London close: Strong gains in stores

24th Mar 2011 16:32

Footsie had a good day as investors mulled yesterday's Budget and decided overall it was good news for the stock market.Retailers were strong all day as investors focused on the numbers from Next and Kingfisher rather than some cautious comments over the retail sector over the rest of the year. Next paraded a 9% rise in full-year profit to a new record, exactly what the City was expecting following guidance from the fashion retailer in January. The shares move up, dragging Marks & Spencer and Debenhams along with them. Do-it-yourself retailer Kingfisher built profits by 19% last year, again, pretty much in line with market expectations. The B&Q owner made £671m in the year ended 29 January, up from £566m last time. The increase was 22.5% when adjusted for one-off items. Sales fell 0.5% to £10.45bn, in line, but rose 0.5% at constant currency. Insurance firm Resolution is to rebase its final dividend, and for once the use of the term "rebase" refers to an increase not a cut. With the numbers now in for 2010 the board has decided that it can afford to be more generous with its dividend payments, and has proposed a final dividend of 12.57p, up 15% on a year earlier, taking the full year dividend up to 18.03p, compared to a previously indicated full year payment of 16.39p. In 2011 the board expects to pay a full year dividend of 18.85p.Tobacco group Imperial is running out of puff. Underlying first half tobacco net revenues are expected to increase by around 2%, as anticipated, but the group said the Spanish market remains challenging due to an increase in duty in December, the ban on smoking in public places and the continuing weakness of the Spanish economy.Invensys was sharply lower after the abrupt departure of chief executive Ulf Henriksson. He will be replaced by Wayne Edmunds, who steps up from the role of chief financial officer (CFO). The CFO role at the engineering firm will be taken for the time being by David Thomas. A longer goodbye is to be said by Sir Kevin Smith at aerospace and vehicles engineer GKN. Smith will step down from the chief executive role at the end of the year, GKN said.Cable & Wireless Worldwide got slammed after it slashed earnings expectations for 2011-12, as a result of a squeeze from inflation and prices pressure. The telecoms titan now expects flats earnings next year compared with earlier market forecasts an improvement from £444m to £470m.Oil firm Premier Oil notched up record revenue and profit in 2010 as oil and gas prices rocketed higher. Sales revenues in 2010 jumped to $763.6m from $621.1m in 2009, while profit before tax moved through the $100m barrier to $100.8m from $79.9m the year before, helped by a $38.6m gain on derivative financial instruments; in 2009, the company booked a $61.1m loss on derivatives. United Utilities is still trading "slightly" ahead of management expectations, keeping the water utility on track for a "solid" underlying full-year result.Fashion retailer Ted Baker revealed a 24.2% rise in annual pre-tax profit, after strong international demand, and said it is well placed for 2011 despite the uncertain economic outlook.Irish medical devices manufacturer ClearStream Technologies is poorly even after it revealed half year revenues nearly doubled as it posted a net profit compared to a loss the same time a year earlier.Healthcare Locums finance director Diane Jarvis has followed founder Kate Bleasdale out of the door.Higher selling prices and increased volumes at plastic packaging supplier RPC mean that revenues in the 2010/11 financial year will be well ahead of last year. Office2office, the business supplies group, has maintained the same final dividend as 2009, despite a 43% plunge in profits last year after falling volumes in public sector sales.Declining sales at Clinton Cards are expected to continue as challenging retail conditions have led to a 41% plunge in half-year profits.FTSE 100 - RisersKingfisher (KGF) 261.40p +7.22%Essar Energy (ESSR) 489.80p +4.64%BG Group (BG.) 1,538.00p +4.27%Next (NXT) 2,043.00p +3.97%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 224.50p +3.94%IMI (IMI) 1,015.00p +3.89%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 358.10p +3.65%FTSE 100 - FallersInvensys (ISYS) 341.20p -4.51%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,314.00p -0.83%G4S (GFS) 251.60p -0.67%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,910.00p -0.62%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 683.00p -0.58%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,114.00p -0.36%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,405.00p -0.35%FTSE 250 - RisersRPC Group (RPC) 278.00p +14.78%SIG (SHI) 143.20p +9.15%Punch Taverns (PUB) 75.35p +7.80%Kofax (KFX) 513.00p +7.32%Grainger (GRI) 110.90p +7.05%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 116.50p +6.68%FTSE 250 - FallersCable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 54.20p -14.38%Drax Group (DRX) 371.90p -5.18%Rank Group (RNK) 146.90p -2.26%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 431.10p -1.71%Savills (SVS) 357.20p -1.65%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 48.53p -1.58%- - pw & jh