RAMSEY CROOKALL

28th   June 2011

Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 trades up 0.4%, remaining in the black after the release of UK GDP data, having extended opening gains earlier. The third release of 1Q UK GDP is unrevised at +0.5% quarter-on-quarter, as expected. The positive tone can be attributed to expectations that the Greek parliament will pass austerity measures on Wednesday, as well as news that the French banks are prepared to roll over some of their Greek debt holdings. Severn Trent and United Utilities are the two best performers, up 3.5% and up2.7%, respectively, on renewed M&A activity in the sector.

Outsourcing giant Serco will tell investment analysts on Tuesday to stick with their full-year estimates, as nothing much has changed since its last trading update on 9 May. "For 2011, we expect good organic revenue growth and progress towards our 2012 margin guidance," the company said in its pre-close statement.

Emerging markets banking leviathan Standard Chartered said that it has continued to build on the strong start it made to the year, with income and profit both showing double-digit percentage growth year-on-year at the end of May.

Capita, the FTSE-100 outsourcing giant, has been given 'preferred bidder' status on a contract to provide call centre and council tax collection services for Lambeth council in South London. Capita originally won the contract in 1997 but it had come up for renewal this year.

THE FTSE 100 at 12:00                     Up               21           @     5743

THE DOW JONES closed                  Up               108          @    12043

THE NASDAQ COMP closed            Up               35           @    2688   Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5955 GBP - EURO         1.1182