RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

EVENING REPORT

3 NOVEMBER 2010

London has not been short of corporate newsflow to generate share price movements among the blue-chips but the net effect has left the FTSE 100 little changed. Lloyds Banking’s announcement of its new chief executive has attracted investor excitement. The group has appointed Antonio Horta-Osorio, the head of Spanish bank Santander's UK business, as its new chief executive replacing Eric Daniels who is stepping down.

Bus and train group FirstGroup revealed a 14% increase in first half profit, driven by continued strength at its UK rail and bus businesses.

Elsewhere, business consulting and information technology contracting specialist Logica returned to year on year revenue growth in the third quarter, albeit only by a whisker. Third quarter revenue increased to £863m from £862m in the corresponding period of 2009, but the UK remains in ex-growth mode.

Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk, the old Peter Hambro Mining, has cut its full-year production target again following delays at its Pioneer mine, first flagged in August.

Safety equipment group Halma has acquired US firm Alicat Scientific for a cash consideration of $25.2m. Alicat, a privately-owned business in Tucson, Arizona, designs and manufactures mass flow meters and controllers. For the financial year ended September 2010, Alicat made an operating profit of $3.2m (£2m).

Finally, shareholders of energy efficiency firm eaga were feeling the heat again as the shares hit a 52-week low on the back of news about a costly restructuring. The cash element of the restructuring costs could total £20m million and would be incurred across the next 24 months, the company said.

THE FTSE 100 CLOSED DOWN 8 @ 5748

THE DOW JONES AT 4.30 IS DOWN 18 @ 11,168 THE NASDAQ COMP AT 4.30 IS DOWN 12 @ 2521 Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 6085

GBP – EUR 1. 1473













































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