London close: Shell continues to provide a drag

3rd Feb 2011 17:05

Footsie failed to hang on to yesterday's 6,000 level and finished 0.28% lower despite Wall Street beginning to recover from its early morning lows towards the end of the London trading session.Royal Dutch Shell stayed the heaviest faller in London despite more than quadrupling fourth quarter profits thanks to higher energy prices, an increase in production and cost-cutting. Earnings for the last three months of 2010 on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis surged to $5.7bn from $1.2bn a year ago.They grew 90% to $18.6bn for the full-year. Excluding certain items, earnings grew to $4.1bn from $2.8bn last time. "We are making good progress against our targets, and there is more to come from Shell," said chief executive Peter Voser. The dividend stays at 42 cents a share.Sector peers BG Group and Petrofac were also unwanted.GlaxoSmithKline rose after reporting its full-year results. The drug giant saw revenues fall in 2010 as it felt the pinch of generic competition and the end of a boost from sales of pandemic-related products. Turnover for the year to 31 December was down to £28.4bn a 1% decline from the previous year. Pre-tax profits were down to £4.5bn from £8.7bn.Strong growth in broadband subscribers and a pick-up by its global services operation helped telecoms titan BT, one of today's best performers, lift profits by almost a third over the past three months. Pre-tax profits in the quarter to December jumped by 30% to £531m from £408m, even though sales fell slightly to £5.04bn from £5.2bn. BT added 188,000 new broadband subscribers in the three months to take its market share to 53%. Profits from its global services division rose by 15% to £141m on an underlying business, though sales here fell by 7% to £1.98bn.Mobile phone titan Vodafone thinks full-year profit will be at the top end of the range following a third quarter that went pretty much as expected, driven by strong growth in India and parts of Europe. The company, which yesterday announced the departure of chairman Sir John Bond, reckons adjusted operating profit will be towards the upper end of the £11.8bn to £12.2bn range given in November. International Power finished higher after it announced the closing of the takeover by GDF Suez, creating the world's largest independent power producer."The combined business creates a global leader in independent power generation with over 66,000MW of gross capacity in operation and committed projects expected to deliver 22,000MW of gross capacity by 2013, with strong positions in major regional markets and an attractive growth profile," a statement said. Investors also had an appetite for Compass after the contract caterer said revenue growth seen in the second half of 2010 continued into the first quarter of the new financial year, with organic revenue growth of around 5.5%.In the FTSE 250, F&C Asset Management continued to rise after a boardroom shake-up. AIM-quoted activist investment company Sherborne Investors, which owns 18% in F&C, removed two members of the board and had three of its nominees appointed. Shareholders representing around 82% of the shares in issue voted at the EGM. F&C chairman Nick MacAndrew was removed from the board after 65.09% voted in favour of the resolution, while non-executive director Brian Larcombe's removal was supported by 61.07% of the votes. Edward Bramson of Sherborne received 70% of votes in favour of his appointment and Derham O'Neill did even better with 70.8% of the votes supporting his appointment as a director.Pace was among the fallers after the set top box operator confirmed recent press speculation of a large deal with Indian satellite TV company Tata Sky, a joint venture between the Indian conglomerate Sky and the media group News Corporation.Military researcher QinetiQ expects to 'exceed its previous expectations' for the current year, as it delivers a backlog of its products. However the high-tech weapons group warned that its view of future periods is unchanged as its principal markets 'remain subject to considerable uncertainty'.