RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

EVENING REPORT 1 February 2011

Shares added to the morning’s gains over the lunchtime session, buoyed by the prospect of a firm start on Wall Street.

Elsewhere, Antofagasta, Fresnillo and Kazakhmys were sporting the best gains. Gold miner Centamin Egypt was also in demand after it said "Recent political events in Egypt have not affected the safety of the company's employees or its day to day operations at its flagship project, Sukari. The company looks forward however to a speedy resolution to the current uncertainty and remains confident that such resolution will not negatively impact on the company's investment."

Peel Hunt was sceptical, however. In its view, the fourth quarter figures confirm “a sharp slowdown in the second half and the risk to 2011 estimates is on the downside even though the company continues to claim that analysts are being too conservative.”

Peel Hunt also took on the party-pooper role with ARM Holdings. Booming demand for mobile phones, tablet computers and other low-powered devices meant 2010 saw the highest ever annual revenues, profits and cash generation for the chip designer, but Peel Hunt noted that the figures were boosted by two one-off items. Specialist carpet and floor coverings retailer Carpetright is a little downtrodden after it warned it now expects profits for the year to 30 April 2011 to be below the current range of market expectations as difficult trading conditions continue. Group sales declined by 6.4%, with the year on year effect of closing its operations in Poland accounting for 0.4% of this decline.

Tate and Lyle, the food ingredients firm, remains on track to meet its full-year targets after an encouraging third quarter performance. Reporting on the October to December quarter, the group saw continued growth in sales volumes worldwide within its Speciality Foods ingredients division. .

THE FTSE 100 CLOSED UP 94 @ 5957 THE DOW JONES AT 4.30 IS UP 101 @ 11,993

THE NASDAQ COMP AT 4.30 IS UP 35 @ 2735

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