RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 10th August 2012

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is up 0.11% , edging off earlier lows. The market's attention turns to UK economic data and the prospects for further easing by the Bank of England after UK PPI data.

Scandal-hit bank Barclays is to appoint City veteran Sir David Walker as its new Chairman. Walker will join the board on September 1st before replacing the outgoing Chairman, Marcus Agius, in November.

Walker has served as Chairman of Morgan Stanley International and Deputy Chairman of Lloyds Bank, but also has experience in government as Assistant Secretary to the Treasury and Executive Director of the Bank of England. His time as a regulator will be crucial for Barclays to rebuild trust after the agonies of the LIBOR debacle which saw the departure of the ultra-high profile Chief Executive, Bob Diamond.

 Sector peer Standard Chartered, embroiled in an entirely different scandal to Barclays, is under a little pressure as ratings agency Fitch is making noises about reviewing the bank's AA- credit rating.

There has been speculation that the UK bank is pondering legal action against the New York State Department of Financial Services , which broke ranks from other US regulators to make some serious accusations about the behaviour of Standard Chartered Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered.

Cobham, the defence technology supplier, has been awarded a contract to supply electronic systems to Boeing's Wideband Global SATCOM satellite programme. The $65m contract is for the production of three satellite flight sets, with additional options for three more sets. Private equity investor SVG Capital boasted of strong returns in uncertain markets in the first half of 2012, as it comfortably outpaced gains on its benchmark index. The group saw a 12.3% increase in net assets per share to 378.5p (excluding SVG Advisers and SVG Investment Managers), showing a clean pair of heels to the FTSE All-Share Total Return index, which rose 3.35 over the same period.

Flybe, Europe's largest regional airline, has warned that is has experienced another 'very challenging' year, with the forward booking visibility remaining 'extremely limited'. Looking ahead, the firm expects total year-on-year growth for the year ended March 31st to be between flat and 2.0%, below its previous expectations.  The stock has lost altitude rapidly, dragging easyJet lower with it.

Oil and gas company Gulf Keystone is wanted after it reached a 'major milestone' by submitting a declaration of commercial discovery for the Shaikan Block in the Kurdistan











Region of Iraq.

THE FTSE 100              @ 10:00         Up           6       @      5,857 THE DOW JONES            closed           Down        10      @     13165 THE NASDAQ               closed           Up           7       @      3018 Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @      10:00                1.5599 GBP - EURO      @      10:00             1.2700