RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 29th October 2012

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 trades down 0.6% , maintaining losses as investors mull the impact of hurricane Sandy. Volumes are expected to be light with US equity markets closed Monday and possibly Tuesday. Insurers are under pressure, with Admiral Group and Aviva both off.

The U.K. economy is likely to slow sharply in the final quarter of the year and inflation is likely to accelerate towards 2.5% in coming months due to increases in energy prices, Bank of England policy maker Spencer Dale was reported saying Monday.

Serco Group, the international service company, has signed a contract for an outsourcing partnership that will provide customer contact and support services for AEGON, the Dutch life and pensions company. The contract starts on November 1st and marks Serco's entry into this segment of the financial services market. The contract is worth an estimated £170m over an initial 10-year term.

Pearson has confirmed publishing firm Random House is to merge with its venerable book seller Penguin. Under the terms of the agreement, Penguin and Random House will combine their businesses in a newly-created joint venture named Penguin Random House. Bertelsmann, will own 53% of the joint venture and Pearson will own 47%.  Marjorie Scardino, Chief Executive of Pearson, said the combination would "greatly enhance" Penguin's fortunes and its opportunities.

Anglo American's Platinum unit, known as Amplats, has come to an agreement with trade unions in South Africa and hopes to see its 12,000 dismissed employees return to work by tomorrow, Tuesday October 30th. Industrial action has been going on for the past six weeks since the initial safety suspension of Amplats' Rustenburg, Union and Amandelbult mining operations. The company last week met with unions to discuss how to facilitate the return to work of the 12,000 workers.

Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya has insisted that he does not have to do a deal with drinks giant Diageo or sell off the "family silver" to prop up his troubled airline. Mallya's United Spirits empire, owner of distiller Whyte & Mackay, has been locked in talks with Diageo to sell a key stake in the business to the maker of Bell's and Johnnie Walker.

THE FTSE 100              @ 10:00       Down     35          @      5771 THE DOW JONES            closed         Up        3         @      13107 THE NASDAQ               closed         Up        1          @      2987



















Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @       10:00                   1.6060 GBP - EURO       @       10:00                   1.2439



Gold $/ OZ                            $1711