RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

15th September 2011

Evening  Report

The FTSE 100 finished 2.1% higher at 5337, helped by strong banking shares after the promise of dollar liquidity operations by the world's major central banks eases European banks' funding problems. Barclays ends +3.9%, Lloyds Banking Group +7.2%. The coordinated effort by the Fed, BOE, ECB, BOJ and SNB should help euro-zone interbank liquidity conditions in the near term, says Oriel Securities. The extent to which the lift seen in European markets Thursday can be maintained will be dictated by confidence, or otherwise, that European leaders can rally behind Greece and save it from a default, adds City Index.

In company news, B&Q owner Kingfisher (up 4.8%) is flying high after it saw its underlying profit before tax in the 26 weeks to 30 July rise 24% from a year earlier to £439m, on the back of a 3.8% rise in sales. That comfortably beat Panmure Gordon's forecast of £409m.

Ian Cheshire, Chief Executive of the DIY retailer said he was confident the group would continue to outperform, despite challenging conditions for retailers. The interim dividend has been bumped up 28.3% to 2.47p from 1.925p last year.

Homewares retailer Dunelm Group (up 5.8%) is wanted after it unveiled robust results for the year to 2 July, with revenue and pre-tax profit both up 9%. Although like-for-like growth was slightly down by 0.6% from a year earlier, revenues rose from £492.8m to £538.5m, while profit before tax profit moved up to £83.6m from £76.8m the year before.

Shares in Jardine Lloyd Thompson (up 7.1%) (JLT) jumped after it announced that the international conglomerate Jardine Matheson plans to acquire about 10% of the insurance broker, bringing its stake to more than 40%. While the funds will strengthen JLT’s competitive position, Jardine Matheson’s holding of 40.35% in the company will still allow it to retain its independence, JLT said.

Gold and base metals miner ECR Minerals (up 9.4%)soared after the firm confirmed high grades of gold from a sampling programme for the Sierra de las Minas project in La Rioja Province, Argentina. Assay results for 58 samples taken across 13 prospects during July and August showed high grades including 32.5 g/t, 21.9 g/t and 14.5 g/t of gold. Four prospects are now being judged as priority targets for further work.

Gable Holdings (up 12.8%), the insurance company, saw pre-tax profits rise 52% to £2m in the six months ending 30 June. Total earned premiums rose 47% to £10.6m while gross “written” premiums hit £12.2m, up 41%. The shares are sharply higher.

THE FTSE 100 Closed                              Up 110        @    5,337

HE DOW JONES @ 16.45                             Up 98        @   11,345

THE NASDAQ COMP @ 16.45                          Up 18        @   2,591





Exchange Rates

GBP – USD     @ 16.45      1.5802 GBP - EURO   @ 16.45      1.1406

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