Tuesday April 29, 12:29 PM
London midday: Miners pull Footsie back
LONDON (ShareCast) - The mining sector has weakened through the morning, leaving London's blue chip index some way off its best levels and just above 6,100. BP (LSE: BP.L - news)
's first-quarter replacement cost profit was $6.59bn, compared with $4.44bn a year ago, an increase of 48%, well ahead of forecasts and boosted by the soaring price of oil. Royal Dutch Shell (Amsterdam: RDSA.AS - news) also beat forecasts with a 12% rise in first-quarter current cost of supply net income, also helped by record oil prices. Excluding non-operating items, profits were $7.85bn compared with forecasts of about $6.77bn. Production averaged 3.52m barrels daily, up slightly on last year. BG, due to report tomorrow, and Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE.L - news) are still going well. Miners are not sharing in the oil sector's buoyancy though, with copper prices falling amid concerns over US demand. Kazakhstan's ENRC is joined in the bottom 10 by compatriot Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ.L - news) , Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , Rio Tinto (Frankfurt: 855018 - news) and BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT.L - news) . Banks are only slightly lower after HBOS (LSE: HBOS.L - news) announced a $4bn rights issue.
terms are 2 new ordinary shares for every 5 existing ordinary shares at 275p per share. The shares are up even though the bank indicated the dividend payout ratio is to reduced to 40%. Friends Provident (LSE: FP.L - news) said first quarter new life & pensions business increased by 11% to £247m, ahead of market expectations. Strong international business drove overall sales, the group said in its first quarter update this morning. Pubs group JD Wetherspoon's like-for-like sales fell 0.1% in the third quarter with operating margins under pressure from higher marketing, food and labour costs. Like-for-like sales so far this financial year are down 1.5 percent, Wetherspoon added. Market research agency Taylor Nelson Sofres (LSE: TNN.L - news) confirmed it is in merger talks with GfK (Xetra: 587530 - news) , Germany's largest market research company. Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS (NYSE: TNS - news) ) and GfK have agreed a non-binding agreement setting out the terms of the envisaged "nil premium merger of equals" which will be effected by way of a share offer for TNS by GfK. An upbeat trading statement lifted computer games retailer Game, which reported the 13 weeks to 26 April had seen a 20.1% rise in like-for-like sales. Microchip designer Arm rallied as it reiterated its guidance for the current year. Own label consumer goods specialist McBride (LSE: MCB.L - news) slipped on a cautious trading statement. Glass mineral fibre insulation products manufacturer Superglass reported a rise in first-half pre-tax profits and said it remains optimistic about its second-half prospects. Pre-tax profit rose to £1.1m in the six months ended 29 February from £401,000 last time, however, turnover fell 4.2% to £20.5m. Clinical trial technology provider ClinPhone (LSE: CNP.L - news) slipped into the red after suffering operational difficulties in the summer of 2007, but said it finished the year strongly. In the year to 29 February the company registered a loss before tax of £2.5m, compared with a profit of £4.1m in the preceding year. Administrative expenses grew to £29.1m from £21.5m and amortisation of acquired intangible assets rose to £3.5m from £0.9m. Box office revenues at multiplex cinema operator Cineworld are up in 2008 despite a dearth of blockbuster films on release. Cineworld said total revenues in the 17 weeks to 24 April were up 3.4% on the corresponding period of 2007. Box office revenues rose 3.3%, while retail revenue grew 5.5%, but other income dipped 1.4%.
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