London midday: Footsie swings into blue

19th Jul 2010 12:16

London's top stocks have swung into the blue on two possible mega M&A deals, while fears over European sovereign debt have eased a little despite a downgrade for Ireland. International Power is the best FTSE 100 performer after French energy giant GDF Suez revived talks about a partnership to create a new London-listed electricity group. The deal would see a combination of their businesses outside Europe and certain assets in the UK and Turkey. Engineer Tomkins, meanwhile, jumped more than 33% after the group received a bid approach from a Canadian consortium worth 325p a share in cash or £2.9bn in total. Tomkins also warned that sales and margin performance in the second half is unlikely to be as strong as it was in the first half of 2010.BP is lower as it continues tests on the cap that's stopped oil leaking from its broken well into the Gulf of Mexico. The latest concern is that oil may be leaking in other places and out onto the seabed. The cost of dealing with the spill is near to $4bn (£2.6bn).BT is raising the cost of phone calls by 10% and the monthly line rental charges by 50p from October. The telecoms giant will this week write to customers telling them about plans to up the cost of connecting a call from 9.9p to 10.9p and lift the daytime rate to 6.4p from 5.9p. Aquarius Platinum is the worst FTSE 250 performer after a new tough South African directive on safety for mining companies using bord and pillar mining methods. Aquarius says it intends to appeal the directive today. Five people died at Aquarius' Marikana platinum mine in South Africa earlier this month when a shaft collapsed. Prices rose, but problems at both its Ellendale and Letseng mines hit diamond miner Gem's first half output, with currency movements also causing some headaches. "In the first half of the year we have had a number of operational challenges at both Let?eng and Ellendale," chief executive Clifford Elphick said. Department store Debenhams has completed the refinancing of its borrowings and signed a new £650m senior credit facility. Industrial conveyor belt maker Fenner is comfortably meeting expectations with revenue and underlying operating profit in the third quarter well ahead of the comparable period last year."Kazakhstan focused Max Petroleum has had its subsoil use licence for the Astrakhanskiy Block in Western Kazakhstan terminated as it has failed to comply with work obligations stipulated under the licence.