London midday: Shares still ahead

13th Dec 2010 12:10

Shares remain buoyant, with oilfield services stocks in the spotlight amid some well-received news from the sector.Wood Group expects results this year to be slightly ahead of expectations. The Aberdeen-based firm saw continued progress at most of its key divisions. Its engineering unit secured a number of awards during the year, as it order book continues to strengthen, the group said in a statement. Elsewhere in oilfield services, Wellstream is in demand after the US giant General Electric announced a £785m deal to buy the company, upping the price to 780p a share from 750p.Among the large caps, metals groups ENRC, Kazakhmys and Xstrata are the best of the risers. Elsewhere, British Airways is also going well.Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) has given short shrift to a proposal by David Simon, chairman and chief executive of US Mall owner Simon Property, that the US group subscribes to a sale of up to 205.5m of Capital Shopping shares priced at 400p each to fund the £1.6bn Trafford deal. "Completely impracticable," is CSC's response.Banknote printer De la Rue has appointed Tim Cobbold as chief executive and an executive director of the company, starting in January. He joins De La Rue from Chloride Group. His first job will be to see off the bid attentions of French group Oberthur.Yule Catto has roared ahead on an agreement to buy PolymerLatex for a total transaction value of €443m (£376m). A 4-3 rights issue to raise £225m will help pay for it.ITV shares picked up after reported bumper ad revenues for the final of X Factor, which was won by Matt Cardle.Mattress and sofa company Airsprung said sales for the six months ended 30 September 2010 fell by 12.8% as it struggled against a very difficult retail environment for beds and furniture.FTSE 100 - RisersRexam (REX) 313.40p +3.26%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,572.00p +2.81%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,605.00p +2.74%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,574.00p +2.67%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,132.00p +2.17%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,474.00p +2.15%TUI Travel (TT.) 237.20p +2.15%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,406.00p +2.11%Wolseley (WOS) 1,863.00p +1.91%Vodafone Group (VOD) 168.20p +1.75%FTSE 100 - FallersSerco Group (SRP) 569.00p -0.70%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 634.50p -0.70%Next (NXT) 2,016.00p -0.69%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 646.00p -0.69%Standard Life (SL.) 211.70p -0.56%Bunzl (BNZL) 706.00p -0.56%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 98.85p -0.50%G4S (GFS) 250.90p -0.48%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,474.00p -0.47%Compass Group (CPG) 575.50p -0.35%FTSE 250 - RisersYule Catto & Co (YULC) 290.00p +11.54%John Wood Group (WG.) 520.00p +6.51%Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 785.00p +5.09%Ashtead Group (AHT) 160.70p +3.48%Cookson Group (CKSN) 638.50p +3.32%Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 397.80p +3.00%Henderson Group (HGG) 130.90p +2.91%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 120.30p +2.82%Fenner (FENR) 330.50p +2.80%Mcbride (MCB) 177.80p +2.77%FTSE 250 - FallersJD Wetherspoon (JDW) 435.00p -4.40%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,714.00p -4.10%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 162.90p -3.27%Carpetright (CPR) 775.00p -3.12%RPS Group (RPS) 230.00p -2.99%Mothercare (MTC) 608.50p -2.72%Elementis (ELM) 127.60p -2.60%Drax Group (DRX) 376.60p -2.38%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 892.00p -1.87%Hansen Transmissions International NV (DI) (HSN) 60.00p -1.64%