London midday: Equities nervously lower

2nd Oct 2009 12:05

The Footsie dipped below the 5,000 level this morning as it followed Wall Street lower in the wake of patchy US economic data yesterday.Over here, there was good news for home owners as UK house prices rose for the fifth month in a row in September, according to the Nationwide Building Society. The building society said the average price of a UK home rose last month to £161,816 from £160,224, a rise of 0.9%. Housebuilders are struggling even so. Bovis, Barratt and Persimmon are all lower. On the bid front, SABMiller is wanted on rumours that it has been in bid talks with Mexican brewer Femsa, although Dutch brewer Heineken is also said to be in the running to win control of the brewer of Sol and Dos Equis lagers.Excitement over the possibility of a bid for Legal & General has died down after putative bidder National Australia Bank, which owns the Clydesdale and Yorkshire bank brands in the UK, said it was only interested in 'bolt-on or incremental deals.'Miner Xstrata has been given a deadline of 5.00pm on 20 October 2009 to make a formal bid for Anglo American or otherwise to walk away. The put-up or shut-up ruling follows an appeal by Anglo to the Takeover Panel over the disruption to its business caused by the interest from Xstrata.Part-nationalised bank Royal Bank of Scotland is beefing up its board with the appointment of two non-executive directors. Aviva group finance director Philip Scott will join the board from 1 November and will assume the position of chairman of a new Risk Committee of the RBS board. Penny Hughes will join on the first day of 2010 and will assume the chairmanship of the board's remuneration committee.The Competition Commission has recommended local authorities start competition tests in planning applications for new grocery stores after making just one change following an appeal by supermarket giant Tesco. The supermarket sector may have bigger problems to face, however, according to Citigroup, which said that based on the US experience, food price deflation is about to put a big dent into the earnings of UK supermarkets.Citi has 'sell' recommendations on the big three quoted players: Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons. Durex condoms and Scholl footcare products maker SSL has completed the acquisition of condom firm Gainbridge Investments (Cyprus) from CCD Estate. SSL has paid €20.6m (£18.8m) in cash for the company.Indoor football hall operator Powerleague saw profits fall in the year to July 4 as it faced higher property costs, but said it had performed resiliently in a tough climate. Pre-tax profits for the period totalled £3.7m compared with £5m the previous year, while revenue climbed to £30.9m from £26.3m Powerleague, which operates 43 centres across the UK, said.Helphire, which supplies replacement vehicles to drivers involved in accidents, posted a pre-tax loss of £149m, which was 'largely resulting from non-cash exceptional charges, having made a profit of £43m the previous year. Revenues fell by 9% to £368.5m as the number of drivers using Helphire's services decreased by 2.5% and average hire lengths fell.The recession continues to provide a steady stream of business for insolvency expert Begbies Traynor, which has started the current financial year well.FTSE 100 - RisersSABMiller (SAB) 1,501.00p +1.35%Home Retail Group (HOME) 282.20p +1.07%Schroders NV (SDRC) 900.50p +1.07%G4S (GFS) 221.70p +1.05%FTSE 100 - FallersLegal & General Group (LGEN) 83.00p -5.63%Xstrata (XTA) 834.50p -4.30%Whitbread (WTB) 1,162.00p -4.20%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 48.45p -4.15%