London close: Ten out of ten for Footsie

24th Jul 2009 17:13

The FTSE 100 index made it ten days of rises in a row, despite tailing off towards the close as investors looked to bank profits ahead of the week-end. It capped the best rally by the blue-chip index in five years.The rise was achieved despite dismal gross domestic product data. UK output contracted 0.8% between April and June after a 2.4% decline in the first quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics' flash estimate. Economists had anticipated a 0.3% fall following the recent signs of recovery in the housing market and on the High Street.The rise was driven by the financial sector where heavy investors such as private equity group 3i, hedge fund manager Man Group and fund manager Schroders were all wanted on the assumption that the recent rally in global stock markets will feed through to their bottom lines.The market recovery also spurred demand for bourse operator London Stock Exchange and inter-dealer broker ICAP.Telecoms titan Vodafone said revenue rose 9.3% in the quarter to June, helped by positive exchange rate movements and M&A activity. The group also said it is trading in line with management's outlook issued in May 2009 for the current financial year. Revenue rose from £9,828m to £10,74m in the quarter to June. Water supplier United Utilities is on course to continue its dividend payment policy after a successful year in a challenging economic environment. The day after regulator Ofwat outlined its proposals for all the water companies' price plans over the next five years, United said recent trading has been in line with expectations.Sector peers Pennon and Northumbrian were out of favour after HSBC downgraded the pair in the wake of the Ofwat draft proposals. HSBC now rates Pennon as "neutral", down from "overweight", and Northumbrian Water Group as "underweight", down from "neutral". South African private bank Investec continues to navigate a "steady" course through the "uncertain" global environment, maintaining profitability across the group in the first quarter. Net operating income for the quarter to 30 June 2009, after expenses and minorities but before impairments on loans and advances, fell 12% from the same time last year.Elsewhere in South Africa, diamond producer De Beers saw profit before finance charges and tax fall to just $140m in the first six months of 2009 from $662m a year ago. Sales more than halved to $1.7bn from $3.7bn in 2008. The company is 45% owned by Anglo American.National Express's main shareholder, Spain's Cosmen family, was today linked with a bid for the troubled rail and bus group in conjunction with CVC, the private equity group. The Cosmen's own 18.5% of National Express and sent a letter to the board three days ago, according to the FT this morning. Any deal would value the debt-laden transport group at more than £500m, the paper said. With few major company results announcements today investors revisied some of yesterday's big results. Yell continued its strong rally after yesterday's statement that revenue and earnings in the second quarter of 2009 were slightly ahead of guidance, but caterer Compass Group continued to crumble after disappointing third quarter figures yesterday. VT Group will pocket £250m after the defence firm agreed an extension to a couple of government support contracts. An option has been exercised to extend VT's engineering and communications framework contract with a government agency by five-years to 2015.Westminster Group is to build a high security perimeter 'intruder detection system (PID)' to protect the Nigerian Communication Satellite Ltd's main operating base station in Nigeria.Chinese bio-pharmaceutical outfit Taihua said sales revenue and profit before tax in Renminbi for the first six months of 2009 continued to fall significantly below the board's expectations.Venture management firm Angle posted strong profits in the management services business for the year but various provisions pushed the group into the red.Shares in Atlantic Global fell after the management software provider said turnover fell in the six months to June 30 as cash-strapped customers tightened their budgets.Accident claim handler Helphire Group said it has been advised by one of its significant referrers that it expects to end referrals to the group within the next few months.Findel, the home shopping and education supplies businesses, is raising £81m via a placing and open offer to reduce debt.Acal said its performance for the first half year will reflect the difficult market conditions, but the electronic components manufacturer expects to see improvements in the second half.Counter-terrorism and anti-burglar devices provider Eruma has raised £0.125m through a placing of 11.11m ordinary shares at 1.125p per share. The funds will be used for general working capital purposes.FTSE 100 - RisersLondon Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 689.50p +4.31%3i Group (III) 262.75p +3.85%Lonmin (LMI) 1,243.00p +3.76%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,360.00p +3.34%FTSE 100 - FallersPennon Group (PNN) 466.25p -4.94%Compass Group (CPG) 313.25p -3.98%Pearson (PSON) 606.00p -2.73%BAE Systems (BA.) 322.25p -2.42%