London midday: FTSE 100 approaches 6,000

3rd Mar 2011 12:03

A combination of pleasing company updates and optimism that the Libyan situation will be resolved has sent shares sharply higher.Reports that the Arab League is considering a proposal to end the fighting in Libya have boosted sentiment, but talk that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is also to trying to broker a peace in Libya did not gone down so well. Brent crude fell by more than $3 even so.The government has agreed to let Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, the publisher of the Times and Sun, buy satellite broadcaster BSKyB in a deal that will see Sky News placed under independent control."While News Corporation continues to believe that the proposed acquisition of the shares in BSkyB that it does not already own will not result in insufficient plurality for any audience in the UK, it has submitted this comprehensive proposal in order to avoid a lengthy and costly review by the Competition Commission," News Corp said as it welcomed the announcement.IMI leads the risers after an increase in demand and cost cutting helped the engineer grow full-year profits by 44% to a new record, though the search for a new chairman goes on. Profit from continuing operations before tax and exceptional items rose to £304.4m from £211.7m in 2009 on revenue up 7% to £1.91bn. Reported profit leapt 64% to £306.1m and organic sales growth was 6%.Sticking with engineering, Amec, also higher today, will be the envy of many a company after it said it can expect to grow regardless of the pace of economic recovery. Pre-tax profits in 2010 soared to £258.2m from £203.5m the previous year as revenues grew to £2.95bn from £2.54bn. Projects during the period included support work with oil giant BP in Azerbaijan and an underground mining contract in Mongolia.Insurer Aviva ramped up profits by 35% in 2010, helped by cost cutting, and had a record year in the UK. The firm, which has 19m customers in Britain, posted a profit before tax of £2.44bn, up from £1.81bn in 2009. Operating earnings jumped 26% to £2.55bn. Full year earnings for mining giant Kazakhmys were a little higher than expected as the price of copper raced higher in 2010. Stripping out any contribution from the group's 26% stake in fellow Kazakh resources firm ENRC, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled $1.93bn, up 59.5% from $1.21bn the year before and ahead of market expectations of $1.86bn. Oil and gas firm Tullow Oil gushes ahead after it hailed an "exceptional result" on its drilling of the Enyenra-2A appraisal well, in the Deepwater Tano licence offshore Ghana. Drilling successfully encountered oil in excellent quality sandstone reservoirs, with solid evidence of communication with the Owo-1 well, which confirms that the Owo oil discovery, now renamed Enyenra, is a major light oil field. Defence firm Cobham's profits in 2010 were hurt by delays in orders in the US and the company sees continuing difficulties this year as the world's only superpower seeks to rein in spending following the financial crisis. Statutory pre-tax profits in the year to 31 December fell to £189m from £245m on revenues that edged up to £1.8bn from £1.75bn.Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey returned to profit in 2010 and has made a positive start to the current year with prices up in some places. The firm made a profit before tax and one-off items of £75.1m compared with a £96.1m loss in 2009 on revenue up a fraction at £2.6bn despite total completions falling from 15,166 to 14,272. Identity theft and credit card insurer CPP celebrated a strong first year as a public company, with profits increasing by a third. Underlying profit before tax in 2010 rose 33% to £46.7m from £35.2m the year before on revenue that rose 12% to £325.8m from £292.1m in 2009. Telecoms testing group Spirent reported a 32% rise in 2010 pre-tax profit, increased its dividend and said it is confident of further growth in 2011. The company, which tests the performance of IT and communications systems, said pre-tax profit for the year rose to $112.2m compare with $84.9m in 2009. Revenue was up 13% at $482.2m. Newspaper group Trinity Mirror has taken a dive. It held back from reinstating its dividend despite a big jump in profits as it slashed costs to cope with the tough times the newspaper industry is facing. The publisher of the Mirror and a host of local titles said pre-tax profits in 2010 were up to £101.5m from £72.7m the previous year, even as revenues slipped to £761.5m from £763.3m. Some analysts had been expecting a slight rise in revenues.FTSE 100 - RisersAmec (AMEC) 1,199.00p +6.20%IMI (IMI) 936.00p +5.76%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,462.00p +3.61%Anglo American (AAL) 3,366.00p +3.00%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,753.00p +3.00%Whitbread (WTB) 1,690.00p +2.80%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,357.50p +2.61%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,329.00p +2.55%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 819.00p +2.50%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,491.00p +2.47%FTSE 100 - FallersRSA Insurance Group (RSA) 136.10p -0.80%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,665.00p -0.54%Kingfisher (KGF) 243.70p -0.53%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,647.00p -0.48%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 384.40p -0.36%Diageo (DGE) 1,179.00p -0.34%Invensys (ISYS) 351.40p -0.26%Associated British Foods (ABF) 978.00p -0.25%International Power (IPR) 326.70p -0.24%G4S (GFS) 262.80p -0.11%FTSE 250 - RisersInchcape (INCH) 403.90p +5.46%Cobham (COB) 219.30p +4.98%Carillion (CLLN) 371.80p +4.03%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 354.80p +3.89%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 286.70p +3.84%Cookson Group (CKSN) 698.00p +3.71%Devro (DVO) 278.70p +3.61%Ashtead Group (AHT) 181.80p +3.59%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 648.50p +3.59%Afren (AFR) 165.10p +3.25%FTSE 250 - FallersHansen Transmissions International NV (DI) (HSN) 40.26p -4.66%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 111.00p -4.31%Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) 539.00p -3.32%Supergroup (SGP) 1,492.00p -3.24%Spirent Communications (SPT) 151.20p -2.64%Marston's (MARS) 94.50p -2.53%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 17.60p -2.28%Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 304.50p -2.28%Home Retail Group (HOME) 210.90p -2.23%Shaftesbury (SHB) 464.90p -2.23%