LONDON (ShareCast) - Footsie (news) has shed more than forty points in early dealings with ex-dividends dragging the index lower in the absence of any major corporate news.
Vodafone
(LSE: VOD.L - news) , Cable & Wireless and AB Foods are all ex-their latest payouts today, but there are a lot of others as well and the index is strugglig to offset that negative influence.
Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) is also down again on the sale of its holding by Abu Dhabi's IPIC. The deal is now being dubbed the punt of the decade by the Times (1832.HK - news) as the Gulf state seems set to make a profit of at least £2bn on the deal after only eight months.
Northumbrian Water posted a fall in profits in the year to March 31 after being squeezed by higher energy costs and a fall in demand. Pre-tax profits fell to $152.7m from $170.3m the previous year, even as revenues climbed to $694.1m from $670.4m. The water supplier, which operates in the North East of England, said energy costs rose by more than 50% from the previous year, a bigger rise than was assumed at the last price review.
Underwriter Amlin (LSE: AML.L - news) is making a big push into Europe with the acquisition of state-owned Fortis Corporate Insurance for €350m. A placing of 23.5m new shares, 5% of the total of Amlin shares currently in issue, will help fund the deal.
Structural steel supplier Severfield-Rowen'sprofits for the current year will come in ahead of expectations after trading for the first five months of 2009 continued at the strong levels of 2008.
Exceptional charges ruined an otherwise exceptional year for aerospace and specialist engineering group Hampson Industries (LSE: HAMP.L - news) . The company's statutory loss before tax in the year to 31 March 2009 was £15.4m, compared to a profit of £9.2m the year before. Underlying pre-tax profit more than doubled, however, to £37.6m from £17m.
Oil and gas producer Premier Oil (LSE: PMO.L - news) has encountered oil and gas shows while performing test drilling on its Cá Rồng Đỏ exploration well (07-CRD-1X) well on Block (NYSE: HRB - news) 07/03 offshore Vietnam.
AIM-listed oil outfit Circle Oil (LSE: COP.L - news) has announced a gas discovery in its CGD-10 exploration well in the Sebou Pemit, Morocco. There was a discovery in the Lower Guebbas Sequence at a sustained rate of 3.9m standard cubic feet per day of gas. The perforated interval of 889.3 to 897 metres has a calculated net gas pay of 3.3 metres.
Dechra, the pharmaceuticals company focused on the veterinary sector, said that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given it approval to market Felimazole tablets in the USA. Felizamole is used for the treatment of feline hyperthyroidism and will the first licensed veterinary product of its type to be sold in the USA when it is launched in the next three months.
ET-China soared after travel company heavyweight Kuoni (KUNN.SW - news) snapped up a strategic stake in the China-focused travel company.
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