London midday: Modest gains for Footsie

6th May 2010 12:19

Footsie finished the morning in positive territory after a nervous start, with those looking for an excuse to buy finding plenty of reasons to do so from some of the big companies declaring results today.Fund manager Schroders is top of the tree after it said the momentum built up in 2009 has continued into 2010 with high levels of new business. Total funds under management (FUM) climbed to £167.9bn at the end of March from £148.4bn at the end of 2009.Elsewhere in the financial sector RSA Insurance Group is also going well after it said it has made a good start to the year with strong performances in the UK, Canada and Latin America. Net written premiums in the first quarter of 2010 were 5% higher than in the corresponding period of 2009 at £1.9bn, or 3% higher at constant exchange rates (CER). Can and packaging maker Rexam is higher after it saw increased demand for its products in the first quarter, helping the company deliver results ahead of expectations.Drinks brands giant Diageo also gained after reporting a 12% rise in organic sales in the third quarter and maintained its full year guidance.Medical devices firm Smith & Nephew posted a better than expected 27% jump in first quarter profit and said it is on the right track for the rest of the year. The trading profit in the quarter was $250m, up from $183m in the first quarter of 2009. Revenues rose to $995m in the period compared to $865m last time.The response to results from Wm Morrison has not been so warm. The supermarket group reported a small rise in first-quarter like for like sales but warned that it remains cautious on the economic environment and consumer spending. In the 13 weeks to 2 May, like for like sales grew by 0.8% (5.2% including fuel), with total sales excluding fuel up by 5.9% (9.5% including fuel).Indian mining giant Vedanta posted a sharp rise in earnings for the year to March 31 after ramping up metals production and benefiting from the rebound in commodity prices. The company posted earnings before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $2.3bn, a rise of 42% from the previous year, on revenues that climbed by 21% to $7.9m.Gold miner Randgold Resources said the first three months had been a tough operational quarter but it had made solid progress on all of its strategic objectives. Petropavlovsk, the gold miner formerly known as Peter Hambro Mining, saw a sharp reduction in output of the yellow metal in the first quarter as planned expansion work disrupted production.Rio Tinto has denied media reports that it has shelved projects in Australia in response to proposals for new taxes on miners' profits, but said it is 'reviewing the possible impact' of the tax.Testing and inspections firm Intertek has bought Norca Ingenieria de Calidad, a Spanish company specialising in infrastructure risk assessment for the energy industry.Housebuilder Bovis Homes said sale prices have been modestly ahead of expectations so far in 2010. Weekly reservation sales have been in line with management expectations and have been consistent since the bad weather in the first two weeks of the year melted away.Business publisher and events organiser United Business Media (UBM) is back on the acquisition trail, buying selected assets of CenTradeX, a provider of market intelligence tools.Engineer Tomkins said it has seen stronger than expected demand in its industrial and automotive businesses and believes the trend is not just due to restocking.