RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

EVENING REPORT

26 JULY 2010

London share prices closed at the day’s highs as Wall Street opened strongly.

Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays showed strong gains after they sailed through the European banking system stress tests last week.

BP climbed 18p to 417p after the oil giant confirmed it will hold a board meeting today to decide the fate of chief executive Tony Hayward, but said no final decision has been made.

Shares in Tullow Oil rallied 60p to ?12.39. It has found a significant column of excellent quality light oil when drilling the Owo-1 exploration well in the Deepwater Tano licence offshore Ghana.

Financial Times publisher Pearson reported a rise in first-half profits and increased its full-year outlook. Adjusted pre-tax profit rose to ?203 million from ?111 million. The board declared an interim dividend of 13p per share, a 7% increase on 2009.

Reckitt Benckiser saw net revenue rise by 10% to ?2,061 million in the second quarter of 2010. Net income improved 23% to ?380 million in line with the group’s full year targets.

Digital TV set-top box maker Pace reported a 46% hike in half year pre-tax profit and announced the proposed acquisition of 2Wire for an expected $55 million to beef up its US customer base.

Connaught warned that debt levels would be worse than feared and that it was set to breach the terms of its loans, sending its shares 70% lower.

THE FTSE AT CLOSE UP 38 @ 5351

THE DOW JONES AT 4.30 IS UP 72 @ 10,494

THE NASDAQ COMP 4.30 IS UP 17 @ 2287

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 549

GBP – EUR 1. 199