London midday: FTSE 100 back on the slide

5th May 2011 12:07

The top share index has given up its bright start to resume the slide suffered yesterday, with banks leading the fall. The mining sector, which had started brightly, is also lower.First quarter profits fell sharply at part-nationalised lender Lloyds Banking, as the bank took an impairment charge that was half a billion pounds larger than it was expecting, largely to reflect declining Irish property prices. The group saw profit before tax fall to £284m in the first quarter on a combined businesses basis from £1,104m the year before. Underlying income fell to £5.20bn from £5.97bn a year earlier and £5.75bn in the preceding quarter.Miners have given up their bright start. African gold miner Randgold, which today posted higher profits and production for the first quarter, is still higher but only just.Indian mining giant Vedanta, which produced record volumes of commodities as prices soared, helping it post a sharp rise in full-year profits, is lower. In the year to 31 March, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose by 55% from the previous year to $3.6bn (£2.2bn), on revenues that climbed 44% to $11.4bn.Times have been tough in the 13 weeks to 1 May but Morrisons has been appealing to its customers' sense of patriotism, helping the supermarket to post growth ahead of the market, it said today. Total sales excluding fuel during the period were up by 4.2% from the same period a year ago, or by 2.5% on a like-for-like basis. Nevertheless, the shares are slightly lower.Consumer packaging outfit Rexam said overall performance in 2011 has been "comfortably in line" with its plans, though it sounded a note of caution on prospects for the Plastic Packaging division. Performance of the Beverage Cans division has been "somewhat better" than expected, the group said. Paper and packaging firm Mondi said price increases have been pushed through across all of its major product lines, contributing to the group's best quarterly performance for some time. Underlying profit in the first quarter of 2011 of €187m was well ahead of the figure for the corresponding period of 2010 and was also better than the results achieved in the final two quarters of 2010.Medical devices firm Smith & Nephew said first quarter revenue was boosted by progress at its US knee franchise while net profit fell. During the first quarter ended 2 April 2011 revenue rose to $1.055bn from $995m the year before. Trading profit fell to $241m from $250m after it incurred higher administrative expenses. FTSE 250 constituent Go-Ahead is in the fast lane. The rail and bus operator is benefiting from cash-strapped drivers abandoning their cars to take the bus and expects to deliver a full-year operating profit ahead of expectations. In the same sector, National Express said it is on track for an improved financial performance for 2011 after seeing good growth in the first quarter. AZ Electronics, which produces speciality chemical materials to technological manufacturers, is wanted today after it saw strong growth in the first quarter and said its customers are increasing capacity.Shares in Flybe descended sharply after the budget airline said tough economic conditions were having an impact on non-business traveller volumes. In the quarter to 31 March, total seats flown rose by 4.5% from the same period a year ago to 2.6m, but load factor, a measure of how full planes are, fell by 4.4%. Revenue per seat rose by 2.2% to £46.14 against the same period the previous year. FTSE 100 - RisersSmith & Nephew (SN.) 675.00p +2.27%Rexam (REX) 390.30p +1.80%Diageo (DGE) 1,225.00p +1.07%Hammerson (HMSO) 472.90p +0.87%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,675.50p +0.83%Kingfisher (KGF) 278.00p +0.72%ARM Holdings (ARM) 562.00p +0.72%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,228.00p +0.49%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 301.70p +0.47%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 240.40p +0.42%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 52.73p -9.12%Schroders (SDR) 1,755.00p -6.25%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,435.00p -5.65%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,134.00p -3.87%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 40.15p -3.72%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,467.00p -3.17%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,271.00p -2.61%Xstrata (XTA) 1,414.00p -2.35%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,333.00p -2.20%Lonmin (LMI) 1,566.00p -2.19%FTSE 250 - RisersGo-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,492.00p +6.57%Carpetright (CPR) 698.00p +3.25%Regus (RGU) 112.20p +2.84%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 288.10p +2.78%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 97.25p +2.10%COLT Group SA (COLT) 145.00p +2.04%FirstGroup (FGP) 330.50p +2.01%Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 370.90p +1.90%Sports Direct International (SPD) 202.60p +1.86%Mondi (MNDI) 598.00p +1.79%FTSE 250 - FallersCapital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 164.30p -4.25%Lamprell (LAM) 351.00p -3.31%Renishaw (RSW) 1,640.00p -2.67%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 351.40p -2.39%Cookson Group (CKSN) 685.00p -2.28%Rentokil Initial (RTO) 91.60p -2.24%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 148.80p -2.23%Exillon Energy (EXI) 450.00p -2.17%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 210.80p -2.00%St James's Place (STJ) 348.10p -1.94%