RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

EVENING REPORT 11th January 2011

It has been a good day for banks, with Societe Generale issuing a bullish note on the sector and the UK government throwing in the towel in its fight against the culture of excessive bonuses.

As a trade-off for no additional taxes on the expected £7bn of UK bonuses this year, the banks are in talks to raise their business lending by 10%, or £20bn, to £200bn. Shares in Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS are all sharply higher, helped by SocGen upgrading the European banking sector to “overweight”. In company updates, Marks and Spencer, slightly lower today, saw group sales rise 4% in the final quarter of 2010. The response to the figures from the investment analyst community was generally favourable but the cautious outlook on 2011 trading has put off some investors.

Elsewhere, in property British Land is to purchase Marble Arch House in London’s West End. The company is paying the present owners, The Portman Estate, £18m for the development site, which currently consists of two mixed use five story buildings on the corner of Seymour Street and the Edgware Road.

Finally, bedding and home furnishings retailer Dunelm had a tough time during the run up to Christmas, with its out of town retail locations hit by snow, while rising costs and consumer demand remain a concern. LFL sales for the 26 weeks to 1 January slipped 1.2% as a 4.2% tumble in the second quarter cancelled growth of 2.1% in the first three months of the financial year. It’s also cautious about the UK consumer environment and in its expectations for second half trading.

THE FTSE 100 CLOSED UP 57 @ 6014

THE DOW JONES AT 4.30 IS UP 58 @ 11,695

THE NASDAQ COMP AT 4.30 IS UP 9 @ 2717

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1.56 GBP – EUR 1.20

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