RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

EVENING REPORT

20 SEPTEMBER 2010

The UK equity market continued to move higher during the afternoon session buoyed by strong gains on Wall Street as the National Bureau of Economic Research officially called an end to the recession in the US.

In company news BAE Systems has strengthened its position in the US counter-terrorism market with the acquisition of the consultancy division of American firm L-1 Identity Solutions. The UK weapons group will pay $296m in cash for the L-1 division, which comprises three firms SpecTal, Advanced Concepts and McClendon.

Global banking titan HSBC is to sell its wholesale banknotes business in Asia to United Overseas Bank (UOB). UOB is paying $15m in cash for the assets, with the transfer expected to take place in the final quarter of 2010.

And WPP has beefed up its Asian business with the acquisition of a 51% stake in Singapore-based Comwerks, a full service digital agency with a big list of government and public sector clients. Comwerks Interactive, only eight years old, specializes in digital media and web 2.0 solutions.

Elsewhere, Salamander Energy, the oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Asia, said the rig to be used on its Bontang PSC asset in Indonesia should arrive in the drilling area in the first week of October.

Another oil and gas company, Sterling Energy, has seen its share price slump after mixed results with its latest exploration well drill tests in Kurdistan.

And finally, Discovery Metals, the Botswana-focused miner, has lived up to its name, having unearthed two new exploration targets southwest of its Boseto Copper Project.

THE FTSE 100 CLOSED UP 94 @ 5602

THE DOW JONES AT 4.30 IS UP 106 @ 10,714

THE NASDAQ COMP AT 4.30 IS UP 25 @ 2340



Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 557 GBP – EUR 1. 19