINING

Stocks on the rise in the UK today. Compiled by Dow Jones Newswires Markets Desk, markets.eu@dowjones.com Contact us in London. +44-20-7842-9464 Markettalk.eu@dowjones.com 1059 GMT [Dow Jones] PartyGaming (PRTY.LN) shares are boosted by news last Friday that the financial services committee of

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26 Jul 2010 11:59

MARKET TALK: PartyGaming Rises On US Gambling Bill Scrutiny

1059 GMT [Dow Jones] PartyGaming (PRTY.LN) shares are boosted by news last Friday that the financial services committee of the U.S. House of Representatives will vote Tuesday on a bill to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, analysts say. Say new legislation could start regulatio

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26 Jul 2010 11:02

MARKET TALK: C Stewart Starts Online Gaming Stocks

1002 GMT [Dow Jones] Collins Stewart initiates coverage of online gaming stocks. Says despite periodic regulatory shocks, online gaming markets have continued to deliver strong growth, increasing their share of the global gaming market. Projects double-digit market growth over the next three years i

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26 Jul 2010 11:02

UK MARKET TALK ROUNDUP: BROKERS COMMENTS

Broker comments in the UK today. Compiled by Dow Jones Newswires Markets Desk, markets.eu@dowjones.com Contact us in London. +44-20-7842-9464 Markettalk.eu@dowjones.com 1002 GMT [Dow Jones] Collins Stewart initiates coverage of online gaming stocks. Says despite periodic regulatory shocks, onl

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7 Jul 2010 06:58

Wednesday tips round-up: PartyGaming, Persimmon, Meggit

Online gamer PartyGaming's protracted merger talks with Bwin, its Austrian rival, are apparently still on ? just. But the biggest game in town is the US, where the authorities, despite their earlier moralistic stance, need the revenues. Any move will probably be on a state-by-state basis, and Part

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6 Jul 2010 17:01

London close: Footsie ends on a high

The FTSE 100 finished just three points shy of its high point for the day as miners, particularly copper miners, drove the market higher. Copper producers Antofagasta and Kazakhmys were the two best performers as the price of copper rose the most in a week on the back of declining stockpiles. Mini

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6 Jul 2010 14:03

London afternoon: Rally continues

London stocks made further headway over the lunchtime session, with banks and miners still leading the way. Antofagasta, Kazakhmys, Xstrata, Vedanta and Rio Tinto are the stand out performers in the mining sector, as commodity stocks come back into fashion after their recent buffeting, though gold

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6 Jul 2010 08:54

London open: Miners race away

Miners and oil groups have sent Footsie racing ahead this morning. BP is again leading the way. It has denied looking to raise new money from sovereign wealth funds, but is just highlighting its strengths to potential investors. Tullow Oil has had a "very good" first half during which production

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6 Jul 2010 08:39

MARKET TALK: PartyGaming Merger Could Transform Earnings

0739 GMT [Dow Jones] PartyGaming's (PRTY.LN) potential consolidation in the sector could "transform" the company's financial performance, Liberum Capital analyst Richard Taylor says. "The company admit that talks over a potential (tie-up) have taken longer than expected, but that they remain in tal

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6 Jul 2010 08:39

UK MARKET TALK ROUNDUP: SHARES GAINING

Stocks on the rise in the UK today. Compiled by Dow Jones Newswires Markets Desk, markets.eu@dowjones.com Contact us in London. +44-20-7842-9464 Markettalk.eu@dowjones.com 0739 GMT [Dow Jones] PartyGaming's (PRTY.LN) potential consolidation in the sector could "transform" the company's financ

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6 Jul 2010 08:24

UPDATE: PartyGaming Shares Up As 2Q Revenue Rises On Year

(Rewrites, adds CEO, analyst's comments, detail.) By Simon Zekaria Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Shares in PartyGaming PLC (PRTY.LN) rose Tuesday after the U.K.-listed gambling group said it expects a 28% rise in second quarter revenue year on year, boosted by acquisitions

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