London afternoon: Back to square one

It's back to square one for the Footsie which is barely changed on the day, with gains on banks and insurers counterbalanced by miners and property stocks.Swiss bank Credit Suisse has issued a bearish note on the property sector prompting the likes of Land Securities, SEGRO and Hammerson to shift into reverse. Credit Suisse's sector rating for properties has been reduced to 'benchmark' from 'overweight'.Mining heavyweights Lonmin, Anglo American and ENRC are also lower as industrial metals prices soften, while gold miner Randgold is also losing its lustre.Banks are offsetting some of this weakness after the Times reported that Barclays is in talks to buy the banking division of Standard Life. The move is part of its strategy to snap up businesses while its rivals try to rebuild their balance sheets after the financial crisis. The UK's part-nationalised banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, are also ahead this morning, as they respond positively to news that French bank BNP Parisbas is raising $4.3bn to buy back non-voting stock from the French government.Rumours that serial insurance company raider Clive Cowdery is preparing a takeover bid for Legal & General (L&G) through his investment vehicle Resolution has lifted L&G to the top of the Footsie leaderboard, with sector peer Aviva not far behind.Vodafone will begin selling Apple's iPhone in the UK, but not until the new year, leaving Orange and O2 to fight over sales during the lucrative Christmas period.On the update front, contract caterer Compass reports trading has gone well in the fourth quarter with underlying earnings to be up by around 14% on a constant currency basis. Operating profit will get a boost of £120m from the movement of our key currencies compared with last year. Daily Mail remains confident it will meet market forecasts for profits this year of £180m, despite revenue in the 11 months to August dropping by 9%. The consumer side felt the brunt of the sales downturn, the newspaper group said, though the regional arm has stabilised. Business to Business revenue is up by up 2%, including the impact of the stronger dollar. Euromoney and Trinity Mirror are up in sympathy. Elsewhere in the newspaper sector shareholders in Independent News & Media are set for hefty dilution after the newspaper group's board agreed a well-flagged refinancing package. Some €123m of bonds will be exchanged into 732m new shares or 46% of the company. Existing shareholders will then have an option to subscribe for a €94m rights issue at €0.05 per share.Europe's largest tour operator TUI Travel said today it is on course to meet full-year forecasts and is raising about £440m of funds to refinance its £900m shareholder loan with parent TUI AG. TUI intends to offer £300m of senior unsecured convertible bonds, while banks will provide additional revolving credit facilities of £140m. In a separate statement, the company said trading is in line with expectations and it remains 'satisfied' with business across all open seasons.Pub group Enterprise Inns has seen the number of tenanted pubs facing closure reduce slightly and demand lessen for its tenant support scheme, though the trading environment still remains very tough.Merchant bank Close Brothers produced a 'solid' full-year performance thanks in no small part to a doubling of profits at market maker Winterflood, although profit still fell 11%. Jessops, Britain's largest photographic and camera retailer, will today come under the control of its bank, pension fund and an employee trust under a debt-for-equity swap.Irn Bru maker AG Barr served up a 20% increase in interim pre-tax profit after this year's better weather whetted consumer appetite for fizzy drinks.Staff at Renishaw cheered today as the engineer said an improvement in order intake since the year-end means it can restore half the voluntary 20% cut in wages in force since February.Support services group Mitie expects revenue growth this year will be in the mid single-digit range, with stronger growth in the second half of the year reflecting the benefit of contracts and project work.Base and precious metals explorer Baobab Resources has published preliminary details of a promising looking independent evaluation of the exploration potential of its Tete project in Mozambique.The share price of renewable fuels company GTL Resources briefly rose to a 52-week high Tuesday as the company said it expects to report positive cash flow in the six months to 30 September on the back of improved market commodity margins.