RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

18th May 2011 Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 is maintaining early gains as real estate stocks rally on the back of well-received results from Land Securities. Heavily-weighted mining shares also lend support amid firm metals prices. On the downside, however, Scottish & Southern Energy is the biggest decliner, down following a bearish note on the stock by JPMorgan, which says it sees a number of headwinds for the group in '11/'12.

Property giant Land Securities is towering above the rest of 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 is moving 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

THE FTSE 100 at 12:00         Up 46 @ 5907

THE DOW JONES closed Down 68 @  12479

THE NASDAQ COMP closed Flat @    2783

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD           1.6170 GBP - EURO         1.1350