London close: Footsie recovers losses

22nd Mar 2010 17:05

Footsie finished just a few points lower after an improvement on Wall Street helped London's leading share index recover most of its earlier losses.South Africa-focused bank Investec is leading the revival on its first day as a FTSE 100 constituent. Smiths Group is right behind after Smiths Interconnect, a division of the technology firm, announced the $185m all-cash purchase of Kansas City-based Interconnect Devices Inc. (IDI) from private equity firm Milestone Partners.Building supplies group Wolseley plumbed new depths, however, after disappointing interim results. Half year losses narrowed sharply and the rate of like for like revenue decline continued to slow but its plumbing and heating unit in the US, Ferguson, saw a 21% decline in revenue. ICAP was another heavy faller. The inter-dealer broker has decided to close elements of its cash equities business after conducting a broad ranging strategic review. As a result, the group will no longer offer an integrated full service agency cash equities business, including research, in Europe and Asia.Royal Dutch Shell is in the news after Australian coal bed methane producer Arrow Energy agreed to a raised bid worth A3.4bn (£2.06bn) bid from the UK oil giant and partner PetroChina.The pair are now offering A$4.70 a share in cash for Arrow's Australian assets plus one share in a new listed company to be called Dart Energy. Dart will contain Arrow's Asian exploration assets. The original offer was worth A$4.45 a share.Gulfsands Petroleum has agreed to acquire working interest positions in two exploration permits in Tunisia (Chorbane and Kerkouane Permits) and one exploration permit in Southern Italy from AuDAX Resources. Cable & Wireless Communications has started trading after the first stage of the demerger. Cable & Wireless Worldwide starts trading on 26 March. Shares in Irn Bru maker AG Barr fizzed after it reported a 21% jump in full-year pre-tax profits and said current trading is ahead of the same period last year. Profit on ordinary activities before tax and exceptional items increased to £27.9m in the year ended 30 January from £23.1m last time. Turnover increased by 18.7% to £201.4m.Outsourced workplaces provider Regus saw full-year pre-tax profits plunge and said its outlook remains unclear. Pre-tax profit dropped to £86.9m in the year ended 31 December compared with £149.2m last time.Ports operator and bid target Forth Ports has agreed to meet the consortium that made a takeover offer in February, but only because they are shareholders as it again reiterated that the indicated offer of 1,340p per share was still well short of its valuation.Software firm ZOO Digital's products for automated creation of DVD titles have been licensed to CBS Home Entertainment. American TV giant CBS will use London-listed ZOO's workflow automation systems to take DVD production on selected titles in-house.Australia-based company Seeing Machines warned that full-year results are not expected to achieve current market forecasts due to delayed revenue growth and changes in accounting treatment to expense all development costs.FTSE 100 - RisersSmiths Group (SMIN) 1,127.00p +2.45%Investec (INVP) 552.00p +2.41%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,730.00p +1.63%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 61.10p +1.61%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,267.50p +1.52%Invensys (ISYS) 342.40p +1.48%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 678.00p +1.27%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,970.00p +0.95%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,050.00p +0.94%Capita Group (CPI) 756.50p +0.93%FTSE 100 - FallersICAP (IAP) 381.40p -2.58%British Land Co (BLND) 463.10p -2.26%Wolseley (WOS) 1,586.00p -2.10%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,239.00p -1.98%BG Group (BG.) 1,180.50p -1.83%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 81.30p -1.45%Cairn Energy (CNE) 378.80p -1.35%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,813.00p -1.25%Liberty International (LII) 482.50p -1.23%Prudential (PRU) 526.50p -1.22%FTSE 250 - RisersRegus (RGU) 100.50p +15.25%GKN (GKN) 131.00p +5.31%HMV Group (HMV) 78.00p +2.90%Homeserve (HSV) 1,754.00p +2.81%Brewin Dolphin (BRW) 135.00p +2.27%SThree (STHR) 328.90p +2.08%BTG (BGC) 180.60p +2.03%ITE Group (ITE) 134.00p +1.90%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 599.50p +1.78%Cranswick (CWK) 803.50p +1.71%FTSE 250 - FallersMelrose Resources (MRS) 310.40p -4.49%Hansen Transmissions International (HSN) 95.00p -3.06%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 82.00p -2.96%JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 279.30p -2.85%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 212.40p -2.75%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,431.00p -2.72%Xchanging (XCH) 196.50p -2.67%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 186.90p -2.66%CSR (CSR) 459.00p -2.51%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 124.30p -2.36%