RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

18th May 2011 Evening Report

The FTSE 100 closed 1.1% higher, as heavily-weighted mining stocks rallied on firming metals prices. Energy stocks also advanced on rising oil prices.. Real estate issues saw healthy gains, led by Land Securities, on well-received FY results. On the downside, Scottish & Southern Energy fell 1.3% after JPMorgan said it expects a disappointing outlook to be announced in the company's FY results.

Property giant Land Securities was one of the best performing stocks in the FTSE 100 after it posted a sharp rise in profits and net asset value in the year to 31 March and predicted continued growth as the recovery proceeds. Pre-tax profits climbed to £1.227bn from £1.069bn the previous year, while the net asset value per share was up to 885p from 750p.

Pharmaceuticals behemoth Shire moved into the regenerative medicine market through the $750m acquisition of Advanced BioHealing,a US firm best known for its Dermagraft wound care product.

Credit checking firm Experian said it met or exceeded all financial objectives last year, as it unveiled a 14% increase in underlying profit before tax to $973m. Revenue from continuing activities was up 10% at constant exchange rates. Organic revenue growth was 8%. Total group revenue came to $4.2bn, up from $3.9bn the year before.

Finally, oil and gas firm BG Group closed firmer after UBS upgraded the stock to a ‘buy’, from ‘neutral’, following the group’s recent share price weakness since its disappointing first quarter results.

THE FTSE 100 closed         Up 62 @ 5923

THE DOW JONES at 4:45 Up 26 @  12505

THE NASDAQ COMP at 4:45 Up 14 @   2797

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD           1.6153 GBP - EURO          1.1316