London midday: Greek worries resurface

22nd Apr 2010 11:56

Footsie remains deep in the red now as concerns about Greece's debt situation resurfaced.Greece's financial situation is under scrutiny again after the statistics agency Eurostat warned the country's 2009 budget deficit was 13.6%, more that the 12.7% previously estimated. Financials are the major draggers with Prudential, Aviva, Standard Life and Man Group down.Bus and rail operator Arriva has agreed to be taken over by Germany's Deutsche Bahn in a £1.59bn deal that will create a new European transport giant. Under the terms of the deal, Arriva shareholders will also receive a 2009 dividend of 18.8p per share.Revenues were down at WH Smith in the half year to February 28, but efficiency measures helped the newsagent chain post a rise in pre-tax profits. Revenues slipped to £716m from £731m over the same period the previous year, while pre-tax profits edged up to £62m from £61m.Pubs group Punch Taverns reported a slightly better than expected half year profit but warned that market conditions remain challenging. Pre-tax profits dropped to £66m in the 28 weeks ended 6 March compared with £82m last time, but the figure was still better than average expectations of £65m.Food producer and household-products manufacturer Unilever moved ahead after Panmure Gordon raised it to "buy" from "hold" and raised its price target. It also received a boost from peer Nestle, which posted strong quarter sales.Intertek has surged to near all time highs after JPMorgan upgraded the testing company to "overweight" from "neutral." It said the stock offers the best growth potential in the sector.Mobile phone giant Vodafone has introduced a new service designed to close a security gap in the monitoring procedures of regulated financial firms.Mining giant Anglo American reported a 23% jump in first-quarter iron ore production and a 7% rise in copper output.Housebuilder Persimmon said sales have remained consistent since it last updated the market on March 2, despite uncertainty over the state of the economy and the coming general election.Sports Direct, owner of Sports World stores and Slazenger and Dunlop brands, said based on current trading it is confident of achieving full year underlying EBITDA of at least £160m. It has been a good year so far for Filtrona, the supplier of speciality plastic and fibre products, with first quarter results ahead of the board's expectations. Engineering and project management company AMEC has been signed up by French power generating company EDF Group to assist with the proposed delivery of four new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point and Sizewell in the UK. Financial details of the contract have not been divulged.A consortium of which Kier Group is a member has been named as the preferred bidder on a £40m fire station project in Gloucestershire.Casino and bingo hall operator Rank said it has made an 'encouraging' start to 2010, with like-for-like sales climbing by 4% in the 16 weeks to April 18.Speciality chemicals supplier Elementis said full year earnings are expected to be ahead of current market expectations as demand picked up in the first three months of the year. It's been only seven weeks since it announced its preliminary results but since then the outlook for the first half of 2010 has improved substantially for engineer IMI.Investment performance at the majority of its funds continued to be strong at BlueBay Asset Management in the first three months of 2010.