RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO May 22nd 2012

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 trades up maintaining strong gains posted at the open. Most stocks trade in the black with financials and miners posting gains.

Mobile phone networks giant Vodafone was in demand after saying it is expecting underlying growth in adjusted operating profit and stability in free cash flow in the current financial year. In the year just gone (ending March 31st), group revenue rose 1.2% from a year earlier to £46.4bn, slightly ahead of forecasts of £46.3bn.

High Street giant Marks and Spencer rose early on despite seeing profits drop by 15.7% in the year ended March 31st while slashing its short-term sales growth targets. Nevertheless, the full-year dividend was maintained at 17p per share with Chief Executive Marc Bolland saying that the company "performed well in a challenging economic environment".

Miners and financial stocks continued to rise for a second straight day, rebounding after bearing the brunt of the recent Eurozone-fuelled sell-off. Mining peers Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Vedanta Resources and banking group RBS and Lloyds were among the best performers.

Defence technology group Cobham rose after extending the offer period for shareholders in Danish satellite communications outfit Thrane and Thrane to sell up.

THE FTSE 100             @ 10:00           Up         41      @      5,345 THE DOW JONES            closed            Up         135    @     12504 THE NASDAQ               closed            Up         68      @      2847 Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      10:00         1.5798 GBP - EURO     @      10:00         1.2363

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