RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

MIDDAY REPORT

20 JULY 2010

London’s blue chips drift lower with gains on miners marginally outweighing heavy falls for telecom stocks. With metals prices firming up mining stocks are in demand. Rio Tinto, Vedanta and Xstrata are showing gains of between 1 and 2%

Cable & Wireless Worldwide shares fall 14p to 69p after it warned that the coalition government’s emergency budget will cause earnings growth to slow this year and come in at the lower end of the range of expectations.

William Hill reported a rise in second quarter revenues, though gains from the World Cup were partly offset by a loss making Royal Ascot festival. For the year to date, net revenue was up about 3% and pre exceptional earnings for the first half are expected to be around ?135 million from ?134.6 million last time.

Enterprise Inns up 3p at 97p has continued to see an ‘improving trend’ since the interim results on 11 May and predicts full year results will match forecasts.

Severn Trent’s customers kept consumption steady over the past three months from April, while prices declined by 0.7%. As a result, the water utility has kept its guidance unchanged for this year and the shares are trading up 4p at ?12.80.

Profits jumped by a quarter last year at spread betting firm IG Group as its bad debt charge tumbled and equity markets settled after the volatility of 2009. The shares are down 10p at 456p.

THE FTSE AT 12.20 IS DOWN 26 @ 5121

THE DOW JONES CLOSED UP 56 @ 10,154

THE NASDAQ COMP CLOSED UP 19 @ 2198

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD 1. 518

GBP – EUR 1. 176