London afternoon: Holding onto gains

London is still in the blue but off its best with futures pointing towards a flat start on Wall Street.British Airways has been the blue-chip stock to own in the third quarter of 2009 with its share price virtually doubling since the beginning of July. The shares get another lift today from Goldman Sachs which has added the company to its 'conviction buy' list. Balfour Beatty is the best performer with the shares roaring ahead on plans for a 'significant acquisition' that would be substantially funded by a rights issue.? The group said a potential deal would materially accelerate the fulfilment of its existing strategy. Tullow Oil is another high flyer after announcing a big discovery for the second day in a row. Tullow said the discovery of a significant oil field at Ngassa, Uganda, has the potential to be the largest in the basin to date. The announcement comes the day after shares in Tullow Oil were boosted by the announcement of an oil discovery at the Venus exploration well off the West African coast.Miners, responsible for much of the Footsie's gain yesterday, are wanted again today with Antofagasta, Fresnillo and Vedanta among the top performers.A strong performance from B&Q helped DIY retailer Kingfisher post a sharp rise in pre-tax profits in the half year to August 1. Pre-tax profits for the period came in at £201m, compared with £146m over the same period the previous year as revenues climbed 7.3% to £5.5bn from £5.1bn. British Airways is not the only airline to benefit from broker comment; easyJet is boosted by Morgan Stanley raising its rating from 'equal weight' to 'overweight'.Emerald Energy, the oil explorer soon to be taken over by Chinese state-run oil company Sinochem Resources, said it continues to be pleased with the results achieved from its Colombian asset portfolio, 'with oil produced from a second horizon in the Mirto No.1 exploration well, the identification and commencement of an opportunity to enhance the production capability of the recently discovered Caballos oil reservoir in the Gigante No.2 well, and steady production from the producing fields.'Building and civil engineering contractor Kier Group reported annual pre-tax profit of £24.8m down from last year's figure of £63.4m but there are signs that its markets are improving.Eastern European coffee shop operator Coffeeheaven fell into losses in the year to March 31 as the global economic downturn wreaked havoc in some of its important markets.Cash and carry group Booker saw a slight deceleration in like for like sales growth in the 12 weeks to 11 September.Fashion group French Connection saw half year losses widen and said it plans to implement further measures to enhancing profitability over the next six months.Commercial lender Ultimate Finance rallied Thursday after tripling full-year profits and paying a maiden dividend. It said the recession has created a surge in new enquiries and many businesses are 'questioning the merits of the overdraft as a source of funding'.Stockbroker Cenkos Securities continued to fight back from last year's mauling, boosting profits and revenue despite difficult conditions. It increased pre-tax profit by 13% to £6.2m during the six months ended 30 June 2009. The credit crunch caused a slump from £11.6m to £5.5m last year.