RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO May 9th  2012

Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.4% at 5530.05, off the day's lows as investors picked up some beaten-down stocks. Worries about the political limbo in Greece and the health of Spanish banks continued to undermine sentiment.

ITV performed well after saying that its first-half net advertising revenues will be ahead of the market, thanks to an expected boost from the Euro 2012 football tournament. Revenues at Broadcasting & Online edged up a mere 1% to £440m in the first three months of 2012 from £436m the year before, but ITV Studios' performance had a lot more pep, with its revenues surging 61% to £212m from £132m.

Sainsbury’s latest figures, did not disappoint in comparison to the other supermarket giants Morrison’s and Tesco who have disappointed with their latest trading updates. Underlying profit before tax in the 52 weeks to March 17th was up 7.1% to £712m from £665m the year before, pretty much in line with market expectations.

Engineering giant Weir Group fell after it said that it has experienced a plunge in orders in its oil and gas division. Order input fell 26% on a like-for-like basis in the company's oil and gas division, which the firm put down to rapid changes in the pressure pumping market. Morgan Stanley also downgraded the firm.

Business software group Sage  fell after saying that a strategic switch to subscription revenues, plus difficulties in Europe, have constrained growth in the six months to the end of March.

Satellite communications firm Inmarsat was up after first quarter earnings rose slightly on strong demand at its maritime unit. For the three months ended March 31st 2012 total EBITDA rose one per cent to $205m while total revenue increased six per cent to $237m. Maritime revenue was up 7.2% at $95.4m.

On the rise was airline easyJet after reporting that its interim losses were lower than expected, helped by a increased revenues and tight control of costs. Loss before tax for the six months to the end of March narrowed year-on-year from £153m to £112m, while revenues rose 15.7% from £1,266m to £1,465m.

THE FTSE 100             closed            Down       24       @      5,530 THE DOW JONES            @ 17:00           Down       75       @     12856 THE NASDAQ               @ 17:00           Down       7        @      2939 Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      17:00              1.6128 GBP - EURO     @      17:00              1.2450 ??

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