London midday: Footsie on course for strong week

17th Jul 2009 12:15

London is heading for its best week in three months as miners climb, while British Airways is flying high despite a £100m first quarter loss. The FTSE 100 got off to a decent start following a late rally on Wall Street last night and better than expected numbers from IBM and Google and has carried on with miners now providing the momentum. Miners hog five of the top ten places. Eurasian Natural Resources, Xstrata, Vedanta Resources and Rio Tinto are doing well. British Airways is raising £600m. It'll get £300m convertible issue and another £300m by shuffling its pension guarantees. Its quarterly loss of £100m was better than analysts feared, BA said. Telecoms group Cable & Wireless said in the first quarter of 2009/10, its two businesses continue to make progress despite the more challenging economic backdrop. EBITDA guidance for the group is unchanged from May, approximately £1,025m based on an exchange rate of US$1.50 to £1. Broker Charles Stanley is still positive. The bombings in Indonesia have unsettled Intercontinental Hotels and other travel groups. Engineer Invensys said based on its current views of the markets and exchange rates it continues to expect the group will achieve an improvement in performance in the current year. Order intake in the first quarter of the financial year was up 17% at actual exchange rates and was flat at constant exchange rates. Lower drinks revenue has hit dance club operator Luminar so far this year, despite a modest increase in the number of people out clubbing. Trading for the period improved slightly since May, Luminar said. Hikma Pharmaceuticals has signed a licensing agreement for the anti-histamine Bilastine with Spain's Faes Farma for the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region.