London afternoon: Footsie treads water

3rd Nov 2010 14:13

London is not short of corporate newsflow to generate share price movements among the blue-chips but the net effect has been to leave the Footsie little changed. Car insurer Admiral said not much has changed since August's interim results, but that simple affirmation of recent trends was enough to send the stock higher. The company remains on track to meet analysts' consensus profit estimates for 2010. Turnover jumped more than 50% during the third quarter to £446m and group vehicle count was 28% higher than the same time last year. FinnCap thinks the shares are overvalued and reckons they should be trading in the 1250p to 1300p range, not at 1700p plus. Not surprisingly it reiterated its "sell" advice on the stock.Lloyds Banking's announcement of its new chief executive has attracted investor excitement. The group has appointed Antonio Horta-Osorio, the head of Spanish bank Santander's UK business, as its new chief executive replacing Eric Daniels who is stepping down.High tech defence group Cobham is under fire morning after a cautious trading update and sector peer BAE Systems is taking collateral damage. Cobham said its commercial markets remain stable, but fragile, with some US customers still reluctant to put pen to paper. The board is of the opinion that, given the uncertainty over growth prospects in the fourth quarter, that it could see only limited underlying progress in the full year. Next will raise its prices by 8% early next year due to soaring cotton prices, the high street fashion giant said this morning. "As a result of further rises in the price of cotton, retail price rises are likely to be at the top end of our previously stated 5% to 8% range for the first quarter of next year," the firm commented. That overshadowed a solid third quarter update with sales growth of 2.2% towards the top end of its indicated 0-3% guidance. Next shares head lower, taking fellow clothing retailer Marks & Spencer with them.Shares in Chile-focused copper miner Antofagasta are lower, in contrast to other miners, even after it ramped up production in the third quarter. While prices for the red metal have been rising, so too have cash costs.Insurer Standard Life enjoyed a 60% increase in net inflows during the first nine months of 2010, lifting assets under administration (AUA) by 13%. Net inflows increased to £7.2bn over the nine months ended 30 September from £4.5bn in 2009. That sent AUA up to £192.4bn from £170.1bn at the end of last year thanks to the strong net inflows, a stock market rally and a significant increase in fee business, up 14% at £157.7bn and £12.1bn better in the third quarter.Capital Shopping Centres, the shopping centre arm of what used to be Liberty International, continued to see an improvement in its occupancy rate in the second half of the year. The occupancy rate at the beginning of November stood at 98.8%, up from 98.1% at the end of June, while tenant failures have continued to reduce.The share price of kitchen and joinery group Howden Joinery, formerly known as Galiform, is cooking after it said it now expects full year pre-tax profit to be ahead of current market expectations. Online gaming group 888 kept income steady in the last three months as a good performance in bingo offset sharp falls in its casino and poker income.Bus and train group FirstGroup revealed a 14% increase in first half profit, driven by continued strength at its UK rail and bus businesses.Business consulting and information technology contracting specialist Logica returned to year on year revenue growth in the third quarter, albeit only by a whisker. Third quarter revenue increased to £863m from £862m in the corresponding period of 2009, but the UK remains in ex-growth mode.Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk, the old Peter Hambro Mining, has cut its full-year production target again following delays at its Pioneer mine, first flagged in August.Safety equipment group Halma has acquired US firm Alicat Scientific for a cash consideration of $25.2m. Alicat, a privately-owned business in Tucson, Arizona, designs and manufactures mass flow meters and controllers. For the financial year ended September 2010, Alicat made an operating profit of $3.2m (£2m).Shareholders of energy efficiency firm eaga were feeling the heat again as the shares hit a 52-week low on the back of news about a costly restructuring. At this stage the cash element of the restructuring costs could total £20m million and would be incurred across the next 24 months, the company said.