London midday: Home Retail rises on bid talk

12th Apr 2010 11:59

Hopes that news of the rescue package for Greece would give renewed impetus to London's advance are proving unfounded, as the Footsie is weighed down by weak miners.Xstrata leads the mining sector lower, with ENRC and Antofagasta not far behind. The last mentioned was recently downgraded to 'hold' from 'buy' by Citigroup.Losses among miners are counterbalanced by gains in the retail sector. Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail is wanted on speculation that Asda owner WalMart could be stalking the group. The addition of Argos to the Asda offering would give the supermarket chain a jump start in its battle with Tesco Direct.US owned Walmart is also said to be taking a look at budget clothing chain New Look.Elsewhere in the supermarket sector Sainsbury's is buoyed by a 'buy' recommendation from Bank of America Merrill Lunch. Shares in ARM have fallen back after the broker Citigroup lowered its rating on the chip designer from 'hold' to 'sell.' 'While the resilience of ARM's business model through the downturn and leverage potential through the upturn argue for a premium, valuation has now run ahead of fundamentals,' the broker says. Citigroup was more benevolent to software giant Sage Group , upgrading the shares to 'buy' from 'hold'. Broker comment is also boosting the share price of power group International Power ; Barclays has initiated coverage with an 'overweight' recommendation.Bank Barclays is backing a £300m refinancing that will lead to the sale of Liverpool FC, according to weekend press reports. The Sunday Times writes that the bank is this weekend finalising a deal that will see it displace the club's current lenders, provide additional funds to manager Rafa Benitez and name Martin Broughton of British Airways as chairman. US aeroplane maker Boeing has awarded UK defence and aerospace group Cobham a contract to supply in excess of 500 BRU-61/A carriage systems for Boeing's Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) programme. Financial details of the contract were not divulged. Business publisher United Business Media (UBM) has acquired DesignCon, the exhibition and conference serving the electronic design and semiconductor industry, for $1.3m from Professional Education International.Ladbrokes, the bookmaking operation, is to sell its Italian retail betting and gaming business to an affiliate of Italian gaming firm Cogetech for around €5.25m in cash. Under the terms of the deal, Cogetech will also assume responsibility for about €18m of guarantees currently provided by Ladbrokes.Hotel group Millennium & Copthorne (M&C) said its New Zealand subsidiary has run into trouble with its Chinese joint venture. In what is sure to spark a legal dispute First Sponsor Capital Limited (FSCL), in which Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand (MCK) has a 34% interest, has accused one of its joint venture partners, a company controlled by Cheung Ping Kwong, of numerous unlawful actions.Online market research firm YouGov has taken a break from providing updates on the electorate's voting intentions on the UK general election and released in line interim results.Electrical component maker E2V, which is going through a restructuring process, said full-year revenue was around 14% below last year's reported levels.Video games maker Zoo Digital expects to report full year turnover and EBITDA significantly ahead of market expectations and the previous year.FTSE 100 - RisersHome Retail Group (HOME) 295.00p +5.21%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 348.20p +2.90%Sage Group (SGE) 254.90p +1.88%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 754.50p +0.94%Barclays (BARC) 359.65p +0.88%ICAP (IAP) 394.70p +0.87%International Power (IPR) 333.30p +0.73%Man Group (EMG) 266.10p +0.72%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 372.50p +0.62%Whitbread (WTB) 1,526.00p +0.53%FTSE 100 - FallersARM Holdings (ARM) 237.90p -2.50%Xstrata (XTA) 1,283.00p -1.23%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,224.00p -1.13%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,050.00p -1.13%Experian Group (EXPN) 629.50p -1.02%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 267.00p -0.93%British Airways (BAY) 245.80p -0.89%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,145.00p -0.87%Compass Group (CPG) 535.50p -0.83%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,415.00p -0.82%