London afternoon: Equities pare losses

21st Apr 2010 14:32

Leading shares trimmed their losses over the lunch time session, but the Footsie remains in the red, in part due to a number of blue-chips going ex-dividend today.BHP Billiton is lower after a statement this morning that it may have broken US anti-corruption laws in some of its exploration projects, but its decline is less severe than that of Vedanta. Elsewhere in the sector Xstrata and Kazakhmys are trading under the handicap of going ex-div today.Other heavyweight ex-div stocks include BAE Systems, Petrofac, Rolls-Royce, Aggreko and Smith & Nephew.ARM is the best performer after the stupendous results from Apple last night driven by sales of the iPhone, which reportedly contains one or more chips designed by ARM. Fellow chip designers Imagination Technologies and Wolfson Microelectronics also ride the iPhone wave.It's game over for Game Group chief executive Lisa Morgan after the video game retailer revealed a sharp fall in profits in the year to January 31. Morgan has quit the role and will be replaced by non-executive director Chris Bell while the company searches for a permanent successor. Game's pre-tax profits totalled £84.2m, which was below expectations and sharply down from £117.4m the previous year, on turnover that slid to £1.77bn from £1.97bn. Fellow computer gaming retailer HMV falls back in sympathy.Software giant Autonomy reported record revenues and profits in the first quarter as clients loosen their purse strings after scaling back in the downturn. The firm, which uses technology borne out of research at Cambridge University, saw revenues in the three months to March 31 climb by 50% from the same period the previous year to $194.2m. Adjusted pre-tax profits climbed by 47% to $85.3m.Aerospace and defence systems group Meggitt said trading since the start of the year has been in line with its expectations of a challenging first half followed by a return to growth in the second half of the year. The group said it remains well placed to take advantage of an upturn in the civil aerospace markets which is anticipated to start benefitting the group in the second half of the year. Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl said trading in the period since 31 December has been in line with expectations. Underlying revenue in the first quarter was up 2% on last year led by North America which was 5% higher.Bookmaker Ladbrokes said it expects to receive £80m from the UK tax authorities after reaching a settlement covering substantially all the outstanding items in the tax years through to December 2007.Car and aeroplane parts supplier Senior has jumped higher after saying it expects profits for 2010 to exceed expectations after trading in the three months to March 31 got a lift from favourable currency movements and cost control and efficiency improvements. Wealth manager St James's Place enjoyed record sales of single products and a strong inflow of new money in the three months to March, as ISA and unit trust sales took off. Another wealth manager doing well is Merchant Securities which said pre-tax profits for the year to March 31 will exceed expectations, helped by the benefits achieved from the integration of subsidiaries.Peru's second biggest silver miner Hochschild Mining reported a decline in first quarter production but said it is on track to meet full year targets.Hunting said trading remains in line with expectations after what the oil services specialist called a 'rapid' start to the new year. Positive test results from metallurgical test work on barite from the Derryginagh mine in Ireland sent shares in AIM-listed tiddler Sunrise Diamonds soaring.