RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MIDDAY REPORT

22 OCTOBER 2010

London has opened lower, with attention distracted by the huge AIA float in Hong Kong and Betfair's listing in London.

Meanwhile online betting firm Betfair has priced its London float at 1,300p, valuing it at a more modest £1.39bn.

There are red faces at Legal & General this morning as it revealed its third quarter results more than two weeks early after it sent them to analysts last night by mistake. Included were figures revealing total worldwide new business on an annual premium equivalent (APE) basis of £466m in the three months to 30 September, taking the nine-month number to £1.35bn, up 27% on 2009.

Elsewhere, BSkyB added more customers than expected in the first quarter, boosting revenue by 15% and profit by 25%, but there’s no word on News Corp's bid to take over the satellite broadcaster. Net customer growth of 96,000 in the three months to 30 September took the total to 9.96m, while a 12% increase in net product growth of 989,000 was a record.

Finally, African Barrick Gold’s profit fell 8% during the third quarter and revenue dipped 1%. Net income dropped to $40m during the three months to 30 September from $43m a year ago and sales of $209m compare with $211m in 2009. The company, which recently slashed production forecasts at its Buzwagi operation following a huge fuel theft, blamed the quarterly drop in revenue on a drop in ounces sold, though this was partially offset by 29% increase in the average realised gold price to $1,233 an ounce.

THE FTSE 100 AT NOON IS DOWN 16 @ 5741 THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 38 @ 11,146 THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 2 @ 2459

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 57

GBP – EUR 1. 1276 ??

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