RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MIDDAY REPORT

1 OCTOBER 2010

Shares got off to a strong start on the first day of the last quarter, with oil stocks setting the pace.

BP is higher amid speculation that dividends will soon be resumed. Bob Dudley, who becomes chief executive of the oil company today, said that the board would meet soon to discuss restoring payouts next year, according to newspaper reports.

But it is BP’s rival BG that is causing most excitement. BG’s Spanish peer Repsol has announced a deal with the Chinese refiner Sinopec, which will result in Sinopec holding a 40% stake in Repsol’s Brazilian unit. BG Group and Repsol have been exploring for oil in waters of Brazil in partnership and the deal is also seen as supportive to BG.

In the FTSE 250, drugs group Hikma Pharmaceuticals has moved to calm fears about the impact of a plan by US regulators to ban unapproved oral colchicine products to treat gout. The company said it will comply with any FDA regulatory requirements related to the sale of colchicine “if such a notice is served”, but still predicts 20% revenue growth for its US generics business for the full year 2010 “irrespective of the timing of such notification”.

And having thought about it all week Cooper Controls has launched a rival bid for Mount Engineering at 82p a share, topping Redhall’s 70p a share offer.

Finally, Spectris, the mid-cap instrumentation and controls company, has bought American maker of rugged industrial networking components N-TRON for $51m (£32m).

THE FTSE 100 AT 12.15 IS UP 31 @ 5580

THE DOW JONES CLOSED DOWN 47 @ 10,788

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED DOWN 7 @ 2368

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 5833 GBP – EUR 1. 153





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