RAMSEY CROOKALL

27th   June 2011

Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 is up 0.3%, rising in line with European stocks amid hopes for a successful conclusion to Greece's financial fix. Signals from Berlin are that a Greek withdrawal from the euro is not the right way to solve the crisis.. AstraZeneca is down 1.1% after a safety update on its dapagliflozin diabetes drug, with RBS reducing its price target.

Grocery deliverer Ocado is flying off the shelf after it said the only limit on its growth is capacity as it moved into profit in the half year to 15 May and announced a deal to supply products from French supermarket Carrefour. The company edged into the black during the period, posting a pre-tax profit of £0.2m against a loss of £6.7m over the same period the previous year. Revenue increased to £276.6m from £230.3m.

Salamander Energy is swimming near the surface after saying it has discovered oil at one of its projects in Thailand. A well drilled in the East Terrace block “encountered 35 metres of net oil pay within three zones”, Salamander said.

Global banking titan HSBC said its Saudi wholesale and investment banking business is to merge with a subsidiary of the Saudi British Bank (SABB).

UBM, the FTSE 250 business events organiser and publisher, has signed an agreement to sell its UK entertainment and technology product portfolio to Intent Media Ltd for £2.4m.

THE FTSE 100 at 12:00                                 Up              16        @     5714

THE DOW JONES closed                                  Down            115       @    11934

THE NASDAQ COMP closed                                Down            33        @     2652   Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.59 GBP - EURO         1.12