RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MIDDAY REPORT 10 th December 2010

It's been a very quiet morning so far with little company news and even the eurozone front calming down a little.

Standard Chartered is the worst performer with investors still a little unsettled by its admission yesterday that costs are rising faster than revenues.

Rolls-Royce is another faller on a report this morning that the cost of putting right its Trent 900 engine could hit $500m.

Prudential is going well on an upgrade from US broker Morgan Stanley to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight'. 'The shift to a more balanced approach will help fuel a re-rating of the shares,' said the investment bank. Associated British Foods and Anglo American are the other top risers.

Elsewhere, property company British Land and investment firm Blackstone Group have submitted planning application for 5 Broadgate, the office building in the City that initially will be let out to Swiss banking giant UBS.

Down a division, infrastructure specialist Balfour Beatty has won a contract extension in conjunction with London Underground. The five-year contract, worth around £110m to Balfour Beatty, is to carry out track renewal work.

Oilfield services firm Wood Group has been awarded a five-year gas turbine Term Maintenance Agreement by Stadtwerke München, Germany's largest municipal gas and electricity company.

Flybe, Britain’s biggest domestic airline, has priced its flotation at 295p, valuing the carrier at £215m. Conditional dealings start this morning. The airline will sell 20.4m new shares, some 28% of the company, which will raise about £60m for the carrier.

THE FTSE 100 AT NOON IS DOWN 4 @ 5803

THE DOW JONES CLOSED DOWN 2 @ 11,370

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 7 @ 2616

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1.15 GBP – EUR 1.19 ??

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