London midday: Early gains consolidated

16th Nov 2009 12:11

Stock prices saw a modest amount of profit taking after the Footsie hit a 14-month high.Lonmin is leading the mining sector higher despite reporting a full-year loss. The South African platinum miner fell into the red in the year to September 30 as prices for the precious metal slumped in line with the global economic downturn. The firm reported a pre-tax loss of $272m for the period, compared with a profit of $779m a year ago, as revenue fell to $1,062m from $2,231m. It will not pay a final dividend.Anglo American, another riser, has strengthened its management team again, with the appointment of former Barrick Gold vice chairman Jack Thompson as a non-executive director. The 59-year-old was vice chairman at Barrick, the world's largest pure gold mining company, from 2001 to 2005, and also worked for Newmont Mining. He joins RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton, appointed as a non-exec at Anglo last week.Also going well in the mining sector are Xstrata, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta, plus gold miner Randgold Resources.Property shares are also wanted, with SEGRO and Hammerson the stand-out stocks in that sector.In contrast, Sainsbury is slightly easier after The Times newspaper reported that a forthcoming report from market research group TNS Worldpanel will show that more than £11m of spending was switched from the supermarket chain to its main rivals in the 12 weeks to November. The company appears to be losing customers at both the top end and the bottom end of the scale, with Waitrose poaching £4m of business while German discounter leeching £2.5m from Sainsbury. Around £2m of spending previously going Sainsbury's way was switched to sector leader Tesco, adding weight to a recent suggestion by Tesco boss Terry Leahy that Tesco has recently overtaken Sainsbury in terms of like for like growth in sales. Rolls-Royce is attracting attention after it won orders for its Trent engines from Air China and Ethiopian Airlines worth a combined $2bn (£1.2bn). Its Trent 700 engines will power 20 Air China Airbus A330 planes, bringing in $1.5bn to Rolls. Ethiopian Airlines has ordered Trent XWB engines worth $480m to power 12 Airbus A350s.United Utilities has agreed the disposal of its 15% investment in Northern Gas Networks Holdings to its other owners for a cash consideration of £85.75m. Completion of the transaction is expected by the end of 2009.Leading housebuilder Persimmon has started to buy sizeable parcels of land again as sales have recovered to the point where it is fully sold this year, while orders for 2010 are up 50%. Since August 2009, trading activity levels have continued ahead of last year and the buiilder expects to legally complete 9,000 homes in 2009. It remains concerned about the potential impact of any significant increase in unemployment, but overall trading has improved.Persimmon's shares move higher, dragging sector peer Barratt Developments with them.Domino's Pizza is to return £19m cash that is surplus to requirement back to shareholders though a tender offer for 6m shares at 317p. Four directors will take part in the tender in respect of their own shareholdings. They include chief executive Stephen Hemsley; Colin Halpern; Christopher Moore; and Nigel Wray. Brokers Numis and Altium are handling the tender offer.Aim-listed wine retailer Majestic Wine served up a 9% increase in half year pre-tax profit while like for like sales rose 5.4%. Pre-tax profit rose to £6.1m for the 26 weeks ended 28 September 2009 from £5.6m. Total sales were up £12.6m to £106.7m after including £6m from Lay & Wheeler, the fine wine specialist, which it bought in March 2009.Pork products supplier Cranswick posted a sharp rise in profits in the half year to September 30, helped by its acquisition of the pork processing activities of food group Bowes of Norfolk and organic growth. Pre-tax profits from continued operations before exceptional costs climbed to £21.3m from £17.5 m as revenues jumped to £355.6m from £298.7m. The Bowes acquisition accounted for 7% of the 19% rise in turnover.Interserve, the services, maintenance and building group, has traded in line with expectations since the end of June and just won a place on the £4bn Partnerships for Schools (PfS) national Contractors' Framework.Profits growth slowed sharply over the past six months at online fashion retailer ASOS, though sales continued to bound ahead. Pre-tax profits to September came in at £4.4m, up 9%, on sales 47% higher at £96.5m. ASOS blamed the reduction in margins to 44.6% (from 48.3% in H1 2008/09) on increased sourcing costs, an extra sale period during the first half and a change in the branded product/own-label mix.An absence of major catastrophe claims and rising premiums contributed to an 'outstanding' quarter for underwriter Amlin with the group on course for an 'excellent' year. Performance in the first ten months of the year has been excellent, Amlin said, with profitability enhanced by a 52% increase in premium to £1.37bn, low claims incidence, further run off profits from reserves and a strong investment performance.Small business landlord Workspace said it narrowed half year pre-tax losses as occupancy rates and lettings rose.Scottish dairy group Robert Wiseman reported an 81% surge in half year pre-tax profit, upped its dividend and said it looks forward to its full year results with confidence.FTSE 100 - RisersLonmin (LMI) 1,721.00p +8.10%Xstrata (XTA) 1,076.00p +6.11%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,285.00p +4.85%Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,929.00p +4.72%FTSE 100 - FallersResolution (RSL) 90.90p -1.73%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 36.80p -1.71%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 222.60p -0.98%United Utilities Group (UU.) 469.10p -0.82%