RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

EVENING REPORT 24 January 2011

Banks were weak after comments by the head of the Independent Banking Commission over stricter capital rules and possible separation of the retail and investment bank arms. The political problems in Ireland have also unsettled the mood. RBS and Lloyds sustain chunky losses, while Barclays was also lower.

International Consolidated Airlines, the newly formed British Airways-Iberia entity, is up on its first day.

Standard Chartered has agreed to buy Singapore-based car and personal loans business GE Money for an undisclosed sum. Though no financial details have been disclosed, talk is that GE will get as much as S$900m (£439m) for the unit.

Grocery delivery firm Ocado was top of the FTSE 250 risers on rumours that a bid for the company could be in the offing. Supermarket chain Morrisons, which lacks an online offering, is being touted as one possible buyer, as is Walmart-owned Asda.

Elsewhere in food, Premier Foods was higher, though off its earlier highs, after announcing that it has sold its vegetarian foods business to a private equity consortium for £205m as it seeks to reduce its debt burden. Premier, whose most famous brands include Hovis bread and Sharwood’s cooking sauces, sold the division to Exponent Private Equity, whose current portfolio includes the bed retailer Dreams and the rail ticket website thetrainline.com.

Finally, banknote printer De La Rue has rejected an improved offer from French rival Oberthur. Oberthur increased its offer for De La Rue to 935p from 905p previously, but De La Rue said that this “continues to undervalue significantly the strong fundamentals of the Company and its long term prospects.”

THE FTSE 100 CLOSED UP 47 @ 5943

THE DOW JONES AT 4.30 IS UP 73 @ 11,944

THE NASDAQ COMP AT 4.30 IS UP 21 @ 2710

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