London afternoon: Shares stuck in the red

2nd Jun 2009 14:40

Shares remain in the red after failing to find inspiration on Wall Street, which opened sluggishly. Bank Barclays is nursing a double-digit percentage decline after news of the impending sale by IPIC broke overnight. Khadem Al Qubaisi, managing director of IPIC, said that the sale did not represent a lack of faith in Barclays, its management or current strategy. Elsewhere in the banking sector Lloyds falls back ahead of the closing of its open offer period at noon on Friday.Property shares are also off the boil, with Land Securities, British Land and Hammerson the worst performers. The sector trend has dragged down AIM-listed First Property, despite a robust set of full-year results from the central and eastern European property fund. Assets under management increased to £310m at the end of March 2009 from £290m a year earlier. Retailers are a bright spot. Doubled profits at B&Q helped Kingfisher's first quarter profit jump by 40%. The retailer is also hopeful on prospects for the rest of the year. Total sales in the three months to end April rose by 9.6% to £2.64bn with like-for-like sales down by 1.7%. Fellow DIY retailer Home Retail rises in sympathy.Furniture and clothing retailer Laura Ashley glides higher after some optimistic noises from the board. Like-for-like sales improved by 6.9% in the 17 weeks to the end of May compared to the same period last year despite the economic uncertainty impacting consumer confidence and spending patterns.Water company Pennon posted a 7% rise in underlying operating profit to £259.0m. Its final dividend has been boosted by 5.1% to 14.25p, giving a full-year dividend of 21p, up 6% on the preceding year.Meanwhile, smaller peer Dee Valley posted a sharp fall in profits for the year to March 31 after facing high electricity prices and failing to compensate by lifting prices for its own customers.Gas supplier Centrica took another step in its plan to reduce its dependence on the wholesale markets by agreeing to buy a stake in a gas development block in Trinidad.Talvivaara Mining leads the fallers in the FTSE 250 after it said it will place up to 22.2m shares to raise funds to expand and increase the capacity of its metals processing facility. The placing represents 10% of the existing share capital. The price of the shares will be agreed at the close of the book-building process.Mezzanine finance specialist Intermediate Capital is "disappointed" to post a loss for the year as net provisions surged. Pre-tax losses came in at £67m against £229.5m profit last year due to net provisions of £273m.Heavy write-downs on its stake in rival Aer Lingus sent Ryanair deep into the red last year, with underlying profits also sharply lower. The Irish no-frills carrier posted a loss of €180m after taking a €222m hit of its stake in Aer Lingus.Aerospace components and fitting out group Umeco revealed a 32% rise in pre-tax profit for the year but are planning for a year of more modest revenue growth. The group, whose customers include Boeing, Airbus and BAE Systems, said adjusted pre-tax profit rose to £29m in the year to 31 March 2009 from £21.9m while revenue from continuing operations rose to £415.3m from £335.2m.Hamworthy, manufacturer of marine and offshore fluid handling systems, posted a rise in full year profits as it rebuffed the effects of the economic downturn and said it is confident of meeting expectations for the year. Pre-tax profit rose to £22.3m from £17m before on revenue that increased by 9.1% to £252.8m, or a decrease of 1.5% on a constant currency basis.FTSE 100 - RisersKingfisher (KGF) 193.80p +5.44%Home Retail Group (HOME) 249.75p +3.20%BT Group (BT.A) 94.20p +2.61%Prudential (PRU) 459.75p +2.39%Fresnillo (FRES) 721.50p +1.33%Friends Provident (FP.) 69.20p +1.32%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 313.00p +1.29%Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 684.50p +1.18%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 288.50p +1.14%Associated British Foods (ABF) 736.00p +0.96%FTSE 100 - FallersBarclays (BARC) 274.00p -13.36%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 69.10p -4.69%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 335.50p -3.87%Hammerson (HMSO) 294.75p -3.68%WPP Group (WPP) 461.75p -3.65%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,477.00p -3.27%Old Mutual (OML) 76.00p -3.06%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 39.00p -2.99%F&C Inv Trust (FRCL) 238.00p -2.86%Anglo American (AAL) 1,856.00p -2.83%FTSE 250 - RisersIntermediate Capital Group (ICP) 560.00p +21.67%PayPoint (PAY) 505.00p +6.32%AG Barr (BAG) 1,310.00p +4.80%Novae Group (NVA) 379.00p +4.70%Morgan Crucible (MGCR) 114.00p +4.35%Redrow (RDW) 218.00p +4.31%Hays (HAS) 87.00p +4.19%Mothercare (MTC) 461.50p +4.06%Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 570.00p +4.01%Ashtead Group (AHT) 58.50p +4.00%FTSE 250 - FallersTalvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 350.00p -7.22%Informa (INF) 235.50p -5.80%Misys (MSY) 164.00p -5.07%Genus (GNS) 566.50p -4.87%Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) 307.50p -4.80%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 84.25p -4.53%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 53.00p -4.07%Aveva Group (AVV) 725.00p -3.97%Regus (RGU) 68.75p -3.85%Carillion (CLLN) 263.75p -3.48%