Date: Wednesday 26 May 2010
Footsie rebounded past 5,000 points Wednesday and closed well above that marker despite paring gains in late trading. Miners and banks were at the vanguard of the advance but Burberry was the star performer.
The luxury retailer revealed a 23% increase in full year adjusted pre-tax profit. The company opened more shops and saw strong growth in raincoats and shoes. Profit rose to £214.8m for the year ended 31 March from £174.6m a year ago. Sales were up 7% to £1.3bn. The full year dividend jumps 17%.
Credit Suisse has suggested that the punishment suffered by banking shares may have been too severe and this lured out buyers for Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotlandand Barclays.
In the mining sector it was a similar story, with ING arguing that the sector looks cheap following the recent correction. Lonmin, Kazakhmys and ENRC shoot higher, as does Rio Tinto, whose chief executive Tom Albanese upped the pressure on the Australian government this morning over its proposed resources "Super-Tax". Albanese said it is the "number one sovereign risk" faced by the company anywhere in the world.
In a buoyant oil sector BP edged higher despite the US Environmental Protection Agency reportedly mulling a ban on government contracts with the British oil company.
Elsewhere in the sector Cairn Energy, Petrofac and Tullow Oil took their place among the high flyers while among the second tier Afren is moon-bound after Renaissance Capital followed up yesterday’s positive broker note on the Nigeria-focused oil exploration company with an upbeat assessment of the company’s production potential.
Cable&Wireless Worldwide, demerged from Cable & Wireless in March, was in demand after it posted earnings in line with forecasts and said market conditions are improving. EBITDA was up to £431m for the year to 31 March from £326m in 2009. Revenue was little changed at £2.265bn.
BT is making contingency plans to deal with possible strike action after union leaders rejected a new pay deal for staff employed at the telecoms giant.Stockbroker and investment manager Brewin Dolphin saw profits and funds under management move ahead at the half-way stage. Interim profit before tax rose 37% to £15.2m, while total managed funds grew to £23bn at the end of March from £20.5bn at the end of last September. "At this stage there is every indication that the performance of our business will continue to be resilient," said executive chairman Jamie Matheson.
Bookmaker William Hill is to stop taking business from clients resident in France after laws in the country changed. William Hill added its online joint venture William Hill Online is considering whether to apply for a licence to offer permitted online gambling products to French residents.
Engineering software maker Aveva reported a decline in annual profit as a weak global shipping market drove down demand. "Economic uncertainty triggered a reduction in new licence sales, a trend that was particularly pronounced in the Marine market in Asia," the group said.
West End of London property specialist Shaftesbury said visitor numbers to the tourist trap remain healthy and that tenant demand remains good. Shaftesbury’s adjusted diluted net asset value per share at the end of March 2010 stood at 383p, compared to 271p a year earlier and 315p at the end of September 2009.
At the other end of town, East London property developer Telford Homes said the property market in the area has improved in the last six months and remains stable. Profit before tax and exceptional items increased to £8.1m for the year ended 31 March 2010 £7.3m before. Revenue increased to £159.3m from £106.7m before.
The share price of oil company Matra Petroleum plummeted as news emerged of a major shareholder reducing its stake. Australian bank Macquarie offloaded 7.8m Matra shares on 20 May, reducing the company's stake to 74.5m shares, representing about 7% of the issued ordinary share capital of Matra.
Hardy Oil and Gas is another oil stock to dive as the India-focused firm temporarily suspended the KGV-D3-W1 exploration well due to “unresolved mechanical issues”.
FTSE 100 - RisersBurberry Group (BRBY) 659.00p +7.59%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,064.50p +7.30%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,149.00p +7.18%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,072.00p +6.99%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 391.60p +6.82%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 53.91p +6.71%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,661.00p +6.41%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 963.00p +6.35%
Xstrata (XTA) 972.30p +5.74%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 45.10p +5.62%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Next (NXT) 1,983.00p -1.59%
International Power (IPR) 284.50p -1.56%
Standard Life (SL.) 173.10p -1.31%
BAE Systems (BA.) 315.30p -0.76%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 525.50p -0.57%
National Grid (NG.) 497.40p -0.51%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,238.00p -0.32%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 617.80p -0.27%
Cobham (COB) 225.90p -0.26%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,225.00p -0.22%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Afren (AFR) 89.80p +13.46%
Salamander Energy (SMDR) 226.60p +10.59%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 279.70p +9.17%
Gartmore Group (GRT) 126.00p +8.71%
IMI (IMI) 624.50p +8.04%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 236.40p +7.95%
Victrex (VCT) 1,008.00p +7.29%
BlueBay Asset Management (BBAY) 330.00p +7.18%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 69.80p +7.14%
Cookson Group (CKSN) 444.90p +6.87%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Xchanging (XCH) 175.60p -3.94%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 97.35p -3.80%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 108.40p -3.64%
Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities (ECWO) 129.80p -3.13%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 100.00p -3.01%
BH Global USD Shares (BHGU) 10.91 -2.50%
AG Barr (BAG) 935.00p -2.50%
TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 59.15p -2.23%
Domino Printing (DNO) 386.70p -2.23%
Robert Wiseman (RWD) 474.60p -2.20%
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