RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MIDDAY REPORT

21 JULY 2010

Apple’s exceptional results announced overnight in the US after the bell and a resurgence of bid activity in the UK have boosted sentiment for London shares.

Reckitt Benkiser’s ?2.5 billion bid for SSL announced this morning and the bids for Tomkins and International Power on Monday have set the market alight.

Reckitt will pay SSL shareholders ?11.63 per share with a final dividend taking the total up to ?11.71 per share.

TUI Travel shares are up 11p at 233p on takeover talk, with TUI Ag said to be interested in tidying up its holdings on the travel operator.

Ocado has slashed the price at which shares in the delivery group will be floated following widespread criticism of its initial flotation plans. Shares in the company, which delivers groceries from the supermarket Waitrose, will be floated at 180p after slashing the IPO price from its original 200p to 275p price range.

BP has sold $7 billion of upstream assets in the United States, Canada and Egypt to Apache Corporation. The sales are part of its plan to raise $10 billion by offloading non-core assets to cover claims made following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Platinum refiner Johnson Matthey, up 41p at ?16.41 has had a strong start to the financial year, but the company, which sells catalysts for cars, warned that second quarter results may be affected by reduced consumer confidence.



THE FTSE AT 12.30 IS UP 85 @ 5225

THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 75 @ 10,229

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 24 @ 2222

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 525

GBP – EUR 1. 191