London afternoon: Footsie bursts through 4800

21st Aug 2009 14:15

Trading remains very thin in London but that has not stopped the Footsie from moving above the 4,800 level for the first time since October of last year. Insurance companies, with their huge investment portfolios, are naturally big beneficiaries of the continued market revival and they lead today's advance, with Legal & General, Aviva, Prudential and Old Mutual the picks of the life assurance sector.Accounting software firm Sage is off the pace after its US rival Intuit lowered 2010 earnings guidance yesterday.Rio Tinto has received clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission on the pending sale of its Jacobs Ranch coal mine to Arch Coal. The deal is expected to close within the next six weeks. Rio announced the $761m sale of Jacobs Ranch in March.Brewer SABMiller and drinks firm Diageo are both firmer after the companies were instructed to take their dispute over East African Breweries Limited (EABL) to arbitration. The London High Court prevented EABL - 50% owned by Diageo - from terminating a partnership with SABMiller, and sent the dispute to the International Chamber of Commerce arbitration panel.Ahead of results market next week advertising firm WPP and outsourcing company Serco head lower but car insurer Admiral is wanted.Property website Rightmove remains confident of beating full-year forecasts after notching up its second highest monthly operating profit ever in July. Operating profit fell 6% in the six months ended 30 June to £18.90m and pre-tax profit by 8% to £18.19m. The results have been well received, prompting Numis Securities to upgrade the stock from 'add' to 'buy' while other brokers have indicated they will upwardly revise their earnings forecasts following the interim results.Birmingham City football club have received an offer from Grandtop, the company owned by Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung, worth £81.5m. The offer will be made on the basis of 100p per share, which is a 55% premium to last night's closing price. Stobart's trading in the first six months of the year is in line with expectations and the transport and logistics company said it is confident for the full year. It also anticipates a strong performance in the second half as a result of recently announced contracts, new business wins and action taken to reduce costs. Electrical engineering and contracting company T Clarke has reported a drop in first-half pre-tax profits after taking a £1.4m charge in relation to its restructuring programme. Silicon wafer reclaim specialist Pure Wafer, whose shares have been suspended since March due to money troubles, is raising up to £2.3m from a placing and open offer at 2p a share.Candover Investments said it is in a much stronger position than previously due to recent asset realisations and the lowering of its cost base. Drug developer SkyePharma narrowed first-half losses and said trading in the second half of 2009 is expected to remain in line with expectations.Engineering group Kentz has been awarded a telecommunications package, worth $125m, by Chevron Australia Pty Ltd for the Gorgon Project in Western Australia.Billing Services, which provides financial risk management solutions to the telecommunications industry, saw underlying profit rise for the half-year and said it was on track to meet expectations for the full year.