RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO MIDDAY REPORT

3 MARCH 2011

Shares are broadly higher after a good reception for most updates, while BSkyB moves ahead after the government gave News Corporation’s acquisition of the satellite broadcaster the green light.

The government has agreed to let Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp, the publisher of the Times and Sun, buy satellite broadcaster BSKyB in a deal that will see Sky News placed under independent control

IMI leads the risers after an increase in demand and cost cutting helped the engineer grow full-year profits by 44% to a new record, though the search for a new chairman goes on. Profit from continuing operations before tax and exceptional items rose to £304.4m from £211.7m in 2009 on revenue up 7% to £1.91bn. Reported profit leapt 64% to £306.1m and organic sales growth was 6%. Insurer Aviva ramped up profits by 35% in 2010, helped by cost cutting, and had a record year in the UK. The firm, which has 19m customers in Britain, posted a profit before tax of £2.44bn, up from £1.81bn in 2009. Operating earnings jumped 26% to £2.55bn. Oil and gas firm Tullow Oil gushes ahead after it hailed an “exceptional result” on its drilling of the Enyenra-2A appraisal well, in the Deepwater Tano licence offshore Ghana. Drilling successfully encountered oil in excellent quality sandstone reservoirs, with solid evidence of communication with the Owo-1 well, which confirms that the Owo oil discovery, now renamed Enyenra, is a major light oil field. Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey returned to profit in 2010 and has made a positive start to the current year with prices up in some places. The firm made a profit before tax and one-off items of £75.1m compared with a £96.1m loss in 2009 on revenue up a fraction at £2.6bn despite total completions falling from 15,166 to 14,272.

THE FTSE 100 AT NOON IS UP 75 @ 5990

THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 8 @ 12,066

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 10 @ 2748

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