London midday: Mixed reception for company updates

19th Apr 2011 12:00

Shares have remained steady after winning back some of yesterday's losses in early dealings, with shares moving in both directions after updates.Tesco is lower even after new chief executive Philip Clarke delivered profits and sales that were in line with expectations as he unveiled the supermarket giant's results for the year to 26 February. Pre-tax profits climbed by 11.3% from the same period a year ago to £3.53bn, on sales that climbed by 8.1% to £67.57bn. Brewing giant SABMiller frothed higher after it said organic year on year growth in lager sales in the 12 months to 31 March 2011 was 2%, with the fourth quarter seeing a 3% growth rate. The group's overall financial performance is in line with the board's expectations.Burberry is in fashion after saying it expects profits for the financial year to March 31 to be at the top end of expectations after a strong performance in the final few months. Total revenues rose by 30% from the previous year on an underlying basis to £860m.Business and academic publisher Reed Elsevier saw underlying revenue growth in each of its business groups once the effects of biennial events in its exhibitions group are taken out of the equation. The group is sticking by its earlier forecast of a gradual recovery in 2011.Housebuilder Redrow said it expects full year completions to be marginally ahead of last year as it announced plans to sell loss making Scottish operations. "The board has concluded that although we have had a presence in Scotland for a number of years, the operation there is not of sufficient scale to generate acceptable returns and its preferred option is to sell that business," it said. Redrow said it would instead focus on London and the South East.Record inflows helped wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown outperform a flat UK stock market in the three months to 31 March. Assets under administration grew by £1.3bn during the three month period to £23.6bn and were up by 34% from the same period a year ago.Losses widened in 2010 at oil and gas firm Heritage Oil as the group wrote off $10.5m relating to expenditure on licence areas in Africa. The group saw losses before tax expand to $44.0m from $36.8m the year before as it wrote off expenditure of $1.65m incurred with respect to interests in Block 1 and 2 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and expenditure of $8,890,000 incurred with respect to the Kisangire and Lukuliro licence areas in Tanzania. The shares are lower today. Emerging markets lender International Personal Finance posted a four fold increase in pre-tax during the first quarter after a bumper performance in Poland and as it reduced impairment charges. IPF enjoyed a strong start to 2011 and said it is well placed to deliver stronger growth across the rest of the year. Shares in UK Coal took a dive after Britain's biggest coal miner posted another annual loss, an "unacceptable performance" according to the chairman Johnson Cox. Revenues in the year to were up to £351.2m from £316m the previous year, but the loss after tax narrowed only slightly, to £125.1m from £127.5m. FTSE 100 - RisersBurberry Group (BRBY) 1,219.00p +6.37%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,558.00p +2.91%IMI (IMI) 987.00p +2.76%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,754.00p +2.51%Anglo American (AAL) 3,055.50p +2.43%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 617.50p +2.07%Xstrata (XTA) 1,465.00p +1.98%Lonmin (LMI) 1,605.00p +1.90%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,275.00p +1.84%Prudential (PRU) 727.50p +1.68%FTSE 100 - FallersAutonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,518.00p -1.68%Tesco (TSCO) 395.55p -1.11%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 41.46p -0.84%Inmarsat (ISAT) 605.00p -0.82%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 292.40p -0.78%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,179.00p -0.66%Carnival (CCL) 2,388.00p -0.62%Next (NXT) 2,172.00p -0.37%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 58.67p -0.27%British Land Co (BLND) 563.00p -0.27%FTSE 250 - RisersAZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 264.40p +6.40%Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 320.90p +4.60%Afren (AFR) 156.10p +3.24%Ocado Group (OCDO) 236.80p +3.14%Bodycote (BOY) 319.50p +2.83%Petropavlovsk (POG) 877.50p +2.81%Inchcape (INCH) 353.50p +2.49%International Personal Finance (IPF) 343.30p +2.48%Keller Group (KLR) 620.00p +2.39%ITE Group (ITE) 236.80p +2.38%FTSE 250 - FallersHeritage Oil (HOIL) 242.40p -3.66%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 13.25p -3.28%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 850.50p -2.13%RPC Group (RPC) 317.40p -2.04%Carpetright (CPR) 657.50p -1.94%Home Retail Group (HOME) 212.10p -1.90%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 138.10p -1.36%SEGRO (SGRO) 303.70p -1.24%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 89.50p -1.10%Ladbrokes (LAD) 142.80p -0.97%