London close: Shares end with small gains

London's top stocks ended the day with small gains after trading in a very tight range all day as shares paused for breath following last week's good gains.Oil fabrications giant Petrofac was one of the day's major bright spot after it made a bit more than expected last year, with after tax profit up 37%, and hiked the dividend by an impressive 41%. Profit after tax jumped to $363m from $265m in 2008, slightly better than expected, while the pre-tax figure rose 25% to $447.5m. Revenue increased by 10% to $3.65bn.It has not been a good day for pharmaceutical companies, however, with both Astra and Glaxo on the slide.Drug giant AstraZeneca said its cancer treatment Recentin failed to meet the primary endpoint in a clinical study to compare it with rival treatment Avastin. 'While we recognised that challenging Avastin would be a high hurdle, it is still disappointing, despite evidence of clinical activity with RECENTIN, not to have met the primary endpoint in this study,' Alan Barge of Astra's oncology division said.Holders of Glaxo, meanwhile, have been rattled by talk of anywhere between a $1bn and $6bn liability relating to the company's diabetes drug Avandia, after it emerged recently that the US Food and Drug Administration is investigating the cardiovascular risk profile of the drug.Advertising giant WPP was seeing a bit of profit taking after the share price advanced on Friday in the wake of marginally better than expected results and the release of the well-received US jobless figures for February.Prudential has accelerated its plans for a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and now wants it effective before its $20bn rights issue to help fund the purchase of AIG Asia. The listing will be effected by an introduction, with a dual-primary listing alongside its primary listing of ordinary shares in London.Spanish bank Santander is leading the race to snap up Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) 320 English branches for as much as £4bn. The Williams & Glyn's branch network is being sold for £1bn, but a potential buyer would also have to find an extra £3bn, according to a report in today's Times.Royal Dutch Shell has confirmed it is in talks to buy Australian coal-seam gas producer Arrow Energy, which said this morning it had received an indicative offer worth A$3.3bn. "These discussions may or may not lead to an agreed transaction," said Shell in a brief regulatory announcement, but it has already offered A$4.45 a share in cash in a joint deal with PetroChina.Last year was a good one for product quality and safety tester Intertek, considering the challenging economic conditions, as both profit and revenue increased by more than a fifth. Profit before tax was up 22% to £169.2m and rose 23% to £191.5m after adjusting for one-off items. Revenue improved by 23% to £1.24bn and was up 19% excluding acquisitions and 7% at constant currency.In the FTSE 250, Forth Ports soared into the lead after it emerged on Friday that the port operator had been approached by a consortium including Peel Ports, the second largest port operator in the UK. The proposal was rejected by Forth.Business continued to improve at industrial conveyor belt maker Fenner, another FTSE 250 riser, during the final weeks of its first half, leaving it confident of reporting results at the top end of expectations.Housebuilder Bovis wrote back £11.6m of provisions made against its land bank in the second half of 2009 and has started to buy land again as the UK housing market stabilises. "The group has recommenced investment in land and is pleased with the progress made to date, with four consented sites acquired in the last quarter of 2009 and terms agreed in principle at the year end on a further 15 sites, all of which have been progressed during the early part of 2010.Revenues at derivatives broker Tullett Prebon have dipped this year so far after a flat performance in 2009, though they are expected to pick up later in the year. "The underlying revenue run rate in the first two months of the year is 5% lower than a year ago at constant exchange rates. We expect this run rate against prior year to improve, particularly in the second half," chief executive Terry Smith said.Stagecoach, the bus and train group said trading has remained in line with company expectations despite being adversely affected by unusually severe weather conditions in January and February.Recruiter SThree's first quarter gross profit declined by 27% year on year to about £36m, though the current deal pipeline indicates improvements across most markets.Metals group Delta reported a 20% hike in 2009 profit after a better than expected performance at its engineered steel products division.FTSE 100 - RisersResolution (RSL) 72.15p +4.95%Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 1,116.00p +4.10%Home Retail Group (HOME) 267.60p +3.44%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 78.30p +2.69%Man Group (EMG) 251.50p +2.28%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 350.60p +2.01%Bunzl (BNZL) 705.00p +1.37%FTSE 100 - FallersAmec (AMEC) 768.50p -1.91%British Airways (BAY) 224.30p -1.75%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,324.00p -1.63%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,080.00p -1.45%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 236.50p -1.42%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,953.00p -1.42%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,655.00p -1.41%