London midday: FTSE flat

It is back to square one for Footsie, which is virtually unchanged on the day despite a warm reception to results from BT and confirmation from British Airways that the long awaited merger with Iberia is close to consummation.British Airways has confirmed that it is holding meetings with Spanish airline Iberia to discuss the possibility of a merger. 'The British Airways and Iberia boards are holding separate meetings today, 12 November, to consider a potential transaction,' the firm said.The shares have flown to the top of the Footsie leaderboard on market tittle-tattle that Iberia's management has agreed to terms that will leave the Spanish flag carrier forming 45% of the merged entity.Also flying high is satellite communications outfit Inmarsat, which produced strong results earlier this week. The stock is about to become a constituent of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) World Index, prompting demand for the stock from index-tracking funds.The more earthbound communication firm, BT, reported second quarter revenue that was in line with expectations. The telecoms thinks it can cut costs by at least £1.5bn this year versus its old target of over £1bn. Investment analysts had been predicting the cost savings target would be lifted to £1.4bn.Private equity group 3i is the worst performing blue-chip stock, as the market expressed dissatisfaction with the company's net asset value performance. The company's diluted net asset value (NAV) per share at the end of September stood at 286p, up from 279.4p at the end of March but well below the 590.3p seen at the end of September 2008. AMEC's trading update has also failed to win plaudits. The engineering and project management company is trading in line with expectations despite the challenging external environment. Insurers are weaker after Resolution, which completed its £1.86bn acquisition of Friends Provident last week, said its sales rose 6% during the third quarter, but are down 28% this year so far. Elsewhere, Centrica is trading as expected, with the gas supplier's lower effective tax rate and strong performance from the UK downstream business offsetting a drop in gas production and profitability. Gas production fell 50% in the third quarter from the same time last year and is expected to be down by about 25% for the full year. All of the assets of Kazakhi miner Eurasian Natural Resources were operating flat out at the end of September as production 'recovered to pre-financial crisis levels.' Production levels in 2010 are anticipated to be similar to those seen in 2008, including a modest first time contribution from Central African Mining & Exploration Company (CAMEC), the African mining company it is in the process of acquiring. Mobile telecommunications colossus Vodafone has entered into a strategic partnership with a leading telecoms operator in Taiwan. Vodafone and Chungwha Telecom have signed a partner market agreement to provide customers with communications services and enhanced roaming arrangements. Outsourcing group Serco said customers' need to improve efficiency in the current economic climate is providing it with more opportunities to win contracts as it reported continued strong trading. Serco, whose activities include operating London's Docklands Light Railway and vans used to transport prisoners, said it remains on track to deliver on its financial guidance for 2009. Engineering IT systems provider Aveva revealed a decline in half year profit and said it remains cautious on the outlook for 2010. Adjusted pre-tax profit fell to £26.6m for the six months ended 30 September 2009 from £31.0m the year before. Revenue for the period declined to £69.9m from £74.8m in challenging market conditions. Debenhams said it has agreed to acquire Danish fellow department store operator Magasin du Nord for DKK101m (£12.3m). Magasin, which has six stores including four in the Copenhagen area , one in Arhus and one in Odense, has an annual turnover of £228.7m, Debenhams said. Galiform, owner of the Howden joinery depots, is wanted after saying full year profits are likely to match or exceed forecasts at the top end of market expectations. Investors have soured on Dairy Crest, however, after the Country Life butter maker reported a 9% increase in adjusted interim pre-tax profits.FTSE 100 - RisersBritish Airways (BAY) 214.90p +7.45%Inmarsat (ISAT) 640.00p +4.92%BT Group (BT.A) 148.70p +4.72%Wolseley (WOS) 1,361.00p +3.58%Whitbread (WTB) 1,292.00p +3.36%Home Retail Group (HOME) 313.00p +2.76%FTSE 100 - Fallers3i Group (III) 266.00p -4.63%Amec (AMEC) 832.50p -3.87%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 37.12p -3.26%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 894.00p -3.09%Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,750.00p -2.22%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,264.00p -2.02%