RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MIDDAY REPORT

10 AUGUST 2010

London shares are lower in early dealings as comments from hotel and travel firms suggest consumers are starting to feel the pinch.

Worries over the economy have certainly caught up with travel group TUI Travel, which warned profits this year will be at the low end of forecasts after UK bookings faltered. Bookings by Britons fell 2% over the past 12 weeks with the Netherlands also down by 3%.

Intercontinental Hotels is also lower even though it said the hotel trade is showing signs of recovering from the effects of the recession, and not just at the budget end of the market. The Holiday Inn owner reported a better than expected 22% rise in operating profit to $219 million in the six months ended 30 June.

International Power shareholders will own 30% of the new company to be formed by the merger of the UK power company with French electricity giant GDF Suez Energy International. The proposed combination , which has the full backing of the International Power board, will be effected through a reverse takeover of GDF’s businesses.

Cairn Energy is the stand out riser on hopes the oil explorer will find something special from its activity in Greenland.

Housebuilders are under pressure after the latest survey from trade body RICS showed surveyors are seeing house prices fall for the first time since July 2009.

Few buyers and a rush for new properties onto the market are blamed. Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Bellway and Bovis are all lower.

THE FTSE AT NOON IS DOWN 12 @ 5398

THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 45 @ 10,698

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 17 @ 2305

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 575

GBP – EUR 1. 969