RAMSEYCROOKALL & CO
20th May 2011 Afternoon Report
The FTSE 100 is up 0.1%, remaining in the black but well off earlier highs. BP continues
to lead the upside, as investors welcome its agreement with MOEX Offshore. Standard
Chartered is also on the front foot, after a broker upgrade. Outside the FTSE 100, Micro
Focus International is up on reports that Advent International is interested in the company.
BP’s shares are higher after it said MOEX, part of the Japanese trading house Mitsui and
the 10% owner of the Macondo oil well that blew up so disastrously last year, has agreed
to pay the British oil giant $1.1m (£680,000).
Pub group Mitchells & Butlers’s trumpeting of the success of its move into food sales has
failed to prevent sharp falls in its share price this morning. It made more money from food
than drink for the first time in the half year to 9 April, but pre-tax profits at the All
Bar One and O’ Neills owner fell to £43m from £72m in the same period the previous year on
total revenues that fell to £946m from £1.04bn.
Scottish and Southern Energy, the utility company, bumped up its dividend a bit more than
expected. The full year dividend has been hiked 7.1% to 75p from 70p last year, a shade
above market expectations of a 74.8p pay-out. Adjusted profit before tax in the year to
March 31st rose 1.6% to £1,310m from £1,290m the year before, topping the market consensus
forecast of £1.24bn.
Shares in HMV have soared after the CD, DVD and book retailer said it has agreed to sell
its bookshop chain has reached agreement on the sale of its bookshop chain Waterstones to
the Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, for £53m.
THE FTSE 100 at 12:05 Up 8 @ 5964
THE DOW JONES closed Up 45 @ 12605
NASDAQ COMP closed Up 8 @ 2823
Exchange Rates
GBP – USD 1.6225
GBP - EURO 1.1391
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