London midday: Rally pauses at 6,000

31st May 2011 12:11

The leading share index is sitting around the 6,000 point mark after a strong start this morning.On a relatively quiet day for company news, Serco, the outsourcing company whose activities include running prisons and London's Docklands Light Railway, has announced the acquisition of India-based service provider Intelenet for up to £385m."The acquisition is in line with Serco's strategy which is focused on driving organic growth, supplemented by strategic acquisitions of skills and capabilities to enter new markets and sectors where it sees strong opportunities to enhance growth and margins," said Prime Markets' head of dealing Richard Curr.Elsewhere in the sector, outsourcing specialist Capita has acquired specialist healthcare recruitment firm Team24 for £24m, with up to £2m more payable depending on the firm's performance in the year to 31 March, 2012. Team24 made a pro forma operating profit for its financial year to 31 March 2011 of £4.2m on turnover of £32.7m.In the FTSE 250, Pace is higher after it announced that the chairman of set-top box maker is stepping down after a troubled end to his five years in charge of the company. Mike McTighe will be replaced by Allan Leighton, former non-executive chairman of the supermarket Asda. Leighton joins the board today and is expected to take over as chairman in summer. Sweden-focused mineral exploration company Beowulf Mining endured a harsh winter of epic proportions but remains on course to complete its drilling programme by the end of the second quarter of 2011. In the first three months of 2011 it lost £0.13m before tax, compared to a loss of £0.01m in the first quarter of last year.FTSE 100 - RisersWolseley (WOS) 2,077.00p +4.32%Serco Group (SRP) 576.00p +3.32%Aggreko (AGK) 1,872.00p +3.20%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,084.00p +2.91%Experian (EXPN) 798.50p +2.90%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,732.00p +2.67%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,446.00p +2.55%Man Group (EMG) 259.00p +2.25%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,640.50p +2.21%BP (BP.) 468.75p +1.98%FTSE 100 - FallersCairn Energy (CNE) 434.50p -1.79%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,507.00p -0.66%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 52.42p -0.64%John Wood Group (WG.) 630.50p -0.55%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 304.50p -0.46%United Utilities Group (UU.) 622.00p -0.32%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,163.00p -0.28%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 675.50p -0.22%Vodafone Group (VOD) 169.05p -0.21%BG Group (BG.) 1,408.00p -0.18%FTSE 250 - RisersSupergroup (SGP) 1,120.00p +6.16%Betfair Group (BET) 808.00p +4.19%Senior (SNR) 157.30p +4.03%Regus (RGU) 117.00p +3.54%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 203.20p +3.25%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 19.50p +3.17%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 495.80p +3.10%Soco International (SIA) 390.60p +2.87%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 321.20p +2.72%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 115.50p +2.67%FTSE 250 - FallersCable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 44.10p -1.61%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 450.00p -1.32%Redrow (RDW) 126.60p -1.09%Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 283.00p -1.08%United Business Media Ltd. (UBM) 585.50p -0.93%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 981.50p -0.86%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 49.49p -0.74%Telecity Group (TCY) 544.50p -0.73%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 675.50p -0.73%Berendsen (BRSN) 483.20p -0.68%