RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MIDDAY REPORT

20 AUGUST 2010

Leading shares have fallen after weak overnight markets in the Far East.

South Korean based state-run company KNOC has launched a hostile £18 a share cash bid for Dana, valuing the Aberdeen- based oil company at £1.87 billion.

Mitchells & Butlers is selling a portfolio of 333 non-core pubs for £373 million in cash to a private equity firm so that it can focus on the informal eating out market.

Today’s deal shrinks the firm’s portfolio to 1,580 restaurant’s and food-led pubs with higher growth potential, and provides money to spend on other growth opportunities in the informal eating out market.

Defence products group Cobham has won a contract worth up to $18 million to provide breathing kits for the US Air Force. But the shares are down after a broker downgraded the company saying it prefers rivals Thales and Meggitt.

Transport and logistics group Stobart has become the latest company to warn of the impact of government spending cuts, with its rail division hit by uncertainty over future expenditure.





THE FTSE AT 12.00 IS DOWN 34 @ 5176

THE DOW JONES CLOSED DOWN 144 @ 10,271

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED DOWN 36 @ 2178



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