FTSE 100 Movers: Petrofac leads the way

13th Dec 2011 14:51

Oilfield services firm Petrofac soared into the top spot after announcing that it expects to deliver like-for-like (LFL) profit growth in 2011 of at least 20%, the company announced this morning.While the order book may have "unwound" slightly (from $10.8bn in September to $10.6bn expected at the end of the year), Evolution Securities said it remains relaxed given the strong revenue visibility for Petrofac's engineering and construction activities. Evolution Securities reiterated its add rating and 1,700p target, while Investec reiterated its buy rating on the stock and put its 1,705p target under review.Rio Tinto also jumped after it triumphed in its battle to win the right to take over its hostile joint-venture partner Ivanhoe Mines, after an independent arbitrator ruled that Ivanhoe's "poison pill" defence is invalid and that Rio was not in breach of an agreement between the two firms.Rio, which currently owns a 49% stake in Ivanhoe, had its attempts to increase its stake in the firm thwarted by Ivanhoe's introduction of a shareholders' rights plan last year, which was intended to prevent Rio from increasing its stake when its five-year agreement limiting its stake to 49% expires in January.Miners generally were performating well, with Vedanta Resources, Kazakhmys and ENRC all up on the back of some confident remarks from 'down under'.Australia's Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) upped its guidance for iron ore and thermal coal exports to reflect "recent expansions to mine and infrastructure capacity", according to BREE executive director and chief economist Quentin Grafton. Reuters also cited growing demand from China as a reason for the raised forecasts. Meanwhile shares in Costa Coffee and Premier Inn owner Whitbread dived on news that LFL sales growth had slowed.Although total sales for the company's third quarter - the 13 weeks to December 1 - were up 11.4% on a LFL basis, there are signs that the even the company's coffee shops are starting to run out of steam. For the group as a whole, sales at outlets which have been open longer than a year rose just 2.4% year-on-year compared to 3.3% growth in the first half. Terrestrial broadcaster ITV was higher, a day after winning the rights to England opening and final matches in the pool stage the Euro 2012 football championship. "ITV aims to cash in on guaranteed audiences in group stage rather than gambling on England qualifying for knockout stages," according to Nomura.FTSE 100 - RisersPetrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,459.00p +6.26%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,123.00p +5.45%Man Group (EMG) 135.50p +4.07%ITV (ITV) 63.75p +3.41%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 907.50p +3.12%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,366.00p +2.86%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 25.12p +2.85%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,203.00p +2.69%BG Group (BG.) 1,358.50p +2.57%Essar Energy (ESSR) 208.90p +2.45%FTSE 100 - FallersWhitbread (WTB) 1,502.00p -4.70%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,189.00p -2.30%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,091.00p -1.27%Kingfisher (KGF) 245.20p -1.17%Tesco (TSCO) 388.65p -0.73%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 325.50p -0.61%Prudential (PRU) 621.00p -0.48%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,417.50p -0.14%Meggitt (MGGT) 347.90p -0.09%Next (NXT) 2,600.00p 0.00%NR