Falkland Islands Holdings buoyed by strong art trading

Record trading by its art handling and logistics business helped Falkland Islands Holdings (FIH) to forecast higher annual profits.The group, which has retail and other businesses in the Falklands and UK and 12.8m shares in explorer Falkland Oil & Gas, said profits from its Falkland Islands Company fell as trading stayed subdued due to a lack of offshore oil drilling.But FIH said its art and logistics arm, Momart, built on its buoyant first half by racking up record activity levels, a strong contribution from exhibition and gallery services and a good mix of UK and overseas contracts.The group expects "an encouraging increase" in underlying pre-tax profits in the year to March 31st.It said the total dividend payment is likely to be the same as last year at 11.5p per share.Shares in the group rose 13.5p or 4.2% to 333p at 14:13 in London.PW