London midday: Stocks gain on Eurozone hopes

15th Sep 2011 12:09

A combination of some well-received updates from the retail sector and hopes that Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel will sort out the Euro crisis has sent shares soaring.The Americans and the Chinese have told Eurozone leaders to get their house in order and president Sarkozy of France and German chancellor Merkel seem to be responding. They say they are "convinced" that Greece will stay in the Eurozone.In company news, B&Q owner Kingfisher is flying high after it saw its underlying profit before tax in the 26 weeks to 30 July rise 24% from a year earlier to £439m, on the back of a 3.8% rise in sales. That comfortably beat Panmure Gordon's forecast of £409m.Ian Cheshire, Chief Executive of the DIY retailer said he was confident the group would continue to outperform, despite challenging conditions for retailers. The interim dividend has been bumped up 28.3% to 2.47p from 1.925p last year.Homewares retailer Dunelm Group is wanted after it unveiled robust results for the year to 2 July, with revenue and pre-tax profit both up 9%. Although like-for-like growth was slightly down by 0.6% from a year earlier, revenues rose from £492.8m to £538.5m, while profit before tax profit moved up to £83.6m from £76.8m the year before. Electrical goods retailer Kesa is going well now even after it saw like-for-like (LFL) revenues tumble 9.9% from a year earlier between May and July. Its Comet brand saw LFL sales fall 22.1%, while in France, Darty's sales were down 3.7% on a LFL basis. "The start of the year has been tough against the strong World Cup comparatives of last year and weakening market conditions," admitted Chief Executive Thierry Falque-Pierrotin.Food wholesaler and cash and carry operator Booker rises after it saw a surge in like-for-like (LFL) sales in its second quarter, driven by strong demand for fruit and veg. Like-for-like sales rose 5.6% in the 12 weeks to the 9th of September from the corresponding period of last year. Non-tobacco sales rose by 4.5% and tobacco sales by 7.6% on a LFL basis, while LFL fruit and vegetable sales were up 34% from last year. Shares in Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) jumped after it announced that the international conglomerate Jardine Matheson plans to acquire about 10% of the insurance broker, bringing its stake to more than 40%. While the funds will strengthen JLT's competitive position, Jardine Matheson's holding of 40.35% in the company will still allow it to retain its independence, JLT said. Gold and base metals miner ECR Minerals soared after the firm confirmed high grades of gold from a sampling programme for the Sierra de las Minas project in La Rioja Province, Argentina. Assay results for 58 samples taken across 13 prospects during July and August showed high grades including 32.5 g/t, 21.9 g/t and 14.5 g/t of gold. Four prospects are now being judged as priority targets for further work. Gable Holdings, the insurance company, saw pre-tax profits rise 52% to £2m in the six months ending 30 June. Total earned premiums rose 47% to £10.6m while gross "written" premiums hit £12.2m, up 41%. The shares are sharply higher.Investors of AIM-listed nickel miner ENK were pleased on Thursday after the firm sold a non-core Turkish project for $40m (£25.3m), freeing up funds to progress with its Acoje project in the Philippines. Evolution Securities labelled the move as a "game-changing disposal for ENK". FTSE 100 - RisersKingfisher (KGF) 251.80p +5.09%GKN (GKN) 191.70p +4.41%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 34.95p +4.33%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,426.00p +4.32%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 23.77p +4.25%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,395.00p +4.18%Xstrata (XTA) 1,040.00p +4.03%IMI (IMI) 832.00p +3.87%Inmarsat (ISAT) 514.00p +3.84%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,638.00p +3.80%FTSE 100 - FallersNational Grid (NG.) 618.50p -1.04%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,870.00p -0.94%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,008.00p -0.20%Unilever (ULVR) 1,961.00p -0.05%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 2,529.00p 0.00%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 599.00p +0.34%Diageo (DGE) 1,221.00p +0.41%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 614.00p +0.49%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 705.50p +0.50%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,937.00p +0.52%FTSE 250 - RisersExillon Energy (EXI) 297.70p +12.47%Booker Group (BOK) 75.85p +9.77%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 468.70p +9.74%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 42.36p +8.45%Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 663.50p +7.19%Debenhams (DEB) 59.95p +6.86%Kier Group (KIE) 1,200.00p +6.76%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 108.40p +6.27%Keller Group (KLR) 326.40p +6.22%Kofax (KFX) 298.80p +5.92%FTSE 250 - FallersPerform Group (PER) 206.00p -1.90%AG Barr (BAG) 1,120.00p -1.41%Cobham (COB) 177.90p -0.89%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 11.42p -0.87%JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 174.70p -0.74%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,458.00p -0.48%Dexion Absolute Ltd. GBP Shares (DAB) 141.00p -0.42%Cranswick (CWK) 611.50p -0.41%EnQuest (ENQ) 100.30p -0.40%Shanks Group (SKS) 113.60p -0.35%