London midday: Footsie hit by debt worries

Footsie is now in the red after a bright start, with European debt issues again clouding the mood.Debt-stricken Ireland is the focus of attention again. The rating agency Standard & Poors says the price of bailing out nationalised bank Anglo Irish could exceed $47bn. Banks RBS, Lloyds and Barclays are among the fallers here.In company news, British Airways has finally signed its well-flagged transatlantic ticketing and revenue share agreement with American Airlines and merger partner Iberia. It starts in October and is worth a combined $7bn in annual revenues. BP is going well on a safety initiative. A new safety division with "sweeping powers to oversee and audit the company's operations around the world" will be set up and run by Mark Bly, current head of safety and operations. "It will have its own expert staff embedded in BP's operating units, including exploration projects and refineries. It will be responsible for ensuring that all operations are carried out to common standards, and for auditing compliance with those standards," new chief executive Bob Dudley said. Smiths Group has ramped up full-year headline profit by 17% and is delivering on its cost savings ahead of plan, but the diversified high-tech group warns that growth in both sales and profit will be slower this year.Miners are the main fallers alongside the normal Wednesday ex-dividends, which includes Drax and Inmarsat.An Indian court has ruled that Vedanta Resources' copper smelting plant at Tuticorin, South India, must close. A writ petition challenging the environmental clearance and building of the smelter was originally filed in the high court of Madras in 1996-98, but a ruling in 1999 allowed the plant to operate at its rated capacity. Dairy Crest is the cream of the crop in the FTSE 250 after saying that it has renewed its fresh milk contract with the supermarket Morrisons through to 2015. A trading update from the milk, cheese and butter supplier is due tomorrow. Fast growing pizza delivery franchise operator Domino's Pizza has not been growing quite so fast in the last three months but still notched up an enviable increase in like for like (LFL) sales. In the 13 weeks to 26 September LFL sales were 9.9% higher than a year earlier, while in the year to date LFL sales were up 12.5% on a year earlier.Energy supplier Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has assured the market it is on course to deliver on its pledge of above-inflation dividend increases. Rail and bus operator FirstGroup is currently trading in line with management expectations and is on track to deliver moderate earnings growth target for the full year.Volumes traded through the London Stock Exchange have slowed recently in conditions described as variable. Average UK daily shares traded increased 9% year-on-year to £5bn in the five months to August, though trading volumes since June have been much lower, the LSE said.Misys shareholders should get their split of the Allscripts sale proceeds in November, the financial software provider confirmed today as it flagged a pretty flat first quarter. The return of £780m made from the sale of healthcare division Allscripts, completed last month, will be returned to investors via a tender offer, expected during November. Misys has kept a 10% stake.Engineering support services company Babcock International is a strong performer after it said current pressures on spending will slow short-term revenue growth but its order book and bid pipeline remain strong.