London midday: Holiday firms in the shade

20th Nov 2009 12:11

Leading shares lack direction, with Footsie's early advance turning into a retreat, as early gains on mining stocks are pared.The outlook for package tour operators Thomas Cook and TUI Travel is as miserable as London's weather, according to US bank Morgan Stanley, which has cut its rating on both stocks. The pair are the worst performing blue chips, after Thomas Cook was downgraded from 'equal weight' to 'underweight' and TUI was cut to 'equal weight' from 'overweight'. The price target of the former has been chopped to 230p from 270p, while Morgan Stanley cut its price target for TUI to 290p from 320p.Morgan Stanley thinks both companies will suffer from higher fuel prices next year. It is also worried about cash generation levels and growing debts.Cable & Wireless (C&W) is doing better on its telephony tie-up with Tesco, announced yesterday, and positive comment from JPMorgan. The US broking house believes the already lavishly remunerated C&W management will be kept motivated by the company's demerger plans.Product quality and safety tester Intertek is lower on talks to buy the business assurance division of Det Norske Veritas (DNV) with a large chunk of its own shares.Most mining stocks are still clinging on to diminished gains, with silver miner Fresnillo the best of the bunch, but Rio Tinto is in the red after Credit Suisse cut its rating on the mining giant from 'neutral' to 'underperform'.Valve actuator and gearbox maker Rotork expects this year's profits will be at the upper end of market forecasts. Although order intake in the third quarter was down 3.4% on the levels seen a year ago, some of the markets in which the company operates are showing signs of a rise in activity.Fund manager Gartmore has confirmed its intention to float in London with an offer expected to be completed by mid-December. The fund manager reported that business had been good in the third quarter with £924m of net inflows, which helped push funds under management up to £21.8bn as at 30 September, up 17% since year-end 2008 and 34% since February 2009.London-based pub group Fuller's lifted underlying first half profits by 18% as it shrugged off the recession, though it is more cautious going forward.Weapons group Chemring has raised $280m through the issue of loan notes placed with a number of institutional investors. The blended interest rate on the issue is in the region of 5.5%, which, the group noted, is a rate more favourable than its current lending facilities.Trading remains subdued at wireless specialist Anite with first half underlying operating profits expected to slide to £3.5m from £12.4m this time last year.FTSE 100 - RisersCable & Wireless (CW.) 138.80p +2.36%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,581.00p +2.07%Old Mutual (OML) 118.70p +2.06%Unilever (ULVR) 1,802.00p +1.52%Capita Group (CPI) 726.00p +1.33%Carnival (CCL) 2,058.00p +1.33%British Airways (BAY) 203.40p +1.19%FTSE 100 - FallersThomas Cook Group (TCG) 206.10p -5.68%TUI Travel (TT.) 241.80p -5.25%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,223.00p -2.94%Hammerson (HMSO) 427.30p -2.86%Home Retail Group (HOME) 304.50p -2.53%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 35.13p -2.42%Barclays (BARC) 301.65p -2.19%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 88.05p -2.10%