Ive been researching quite a few Footsie (news) giants of late, trying to see what their prospects are as the recession continues. Not easy, as most of them seem very healthy. And yet their share prices are disappointing.

Ive been looking at their websites. Now we all know that websites paid for and nurtured by the companies themselves are going to be biased and clad in rosy spectacles. So they are.

But if you look at the profits records, you may well find that they are rather good. Not always, of course. But mostly. Some of these firms are certainly defying the recession. The figures for the end of 2008, where their financial years ended at this point, can be up on 2007.

One firm Ive been looking at saw a sixty per cent rise in underlying profits. That is from the end of year 2007 to 2008. There was no sign of a slackening off in orders and the big cheese was confident theyll do even better this year.

Now we cannot deny the big slump. Jobs in the UK are disappearing down the drain at a terrible rate. And yet big Britain-based firms, which do a lot of trading abroad are weathering the storm. Some of them are benefiting from the fallen pound. Some do such important stuff for the economies of other countries that they are still welcomed with open arms.

If order books are still quite strong for some giants and their profits were up last year, it all seems rather encouraging to me. Yes, the Footsie looks a bit sickly this week, but should it be? If share prices are really lower than they ought to be, we might see a surge to correct the situation eventually, if not quite soon.

So I remain cheerful in the face of growing government debt and falling job totals. I only wish the big traders would support me and then we could really see some upward action. Patience is certainly required, though Im not sure I can stand the suspense. Rock on.