RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO
MIDDAY REPORT 28 January 2011
London has slipped back in early dealings after a dull day on
Wall Street and weak showing in Asia overnight.
Miners are dragging Footsie lower. Antofagasta, BHP Billiton and
Xstrata are worst affected. A poor consumer confidence reading has
hurt TUI Travel with other direct consumer-facing groups also under
pressure.
There is little big company news to distract attention. Pubs owner
and ale brewer Marston’s said profitability was in line with
expectations in the 16 weeks to 22 January. Its managed pubs division
grew like for like (LFL) sales by 2.1%. LFL sales for the six weeks to
8 January were flat.
There were also few problems with snow in December for London-based
pub owner and brewer Fuller's. Like for like sales in the core Managed
Pubs and Hotels business grew by 3.7% over the 10 weeks to 22 January,
bringing the like for like sales growth for the 43 weeks to 3.5%.
Elsewhere, Energy Generation has turned down a takeover approach that
valued the wind farm operator at close to £70m. The company, which also
runs an electricity generation plant fuelled by waste vegetable oil,
said the approach, received this month, was made up of cash and shares
and worth about 67.7p a share.
Finally, Spread bet firm WorldSpreads will make a loss this year instead
of an expected profit after revenues from new countries came in lower
than anticipated. WorldSpreads opened offices in France, Germany, Denmark
and Sweden in October but marketing lead times have been longer than
forecast and market volatility lower.
THE FTSE 100 AT NOON IS DOWN 45 @ 5919
THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 4 @ 11,989
THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 15 @ 2755
Exchange Rates
GBP – USD 1.58
GBP - EURO 1.15
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