London midday: Footsie drifts lower

31st Mar 2010 12:17

Footsie is now flat as investors digest a big morning for company announcements.Televised sport is big news on the trading screens as telecoms regulator Ofcom ordered BSkyB to make its two top sports channels available to rivals at a 23% discount to the current price. This was a bigger cut than the 20% reduction industry insiders had been predicting but not as severe as the 25% cut Nomura Securities had been predicting. In the end the market decided it could have been worse, with BSKyB higher and major complainant BT barely changed.Gartmore is the other big story, with the daily share price chart looking like the proverbial roller-coaster. The shares were down sharply in early trading after tumbling 31% yesterday following the suspension of star fund manager Guillaume Rambourg, but have since rallied. Gartmore, which only floated in December and is now worth less than half its listing value, insisted the suspension was not connected with the FSA's recent spate of insider dealing arrests.BG Group is going well after securing a deal to supply Tokyo Gas with liquefied natural gas from the Queensland Curtis facility.Catering giant Compass has had a good first half, with efficiency measures helping to improve margins in the face of sluggish revenues in many markets. The company, which provides catering for schools, businesses and hospitals, said revenue is expected to be broadly flat compared with the same period the previous year, with efficiency measures helping to improve margins by about 50 basis points.Sugar and sweeteners company Tate & Lyle said currency movements, in particular the stronger US dollar, will benefit its reported performance in the final quarter. Underlying trading in the quarter has been consistent with expectations, the group added.Goodfellas pizza and Fox's biscuits group Northern Foods reported a drop in fourth-quarter like for like sales but said it will deliver full-year profits in line with expectations. The group said the 1.8% in quarterly like for like sales was due to the planned exit from its low margin frozen business.Elsewhere in the food sector Country Life butter maker Dairy Crest said it performed well in the year to March 31, with profits ahead of last year and borrowings substantially lower, though advertising spending contributed to a slight fall in profits in the spreads and cheese division.Hilton Food served up a 16% rise in full year pre-tax profit as volumes increased and expects further growth in 2010.The impact of severe weather in the UK and North America during the fourth quarter is expected to hit Firstgroup's annual operating profit by approximately £16m, the bus and train group said. Tenanted pub group Enterprise Inns said it was making 'excellent progress' in selling off its underperforming pubs. The group said there has been no 'material change' in its performance since January, which disappointed the market, which had been hoping for a gradual improvement in trading conditions. Punch Taverns slides down in sympathy.SSE Renewables, the renewable energy development division of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has secured a £400m loan facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help finance the development of renewable energy schemes in the UK and Ireland. The EIB funding takes the total funding which SSE has secured since July 2008 to almost £3.8bn.Toy racing car and train set maker Hornby is on track for a solid performance in the current financial year, and is now seeing a strong recovery in orders.