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London mid-morning: Still lacking direction
Wed, 08 Feb, 2012
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London mid-morning: Still lacking direction
Wed, 25 Aug 2010, 09:38:00
Leading shares are mixed, with the Footsie marginally in the red having enjoyed a foray into positive territory earlier on. Decent results are keeping Footsie's losses respectable. A 14% hike in car insurance premiums and a surge in new customers helped first half profits jump by a fifth at insurer <b>Admiral</b> despite a tough time for price comparison subsidiary Confused.com as meerkats and opera singers hit it hard. <b>Serco</b> is higher after it said it expects strong organic revenue growth in 2010. The outsourced services provider reported in-line half year figures. Adjusted pre-tax profits rose to £110.2m in the six months ended 30 June compared with £92.3m last time. Sector peer <b>Capita </b>advances in sympathy. Record sales volumes of iron ore, metallurgical coal and oil helped mining giant <b>BHP Billiton</b> lift underlying net income by 16% last year. The group, which recently launched a £26bn bid for Canadian fertiliser group Potash, posted pre-tax profits of $19.6bn, up from $11.6bn, in the year to June on revenues 5% better at $52.8bn. Temporary power solutions provider<b> Aggreko</b> anticipates the outcome for the full year to be slightly better than expectations after posting a good set of half-year figures. Pre-tax profit rose 18.9% in the six months ended 30 June to £127.1m, while revenue increased to £583.6m compared with £499.8m last time. The interim dividend rises 50% to 6.55p. On the downside, <b>Tullow </b>is cheaper after investors took the opportunity to bank some profits on the occasion of the Irish oil firm's interim results. Higher commodity prices gave Tullow Oil a boost in the first half of 2010, propelling profits up almost three times, in line with expectations. Profit after tax leapt to $89m from $31m in 2009 on sales up 11% to $486m. Production fell 6% to 55,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). The company said that the Ugandan government is delaying final approval of the sale to Tullow of <b>Heritage Oil</b>'s 50% operated interests in blocks 1 and 3A in the Lake Albert Rift Basin until a tax dispute between the two companies is settled. Adverts featuring blind footballers and an "exceptional" World Cup linked largely to England's dismal showing did the trick for <b>Paddy Power</b> with first half profits up over 50%. The Irish bookie also now expects to beat market forecasts for the year. Structural steel supplier <b>Severfield-Rowen</b> cut its interim dividend by half after reporting lower revenues and profits. Revenue of £126.7m and underlying pre-tax profits of £8.2m dropped by 36.7% and 66.7% respectively and the interim dividend has been cut to 5p per share from 10p last time. Scottish port operator <b>Forth Ports</b> lifted half year profit 29% after a good performance from its ports business and said it is confident about the remainder of the year. Forth, whose ports include London's Tilbury docks, Grangemouth and Leith said profit before tax increased to £16m for the half year ended 30 June from £12.4m in 2009. Revenue rose to £89.6m from £86.6m. <b>SIG</b>, the insulation materials and specialist construction products maker, has confirmed well-flagged interim results, but is worried about how things will develop over the next few months. The loss before tax was slashed to £2.2m from £9.2m previously, but underlying profit dropped 16% to £18.5m. Film studio <b>Pinewood Shepperton</b> recorded a 12% drop in half year profit but said revenues for 2010 are now expected to exceed market expectations.
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