RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO
EVENING REPORT 25 January 2011
Britain’s economy shrank in the fourth quarter, surprising analysts who had only been expecting
a slight slowdown from the solid growth seen the previous three months. Gross domestic product
(GDP) contracted by 0.5% between October and December according to figures released by the Office
for National Statistics (ONS), having grown by 0.7%in the previous three months. The latest figures
are still be revised, but are still a shock given that analysts had been expecting growth of about
0.2% to 0.6%.
In Market news, miners were in decline with African Barrick Gold leading them down. Randgold
Resources and Kazakhmys were also lower.
Elsewhere, European banks were also out of favour with Lloyds Banking the biggest faller.
International Consolidated Airlines fell back on its second day of trading.
Friends Provident, the trading business of life insurance consolidator Resolution, has appointed
Lloyds Banking man Andy Briggs as chief executive with current incumbent Trevor Matthews moving
to a new post of vice chairman. This has sparked a rise in the Resolution share price.
Finally, AIM-quoted Craneware, which provides revenue calculating software to US hospitals, says that
its interim profit is set to grow by more than one-third. Revenues are 24% ahead at $16.6m in the six
months to December 2010, while EBITDA is likely to be 35% higher at $4.6m.
THE FTSE 100 CLOSED DOWN 26 @ 5917
THE DOW JONES AT 4.30 IS DOWN 108 @ 11,980
THE NASDAQ COMP AT 4.30 IS DOWN 18 @ 2698
Exchange Rates
GBP – USD 1.58
GBP - EURO 1.15
Tuesday 25th, January 2011 05:11pm.
