London close: Flat finish for FTSE 100

10th Nov 2009 16:29

Footsie finished slightly in the red having failed to find any sense of direction all day as results sent stocks in both directions.Banking titan HSBC climbed after it said underlying third quarter profit was "significantly" ahead of the same time last year. It's also seeing some stabilisation in its bad debts picture, especially in the US.In contrast, sector peer Barclays falls back even though it remains on course for a record-breaking year after third quarter profits came in close to market forecasts. For the three months to September, profits fell from £2.84bn to £1.56bn giving a nine-month total of £4.54bn (2008: £5,595m), a decrease year on year of 19% (£1,053m). Expectations about the performance of the high flying investment banking arm of Barclays may have been too high.Elsewhere in the sector Lloyds Banking Group announced this morning that it is turfing another 5,000 workers on to the dole queue. The bank's insurance, retail mortgage and back office functions will bear the brunt of the latest cutbacks, with about 2,600 permanent jobs to go alongside temporary and contracting positions.Gold miner Randgold Resources fell after gold sales in the third quarter showed little or no increase from those seen in the second quarter. Sales of $103.5m were up 32% in the third quarter of last year. Profit for the quarter was $13.6m, down from $18.9m in the second quarter but a turnaround from last year when the third quarter saw a loss of $0.68m.The rest of the mining sector fared not much better with Lonmin, Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, Xstrata and Fresnillo all looking battered. ENRC was another big faller after declaring its bid for Africa-focused miner CAMEC unconditional as to acceptance.Schroders was wanted following a smaller than expected 19% drop in third quarter profit. The fund manager made a profit before tax and exceptional items rose to £57.8m in the three months to 30 September. Funds under management were up 23% from the end of June to £138.9bn as net inflows hit £7bn.Imperial Tobacco is burning brighter after it boosted full-year profit before tax by 52% thanks to the acquisition of Franco-Spanish rival Altadis. The cigarette maker has also announced the departure of its CEO. Pre-tax profit for the 12 months ended 30 September jumped to £945m from £621m in 2008 on revenue up 29% to £26.52bn, reported the firm, best known for its Lambert & Butler cigarettes.Mobile phone network Vodafone was also lower, even after saying it traded in line with expectations during the first half of its fiscal year, raising revenue by over 9% and adjusted operating profit by 2.4%. It expects full-year profit to be between £11-11.8bn, but the shares are under pressure early on. International hotels group InterContinental Hotels continued to see revenue per available room (revPAR) slide in the third quarter. RevPAR in the third quarter of 2009 fell 15.2% at constant currency rates. 'The trading environment remains challenging. We see signs of occupancy stabilising, but rate is still under considerable pressure across the board,' said Andrew Cosslett, chief executive of the group.Yellow Pages group Yell is in the pink. The mid-cap is raising £660m through the issue of 1.572bn new shares at 42p, much more than it originally indicated. Half of the money, £330m, will be raised through a firm placing while the remainder will come from a 1 for 1 placing and open offer.Engineer and ceramics group Cookson is also pushing higher. It expects trading profit this year will be at the upper end of market forecasts and near to £110m after a stronger than anticipated rally in sales over the past three months. Morgan Sindall is another riser. The forward order book has fallen slightly at the construction and regeneration group but it remains on track to hit 2009 targets.Northern Foods said like-for-like sales increased 2.9% in the half year, led by strong growth in its Chilled and Bakery division. In the 26 weeks ended 26 September 2009 profit from operations at the biscuits, pizzas and Christmas puddings maker rose 2% to £20.5m while total sales slipped to £466.9m from £468.6m the same period last year, reflecting 'mothballing of Fenland last year.'Sticking with the FTSE 250 stocks, Babcock International is in the doghouse after interim results came up short of expectations. The group, which maintains Britain's submarine fleet, said pre-tax profit rose to £66.1m in the six months ended 30 September 2009 from £50.9m the previous year while revenue slipped to £923.0m from £940.6m.Online poker group 888 Holdings remains confident of hitting its target after third quarter operating income remain steady at second quarter levels. Total operating income in the third quarter was $61m, unchanged from the second quarter but down 10% from the third quarter of last year.Logistics software developer Kewill Systems is to raise £7.5m through the placing of 8.14m shares at 92p per share to build up its war chest. The company said profit before tax in the six months to 30 September rose to £0.55m from £0.37m a year earlier, on revenue that grew from £24.55m to £27.17m.FTSE 100 - RisersHSBC Holdings (HSBA) 720.00p +4.02%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,870.00p +2.30%Severn Trent (SVT) 965.00p +1.95%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 558.50p +1.92%Schroders NV (SDRC) 949.50p +1.77%United Utilities Group (UU.) 456.00p +1.76%Diageo (DGE) 1,027.00p +1.68%Schroders (SDR) 1,170.00p +1.65%Man Group (EMG) 346.00p +1.41%Rentokil Initial (RTO) 107.00p +1.33%FTSE 100 - FallersBarclays (BARC) 325.35p -5.10%Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,577.00p -4.23%Fresnillo (FRES) 842.50p -3.71%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,252.00p -2.64%Antofagasta (ANTO) 870.50p -2.52%Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,820.00p -2.42%Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 993.50p -2.41%Standard Life (SL.) 215.60p -2.40%Prudential (PRU) 594.00p -2.30%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 81.35p -2.28%FTSE 250 - RisersMorgan Sindall (MGNS) 605.00p +9.90%Cookson Group (CKSN) 430.10p +9.27%Premier Farnell (PFL) 156.10p +5.54%DSG International (DSGI) 33.83p +3.77%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 289.70p +3.39%Yell Group (YELL) 46.25p +2.78%Spectris (SXS) 725.00p +2.76%Dignity (DTY) 617.50p +2.66%Northern Foods (NFDS) 66.60p +2.46%Charter International (CHTR) 748.50p +2.32%FTSE 250 - FallersPunch Taverns (PUB) 87.70p -6.20%Synergy Healthcare (SYR) 599.00p -6.04%Rank Group (RNK) 81.15p -5.09%Petropavlovsk (POG) 1,219.00p -5.06%Mondi (MNDI) 330.50p -5.00%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 39.51p -4.98%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,732.00p -4.48%PV Crystalox Solar (PVCS) 64.05p -4.40%Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities (ECWO) 144.50p -4.30%Grainger (GRI) 258.00p -4.09%