Index heavyweight BP kicked off the oil majors results season with third quarter figures that showed a smaller than feared drop in profits. Profit attributable to shareholders came to $5.34bn from $8.05bn in the third quarter last year. Analysts predicted nearer $3bn.
That attracted buyers to rivals BG and Shell, which are due to publish results on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
Fund raising concerns continue to hang over the part-nationalised UK banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking, while the move by Dutch banking group ING, announced yesterday, to split itself in twain in order to spike the guns of an EU investigation into the legality of the state aid it received during the height of the banking crisis, has also highlighted the potential for a damaging EU ruling on the UK banks.
Meanwhile, a drop in metal prices has hurt commodity plays, with Vedanta Fresnillo, ENRC and Kazakhmys taking a whack. Vedanta is especially hard hit after reports that an Indian subsidiary, Sesa Goa, is under investigation for alleged anomalies in its accounts.
Publisher Reed Elsevier is wanted after Exane BNP Paribas raised the stock to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’.
Profits fell at paper and packaging firm Mondi during the third quarter, with a recovery in volumes offset by lower average selling prices. Underlying operating profit was “modestly” lower than the previous three-month period, but the firm said it is beginning to feel the benefits of its recently completed cost cutting programme.
Yellow Pages business Yell slumped after it extended the deadline for its lenders to approve its refinancing proposals for a second time. The company, which is looking to restructure Ł3.8bn of debt, set a new deadline of 5pm on Wednesday 28 October after last night’s cut-off passed without success.
Computer chip designer ARM improved after it said it still expects full year dollar revenues to be in line with market expectations, after announcing an 8% dip in third quarter turnover, though it rose 5% in sterling terms to Ł75.2m from Ł71.7m. Profit before tax eased to Ł24.3m from Ł24.9m the year before.
Cinema operator Cineworld said total revenues rose 6.5% in the 43 weeks to 22 October 2009 and added that the final quarter has a promising film line up that includes "Sherlock Holmes" and "A Christmas Carol". The strength of the group's box office revenues, up 10.9% year on year, has underpinned Cineworld's performance which is set against the backdrop of exceptional Q3 trading last year due to the outstanding success of "Mamma Mia", the group said.
On the mining front, Aquarius Platinum moved back into the black in the third quarter despite a slide in total revenue. Net profit in the third quarter was $17.9m on total revenue of $85.8m, compared to a net loss of $20.4m on revenue of $106.2m a year earlier.
Ormonde Mining has confirmed Antofagasta as the previously unidentified joint venture partner for its La Zarza ground holdings in the Huelva Province of southern Spain.
Griffin Mining received a fillip when it revealed that its Caijiaying zinc-gold mine returned to profitability in the third quarter.
Getech swung to a full-year loss and scrapped its final dividend as the fall in crude prices hurt the oil data analysis specialist. The group reported a loss before tax of Ł627,901 in the 12 month ended 31 July compared with a profit of Ł900,000. Revenue was down 20% at Ł3.31m.
B. P. Marsh saw its share price eat into the substantial discount to the group’s net asset value after the venture capital provider issued an upbeat trading statement. NAV per share at the end of July stood at 146p, down from 150p at the end of January and 154.4p at the end of July 2008, but well above the company’s share price of around 90p.
FTSE 100 - Risers
BP (BP.) 593.10p +4.58%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 474.40p +3.63%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 307.60p +3.01%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,260.50p +2.48%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 547.00p +2.15%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 42.83p -3.58%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,256.00p -3.30%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 87.10p -2.51%
Barclays (BARC) 344.20p -2.38%
Fresnillo (FRES) 806.50p -2.36%
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