London midday: Stocks move lower

14th Jul 2011 12:10

Stocks are deep in the red following this morning's slide.Associated British Foods is bucking the downward trend. It said its outlook for the full year is in line with expectations as its food arm and budget clothing retail chain Primark continue to perform well. Silver producer Fresnillo is sparkling following strong quarterly production figures, but other miners such as the copper producers Antofagasta and Kazakhmys are suffering.Sports shop chain Sports Direct International is lower even after it posted a sharp rise in revenues in the year to 24 April, despite the tough economic climate. Total sales climbed to £1.6bn from £1.45bn the previous year. Underlying pre-tax profits, which do not include foreign exchange gains and losses, exceptional costs and profits or losses on sales of investments, rose to £135.5m from £102.1m, but reported pre-tax profits, which do include these, fell to £118.8m from £119.5m. The company, which operates nearly 400 stores including 79 in Europe, is not paying a dividend. Also on the high street, baby clothing and toy retailer Mothercare is under pressure after reporting continuing falls in like-for-like sales.House builder Barratt Developments is under the cosh after it confirmed its return to profitability, saying it expects to deliver a full-year profit before tax and exceptional items of around £40m, compared to a loss the year before of £33.0m. Daily Mail publisher DMGT has been on a steady downward decline after saying it is putting the price of its main newspaper up by 5p to 55p as it seeks to cope with rising newsprint prices and declines in the advertising market and circulations. Elsewhere in world of media Centaur, the publisher and events organiser, is in demand after saying revenues are up 14% on 2010 and it expects profits at the top end of expectations. Interestingly, the firm which produces the Lawyer and Marketing Week, says digital advertising revenues (+14%) were up much more than print (+7%) perhaps giving a sense of the general trend within the publishing business. The aggregate figure for advertising sales was 7%. Sticking with companies whose names are inspired by Greek mythology Eros International, the Indian film distributor, has announced impressive results for its Murder 2 title.On its first weekend it grossed US$7.6 million worldwide, with US$7.2 million in India.FTSE 100 - RisersAssociated British Foods (ABF) 1,088.00p +2.93%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,558.00p +2.50%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,525.00p +1.56%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,077.00p +1.52%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 45.01p +1.39%Rexam (REX) 382.10p +1.33%Kingfisher (KGF) 255.70p +0.63%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 655.00p +0.61%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,920.00p +0.47%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,143.00p +0.09%FTSE 100 - FallersPetrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,448.00p -3.60%ARM Holdings (ARM) 573.00p -3.13%Man Group (EMG) 238.40p -3.01%Wolseley (WOS) 1,890.00p -2.53%Cairn Energy (CNE) 391.60p -2.37%Old Mutual (OML) 129.60p -2.34%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,717.00p -2.28%Essar Energy (ESSR) 369.50p -2.12%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,255.00p -2.11%Aviva (AV.) 407.40p -2.07%FTSE 250 - RisersPremier Foods (PFD) 19.41p +7.24%ITE Group (ITE) 229.30p +6.21%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 110.70p +4.04%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,949.00p +3.11%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 403.80p +2.57%Petropavlovsk (POG) 816.00p +2.38%Kofax (KFX) 501.00p +2.20%Charter International (CHTR) 831.50p +1.77%Pace (PIC) 112.30p +1.72%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 131.10p +1.71%FTSE 250 - FallersDaily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) 414.00p -5.78%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 104.80p -5.76%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 79.65p -5.68%Betfair Group (BET) 680.00p -3.68%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 387.70p -3.03%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 296.40p -3.01%National Express Group (NEX) 242.50p -3.00%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 307.50p -2.94%William Hill (WMH) 217.80p -2.90%Informa (INF) 419.00p -2.87%