London’s top stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday following falls on Wall Street overnight.
US stocks fell back after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony to US congress. The Fed chief warned the economic outlook remains "unusually uncertain," but he gave few clues on what measures the central bank might take to deal with this uncertainty.
Autonomy, a heavy hitter in the corporate software world, is the biggest faller early on despite delivering record first half profits and revenues, with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business the main driver of growth.
DIY retailer Kingfisher, which owns the B&Q chain in the UK, also dropped after it reported a small drop in like-for-like sales in the 10 weeks to 10 July, but said half year profits remain on track. Like-for-like sales were down 0.8%, with total sales up 0.3% in constant currencies.
Imperial Tobacco said cigarette volumes for the nine months to June were down 4.3% as a result of market declines in Spain, USA, Russia and Ukraine being only partly offset by gains in Central Europe. Overall, the group’s financial performance for the financial year to 30 September remains in line with expectations.
Leading the risers, outsourcing giant Capita said pressures on public spending may affect growth in the short term but it is confident its ability to deliver cost efficiencies will stand it in good stead. “There is buoyant demand for outsourcing across both the private and public sectors, with the most active markets in our strong bid pipeline remaining local government and life and pensions,” said Paul Pindar, chief executive of Capita.
The World Cup was a mixed blessing for pub group Mitchells and Butlers, which saw like-for-like sales rise by 1.2% from the same period a year ago in the nine weeks to 17 July, but blamed the football for slower food sales growth.
South African platinum miner Lonmin saw output from its underground mining operations increase quarter on quarter in the April to June period.
Sports Direct, owner of Sports World stores and Slazenger and Dunlop brands, posted a 50% rise in annual pre-tax profit, in line with expectations, and predicted more growth in 2010-2011.
Tate & Lyle said it has made a sound start to the year and continues to anticipate progress in the current full year. However, despite some improvement in demand, industrial starch margins are expected to remain at lower levels and the group continues to see little near term improvement in US ethanol markets.
Emerging markets lender International Personal Finance posted a three fold increase in first half profit and is confident it will deliver further growth in the second half.
Pearson, which publishes the Financial Times and textbooks, is to acquire the school support operations of Brazilian education group Sistema Educacional Brasileiro for R$888m (Ł326m).
Energy provider Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) is on course to deliver expected dividend growth, despite operating in a challenging environment.
Elsewhere, Spanish bank Santander is reportedly planning a listing of its UK operations on the London Stock Exchange in move that could raise up to Ł3bn. The Financial Times says the lender could list on the main market as soon as this autumn to fund further expansion. FTSE 100 - Risers
Capita Group (CPI) 717.50p +1.06%
Serco Group (SRP) 544.00p +0.83%
Invensys (ISYS) 282.00p +0.53%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 592.50p +0.51%
Barclays (BARC) 291.50p +0.43%
Schroders NV (SDRC) 1,026.00p +0.39%
Pearson (PSON) 937.50p +0.37%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,110.00p +0.36%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 309.10p +0.36%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,274.00p +0.31%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,629.00p -10.15%
Kingfisher (KGF) 218.00p -2.46%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,867.00p -2.15%
TUI Travel (TT.) 225.70p -1.44%
BP (BP.) 394.75p -1.29%
Essar Energy (ESSR) 445.60p -1.20%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 232.20p -1.19%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,620.00p -0.98%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,213.00p -0.92%
ICAP (IAP) 384.80p -0.88%
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