London midday: Blue-chips turn south

27th Sep 2010 12:06

Investors with portfolios weighted towards second-liners are happier than those more exposed to blue-chip stocks, as the FTSE 100 turns south while the FTSE 250 pushes ahead.Wolseley, supplier of goods to the plumbing and heating trade, is to shift its tax base to Switzerland and resume paying dividends. Although revenue for the year to 31 July fell 9%, or 10% in constant currency terms, to £13.2bn, this was above the market consensus of £13.1bn, while the fourth quarter saw an encouraging 4% gain in like for like sales.Chairman John Whybrow has also announced he will be replaced by Gareth Davies, currently the board's senior non-executive director and former chief executive of Imperial Tobacco.The shares eased back on the news but they are not the worst performing blue-chips; that unwanted accolade goes to technology firm Smiths Group, which has been downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" by BofA Merrill Lynch.Unilever is the best performer. The household products group is paying $3.7bn (£2.3bn) in cash for America's Alberto Culver, adding the TRESemmé, Nexxus, VO5, St Ives and Simple brands to the conglomerate's portfolio. It should also deliver "significant" synergies and, excluding restructuring costs, will be accretive to earnings per share (EPS) in the first full year, said the owner of Dove, Clear, Sunsilk, Pond's and Vaseline.Fellow consumer products group PZ Cussons is to buy fake tan products specialist St. Tropez Holdings. The Imperial Leather soap owner is paying £62.5m to private equitygroup LDC to get its hands on St. Tropez which has a product range that includes lotions, mousses, sprays and other products serving consumers who wish to achieve a safe, natural looking tan without roasting on a sun bed or on the beach. AstraZeneca's prostate cancer treatment zibotentan showed little patient benefit in the first of three late stage trials, the drugs giant has revealed. Private equity group 3i is to buy debt management business Mizuho Investment Management for an enterprise value of £18.3m.Spice, the provider of management services to utility firms, has finally agreed terms of a takeover by European buy-out specialist Cinven worth £251m, or 70p a share in cash. Specialist health and social care business Healthcare Locums reported a decline in half year pre-tax profit after the new coalition government slashed NHS spending.North Falkland Basin oil and gas explorer Rockhopper confirmed today it has plugged and abandoned the Sea Lion 1 well while it pores over the drill and test results. Sea Lion 1, the first oil discovery in the area, said it now has to look at the data and plan the next phase in proving the reserves discovered.FTSE 100 - RisersUnilever (ULVR) 1,834.00p +2.29%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,447.00p +1.83%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,398.00p +1.30%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,792.00p +1.19%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 104.20p +1.17%Whitbread (WTB) 1,639.00p +1.05%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,193.00p +1.02%Resolution (RSL) 235.50p +0.94%Kingfisher (KGF) 233.40p +0.91%Sage Group (SGE) 260.50p +0.89%FTSE 100 - FallersSmiths Group (SMIN) 1,201.00p -2.12%Wolseley (WOS) 1,506.00p -1.57%Inmarsat (ISAT) 693.00p -1.42%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,905.00p -1.27%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,394.00p -1.20%Standard Life (SL.) 229.40p -1.04%Centrica (CNA) 330.00p -0.99%Pearson (PSON) 983.00p -0.96%Alliance Trust (ATST) 333.60p -0.95%BT Group (BT.A) 141.80p -0.91%FTSE 250 - RisersMicro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 389.00p +6.28%Telecity Group (TCY) 545.50p +5.92%International Personal Finance (IPF) 280.40p +5.61%Rotork (ROR) 1,717.00p +3.81%FTSE 250 - FallersAvis Europe (AVE) 210.00p -2.33%Sports Direct International (SPD) 131.90p -2.15%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 70.10p -2.09%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 59.55p -1.98%