Monday, July 19, 2010

LONDON Market open: Deals cant lift Footsie


Date: Monday 19 Jul 2010
Friday’s steady sell-off on Wall Street has meant a subdued start in London despite the possibility of two mega deals.International Power and French energy giant GDF Suez have revived talks about entering a partnership to create a new London listed electricity group.

The British power station developer and GDF Suez confirmed they are in preliminary discussions regarding a possible combination of their Energy International Business Areas, outside Europe, and certain assets in the UK and Turkey.

Engineer 
Tomkins, meanwhile, has received a bid approach from a Canadian consortium worth 325p a share in cash or £2.9bn in total. Tomkins also warned that sales and margin performance  in the second half is unlikely to be as strong as it was in the first half of 2010.BP is lower as it continues tests on the cap that’s stopped oil leaking from its broken well into the Gulf of Mexico The latest concern is that oil may be leaking in other places and out onto the seabed. The cost of dealing with the spill is near to $4bn (£2.6bn).Aquarius Platinum is the worst FTSE 250 performer after a South African directive on safety for mining companies using bord and pillar mining methods. Aquarius says it intends to appeal the directive today. Five people died at Aquarius’ Marikana platinum mine in South Africa earlier this month when a shaft collapsed.

Prices rose, but problems at both its Ellendale and Letseng mines hit diamond miner 
Gem’s first half output, with currency movements also causing some headaches. "In the first half of the year we have had a number of operational challenges at both Letšeng and Ellendale,” chief executive Clifford Elphick said.

Department store 
Debenhams has completed the refinancing of its borrowings and signed a new £650m senior credit facility.Industrial conveyor belt maker Fenner is comfortably meeting expectations with revenue and underlying operating profit in the third quarter well ahead of the comparable period last year.“

Kazakhstan focused 
Max Petroleum has had its subsoil use licence for the Astrakhanskiy Block in Western Kazakhstan terminated as it has failed to comply with work obligations stipulated under the licence.

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