RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO
MIDDAY REPORT
25 February 2011
Trading in London has been halted after some technical glitches at the start of the day,
the LSE announced this morning.
The exchange said it is looking into the problem. It halted its SETS and SETSqx services,
while uncrossing trades that took place in the opening auction are under investigation for
possible cancellation. LSE moved its main market trading to the MillenniumIT system earlier
this month.
Early movements had shown an improvement on reports Saudi Arabia is prepared to increase
crude supplies. The kingdom has entered “active talks” with European oil companies on how
to meet the shortfall caused by the turmoil in Libya
Elsewhere, state-controlled Lloyds Banking fell even though it swung back into an underlying
profit last year as impairment charges almost halved and retail net margins improved. Pre-tax
profits were £281m, down from £1bn, but on a continuing basis profits were £2.2bn against a
loss of £6.4bn. Market forecasts had been for a profit between £1-1.8bn.
Finally, the first set of results from International Airlines Group (IAG), the company formed
by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, showed the group made a profit last year, despite
higher fuel costs. The pro-forma results for 2010 are based on full year figures from Iberia
and nine-month figures from British Airways, and showed 2010 revenue rose 10% to €14,798m from
€13,456m in 2009. Profit before tax was €84m, compared to a loss of €1,158m in 2009.
THE FTSE 100 AT 12.30 IS UP 42 @ 5977
THE DOW JONES CLOSED DOWN 37 @ 12,068
THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 14 @ 2737
Exchange Rates
GBP – USD 1.6117
GBP - EURO 1.1667
Friday 25th, February 2011 01:10pm.
