London afternoon: Centrica claims victory

24th Aug 2009 14:33

The Footsie regained some of its momentum over the lunch-time session, helped by expectations of a firm start on Wall Street.Centrica is wanted after it declared victory in its battle to take over Venture Production. The British Gas owner bought another 8.4% of Venture shares this morning, taking its holding to 40.1%, which, together with acceptances of its offer was enough to give it control of the Aberdeen-based oil and gas firm.Earlier in the day Venture Production had announced farm-in agreements with two companies on some of its acreage in the southern North Sea.Elsewhere in the oil sector oil services group Petrofac lifted its dividend for the six months to June 30 as revenues and profits rose in spite on the sharp drop in oil prices from the same period the previous year. Advertising firm WPP remains the best performer ahead of results on Wednesday that are expected to show a fall in like-for-like revenue of around 9%. Deutsche Bank gave the stock a boost by upgrading it from 'hold' to 'buy'.Distribution and outsource specialist Bunzl is another high flyer. It reported a rise in interim pre-tax profits but warned that the challenging economic environment will continue to put pressure on underlying sales and profitability. Mining giant Rio Tinto is reportedly in talks with the Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) over co-operation in bauxite and alumina production. The Australian Financial Review newspaper quoted Rio Tinto's chief financial officer Guy Elliott as saying the talks are at a very early stage. Earlier this year Rio Tinto pulled out of a deal that would have seen Chinalco lift its stake in Rio Tinto to around 18% in return for a $19.5bn cash injection.Security solutions provider G4S saw continued strong performance across all parts of its business globally in the first half of 2009. Profit before interest, tax and amortisation rose 13.4% to £229.8m from £202.6m in the first half of 2008. Organic turnover growth slowed, however, to 4.8% from 10.5% a year earlier.Housebuilder Bovis saw profits drop sharply in the half year due to the adverse impact from significantly lower home sales prices, though private legal completions grew by 18%. Chemicals company Yule Catto expects full-year results to be slightly ahead of expectations after a solid first half. Underlying profit before tax, which excludes certain items, rose by 14% to £19.9m in the six months to 30 June 2009 from £17.4m in the first half of last year.Engineer and construction contractor Balfour Beatty has bagged a road building contract in Fort Worth, Texas. Its US civil engineering subsidiary has been selected to work on phase four of the State Highway 161 Tollway project. Defence technology group QinetiQ has secured a AUS$23m contract from the Australian Department of Defence for TALON robots and replacement parts to support Australian Defence Forces deployed on operations.Power systems developer Rolls-Royce has won two more contracts from PetroChina relating to the West to East Gas Pipeline Project (WEPP).Amlin, Lloyd's of London biggest insurer, raised its interim dividend as it reported a 29% hike in first half pre-tax profit but cautioned that the upcoming hurricane season could increase claims payouts.FDM Group has received a a revised proposal from its management team that may or may not lead to an offer for the IT services business at 135 pence per share.Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping has improved its working capital situation through a conversion of a long term charter liability to equity. It has also raised £2.6m through a placing of shares at 21.52p, a substantial premium on its overnight mid-market price.Shares in Mavinwood more than doubled after the services group announced it is in 'very preliminary' takeover talks. Another AIM-listed stock, Essentially, is also benefiting from take-over fever. The sports marketing and management firm confirmed that is in preliminary takeover talks with an unnamed third party.