London close: Footsie continues winning week

16th Jul 2009 16:36

London made it four positive sessions in a row Thursday as some better banks and strength at Petrofac offset largely weaker miners and a big drop at Autonomy.There was little help from Wall Street though, which was trading flat when the City shut up shop. The FTSE 100 has made up about 260 points so far this week.Oil services firm Petrofac led UK blue chips higher after securing a 48-month gas development contract in Abu Dhabi. Its 50%-owned joint venture, Petrofac Emirates, received a letter of award from GASCO to build the fourth natural gas liquid train at the Ruwais complex.Part-nationalised lender Lloyds Banking ended in front as staff heard that another 1,200 jobs will go following last year's takeover of rival HBOS. Group operations and the insurance business will make the cuts by the end of March 2010.HSBC rose, Standard Chartered ended flat and Royal Bank of Scotland down a fraction.Mexico-based silver miner Fresnillo was among the winners after reporting a record quarterly attributable silver production of 9.6 million ounces, up 6.7% from last year, and said it remains confident of achieving its full year 2009 production target levels.Other miners were mixed. BHP Billiton rose a touch, but ENRC, Kazakhmys and Anglo American all fell. But data search software firm Autonomy took a pasting, despite registering its 25th consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth. Citigroup thought the results were "solid" and took "most of the bear arguments off the table" while UBS said it continues to "see a chance of FY09 earnings guidance will be raised".Investors seem to be of a different opinion, and the stock is the worst performing blue-chip today, even though the company reported record revenues and profits for the second quarter. Adjusted profit before tax rose to $89.6m from $50.8m the year before. Revenues rose to $195.2m from $125.7m. Concern seems to centre around the company's decision not to offer numbers on the contribution of recently acquired content management firm Interwoven.Pubs group Enterprise Inns said its underlying trading performance appears to be stabilising, with the rate of decline in beer sales reducing. Currently 6100 pubs, 81% of the group's estate, are let on substantive agreements and are delivering net income down by less than 3% year on year. The cash strapped operator said its debt reduction programme continues in line with expectations.Elsewhere in the pubs sector Mitchells & Butlers, owner of the All Bar One and faux Irish pub chain O' Neill's, posted a 1.7% rise in like-for-like sales in the eight weeks to July 11, but said it was being held back by poor non-food and drink sales.Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley's sports retail business, Sports Direct, suffered a 91% plunge in annual profits, forcing it to axe the dividend in an effort to pay down debt. It blamed a £53.1m write-off on stakes in rival companies, which were held with failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (KSF). Pre-ta xprofit fell to £10.7m from £118.9m a year ago. The stock is overshadowed, however, by sector rival JJB Sports, which has jumped higher after the foundation run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda announced it had raised its stake in the sportswear retailer above 3%.Mothercare posted a healthy rise in sales over the first quarter as shoppers flocked to the baby products retailer's summer sale. Total sales climbed by 9.4%, with UK like-for-like sales up by 5.1%. The firm said it was helped by strong performances from Early Learning Centre franchises in Mothercare stores and strong sales from Direct, the online division. International sales rose by 32.7%.Engineer and construction contractor Balfour Beatty has reached financial close on a £176m public/private partnership (PPP) contract with Cumbria County Council.Morgan Sindall announced its second contract win of the week, as its affordable housing specialist Lovell bagged a contract with the East Midlands Housing Group.Butter cheese and milk supplier Dairy Crest saw strong sales of core brands as it focused on advertising its cheese and spread products and reduced milk production.Fund manager Henderson said it expects half-year pre-tax profit to be half of levels seen the same time a year earlier despite one quarter's contribution from New Star. Assets under management at Ashmore Group increased by 6% to $24.9bn in the final quarter ended 30 June.Estimated assets under management at fixed income fund manager BlueBay shot up in the second quarter of 2009, helped by a mixture of price appreciation and new subscriptions. Assets under management (AUM) rose to $24.3bn at the end of June, up from $18bn at the end of March.Elsewhere in the fund management sector Schroders is wanted after Citigroup raised its recommendation from "sell" to "buy".Instrumentation and controls company Spectris said sales dived by around one-fifth on a constant currency basis in the first half of the year.Marine electronics group Raymarine's sales in the first half fell 24% and the company still looking for new equity to cover trading losses, working capital and one-off costs.