London midday: FTSE 100 gives up gains

1st Mar 2011 12:07

The top share index is flat after giving up early gains, while company updates in the FTSE 250 have sparked big moves in both directions. Capita is the best performer in the FTSE 100 after the outsourcing group said it was in talks with Zurich about performing some administrative tasks for the insurer in the UK and supporting some of its European administrative operations.It is a former FTSE 250 constituent HMV that is in the headlines though. The CD and computer games retailer has slumped again after it issued another profits warning and begun talks with its banks about a new lending facility as it expects to breach some of its covenant tests when they are next tested.In the FTSE 250 itself, speciality chemicals group Elementis moves higher after reporting a sharp rise in sales and profits for the year to 31 December. "The positive momentum and market demand we have experienced in 2010 has continued into the early part of 2011," said the company, whose products are used in inks, plastics and other applications. Full year numbers from events and publishing group United Business Media looked harmless enough, but investors are spooked, sending the shares down 10%. Adjusted profit before tax fell 5.3% to £156.4m, although a 4.5% increase in revenue at constant currency to £889.2m was better than expected. Underlying revenue grew 5.6%, up from 2.1% for the nine months.Business has remained "challenging" since the company issued its last warning in January and profit before tax and exceptional items for the year to April is now expected to be "moderately below" the £45m forecast by analysts.Turning to bigger companies, banking giant Barclays is to buy the UK credit card assets of Egg, the online bank owned by Citigroup. The acquired business has around 1.15m credit card accounts with some £2.3bn of gross receivables. Record gold and silver production coupled with soaring metal prices more than doubled Mexican miner Fresnillo's profits last year to over $1bn. Pre-tax profits in 2010 soared from $457m to $1.02bn on revenues of $1.47bn, up 73% on an adjusted basis. "By 2018, Fresnillo will be able to produce 65m ounces of silver and over 400,000 ounces of gold annually," chairman Alberto Baillères said.Aerospace and vehicles engineer GKN bounced back into the black last year as all divisions bar aerospace saw good sales growth. Profits came in at £345m in 2010, a near £400m swing from losses of £54m the previous year. Sales rose by 20% to £5.1bn and by 22% on an underlying basis. Valve and actuators group Rotork delivered record revenue and profit in 2010, with all three of its divisions making progress. Revenue rose 7.6%, or 6.5% to £380.6m in 2010 from £353.5m in 2009. The market had been expecting sales of £374.5m. Despite competition from firms using talking meerkats and comedy opera singers to advertise their products, Moneysupermarket.com saw improving trends in 2010 in all four of its main divisions.Financial Times and Penguin books publisher Pearson has frozen Libya's stake in the company, which is bigger than the company first thought. "Having taken legal advice regarding its obligations under the order, Pearson considers that the ordinary shares in the company which are held by or on behalf of the LIA are subject to the order and are therefore effectively frozen," Pearson said.Sticking with the Libyan theme, the coalition government has stopped De La Rue from exporting £900m of dinars to Colonel Gaddafi's regime in Libya. An export control order slapped on the shipment by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills makes it a criminal offence to go ahead with the deal.Another clothing company has reported the impact of higher commodity prices. Cashmere and home furnishings group Dawson International said results for the year to 1 January were held back by rising cashmere and cotton prices. Revenues were up to £65.7m from £64.7m the previous year, but pre-exceptional operating profit from continuing businesses fell to £0.8m from £2.2m, which the company says "reflects margin impact of raw material price increases."FTSE 100 - RisersCapita Group (CPI) 761.00p +4.89%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,444.00p +3.66%Associated British Foods (ABF) 999.00p +3.36%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,642.00p +3.01%Lonmin (LMI) 1,884.00p +2.61%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 229.90p +2.41%Serco Group (SRP) 557.50p +2.39%Aggreko (AGK) 1,481.00p +2.35%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,896.00p +2.21%Wolseley (WOS) 2,188.00p +2.20%FTSE 100 - FallersKingfisher (KGF) 241.90p -4.91%GKN (GKN) 204.40p -2.62%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 661.90p -2.37%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 338.50p -2.28%Whitbread (WTB) 1,752.00p -1.68%Next (NXT) 1,943.00p -1.67%Standard Life (SL.) 234.90p -1.67%BG Group (BG.) 1,473.00p -1.57%Bunzl (BNZL) 750.50p -1.25%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,381.00p -1.16%FTSE 250 - RisersElementis (ELM) 135.30p +7.81%Ocado Group (OCDO) 212.00p +5.47%Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 305.30p +5.35%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 124.30p +4.89%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 42.00p +4.74%Cookson Group (CKSN) 682.00p +4.28%Spirent Communications (SPT) 161.70p +3.65%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 426.10p +3.65%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 274.20p +3.47%Ashtead Group (AHT) 177.20p +3.38%FTSE 250 - FallersUnited Business Media Ltd. (UBM) 638.50p -10.39%Provident Financial (PFG) 982.00p -4.94%Hansen Transmissions International NV (DI) (HSN) 44.35p -4.71%Persimmon (PSN) 448.90p -4.57%Redrow (RDW) 131.30p -2.96%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,820.00p -2.76%Bellway (BWY) 657.50p -2.30%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 18.98p -2.06%Pace (PIC) 210.80p -1.91%JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 432.00p -1.82%