London close: FTSE 100 falls short as turmoil continues

2nd Mar 2011 17:01

Shares fought valiantly to finish in the blue but fell short as worries over the turmoil in the Middle East continued to cast a shadow.Gold moved above $1,436 to a record high as traders sought safe investments amid turbulent times. The oil price stayed strong having risen above $100 in New York.Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered advanced after it posted profits bang in line with forecasts at $6.12bn for 2010, while this year got off to a flying start. The group enjoyed a record January both in terms of income and profit. It's still top of the leader board.Outsource giant Serco was also wanted after saying it foresees "headwinds" in 2011 as the government's austerity measures bite, but still expects to make progress towards its 2012 targets. Profits jumped 21% to £214m in 2010 on sales up 9% to £4.33bn. The dividend rises almost 18%.But Whitbread was hit hard as revenue growth at the hotel, coffee shops and pubs group slowed sharply in the past four months. In a 17 week period that included the blizzards of December, like-for-like sales growth slowed to 3.9% from 6.7% over 50 weeks. Admiral made more money than ever before in 2010, driven by the core UK motor insurance business, but that wasn't good enough for demanding investors. The confused.com website had a "tough" year. Revenue fell 10% to £71.8m and profit slumped 34% to £16.9mElsewhere, Wm Morrison is preparing to announce next week that it is returning about £1bn to shareholders in full-year results that are also expected to outline a pick-up in trading at the retailer over the past month, according to reports.Microfocus was the top performer in the FTSE 100. The shares were boosted by speculation the software group could be a takeover target.ITV has promised an interim dividend after cost cutting and an upturn in the advertising market allowed the terrestrial broadcaster to ramp up profits by almost 200% in 2010. Profit before tax and one-off items leapt to £321m from £108m in 2009 on revenue up 10% to £2.06bn. Net debt fell to £188m from £612m a year earlier.BBA Aviation, which announced a 42% jump in profits, a placing to raise nearly £90m and an acquisition worth over $60m, was a heavy faller. Pre-tax profit increased from £60m to £85.2m in the 12 months to 31 December, while revenues grew 9% to £1.18bn, from £1.08bn previously.Small cap promotional products producer 4imprint reported a strong rise in revenue and almost doubled underlying profit for the year as it experienced some recovery in its markets. Group revenue rose 19% to £200.77m for the year ended 1 January 2011 while underlying pre-tax profit jumped to £9.98m from £5.14m previously.Student accommodation manager Unite Group said adjusted fully diluted NAV per share rose 11% to 295p as it underlined its confidence in future trading with the reinstatement of a dividend payment this year. "2010 has been an excellent year for UNITE and as we continue to work with our partners in the sector we look forward to 2011 and beyond with confidence," the group said in a company statement.Shares in Paypoint jumped after the National Lottery Commission's rejected a plan by lottery operator Camelot to sell other services such as mobile top-ups and bill payments through its terminals.FTSE 100 - RisersSerco Group (SRP) 579.50p +4.60%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,688.00p +4.33%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,419.00p +2.11%Cairn Energy (CNE) 438.40p +1.84%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 62.73p +1.59%GKN (GKN) 204.60p +1.54%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 226.20p +1.53%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,674.00p +1.33%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,614.00p +1.13%United Utilities Group (UU.) 592.00p +0.94%FTSE 100 - FallersWhitbread (WTB) 1,644.00p -5.19%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,655.00p -3.10%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 597.00p -2.61%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,296.00p -2.56%TUI Travel (TT.) 231.10p -2.53%Diageo (DGE) 1,183.00p -2.39%Bunzl (BNZL) 724.50p -2.36%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,416.00p -2.21%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,161.00p -1.94%Compass Group (CPG) 540.50p -1.73%FTSE 250 - RisersMicro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 311.60p +9.49%ITV (ITV) 93.45p +9.30%Unite Group (UTG) 209.40p +6.78%Elementis (ELM) 142.80p +6.57%Exillon Energy (EXI) 454.60p +5.09%Rightmove (RMV) 934.00p +3.78%CPP Group (CPP) 290.00p +3.42%Grainger (GRI) 102.60p +3.38%Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 153.80p +3.36%Genus (GNS) 909.00p +3.24%FTSE 250 - FallersBeazley (BEZ) 126.10p -7.55%BBA Aviation (BBA) 206.00p -5.85%Carillion (CLLN) 357.40p -4.44%Cobham (COB) 208.90p -4.35%Senior (SNR) 142.40p -4.30%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 261.70p -4.24%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 18.01p -4.00%Kier Group (KIE) 1,285.00p -3.75%Supergroup (SGP) 1,542.00p -3.56%Premier Foods (PFD) 26.87p -3.21%