London midday: Stocks clinging on despite mixed updates

26th May 2011 12:15

Stocks are holding onto their modest early morning gains, after a mixed reception for company updates.Among the risers is Man Group whose adjusted profit before tax rose to $599m in the year to 31 March from $560m the year before, ahead of company guidance. Statutory profit before tax tumbled to $324m from $541m. However, even this was ahead of previous guidance (of $280m) after strong investment performance in the last week of March and an adjustment to the GLG acquisition balance sheet. Strong sales of non-clothing items such as leather handbags helped the luxury fashion group Burberry to a sharp rise in sales in the year to 31 March. Adjusted pre-tax profit rose by 39% from the previous year to £298m on revenue that climbed by 27% to £1.5bn. The full-year dividend has been increased by 43% to 20p. Despite the strong figures, Burberry, which also announced plans to ramp up capital expenditure, is lower.Qinetiq is on the attack after underlying profit before tax at the military research firm rose to £114.6m in the year to the end of March from £85.7m the year before. Revenue rose to £1.70bn from £1.63m the year before. Operating profit growth was driven by strong sales of the Q-NET vehicle survivability product. British American Tobacco is buying Colombia's second biggest cigarette company for $452m (£279m). The acquisition of Productora Tabacalera de Colombia (Protabaco) will elevate the Lucky Strike firm from third to second place in the cigarette market in Colombia, where 17bn cigarettes are sold a year. Protabaco sold 5.5bn cigarettes in 2010.Daily Mail publisher DMGT is down after reporting a rise in full-year pre-tax profits, to £121m from £102m but warning that the UK consumer media outlook remains "volatile and uncertain." Advertising revenues for April and the first three weeks of May have been below last year at the consumer businesses.Waste management firm Shanks moved ahead after it reported a stronger than expected 6% increase in underlying pre-tax profit for 2011 as demand for its services improved. Underlying profit before tax rose to £35.2m during the year ended 31 March 2011 from £33.2m the same time a year earlier. Revenue for the year rose to £717m from £684m previously. The share price of Plant Health Care has grown after the plant feed group took issue with its weak share price, saying that trading is in line with expectations.FTSE 100 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 248.70p +4.02%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,248.00p +2.63%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,931.00p +2.49%Anglo American (AAL) 2,944.50p +2.22%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,588.00p +2.19%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,317.00p +1.93%Lonmin (LMI) 1,523.00p +1.80%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 51.65p +1.79%Land Securities Group (LAND) 800.50p +1.65%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 393.00p +1.58%FTSE 100 - FallersBurberry Group (BRBY) 1,263.00p -4.32%Whitbread (WTB) 1,623.00p -1.58%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,848.00p -1.44%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,199.00p -1.07%Aggreko (AGK) 1,781.00p -1.06%Wolseley (WOS) 1,950.00p -0.96%International Power (IPR) 313.10p -0.92%Tesco (TSCO) 413.10p -0.82%Carnival (CCL) 2,436.00p -0.81%Cairn Energy (CNE) 439.40p -0.79%FTSE 250 - RisersStobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 137.90p +4.47%Sports Direct International (SPD) 223.30p +3.86%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,063.00p +3.10%RPC Group (RPC) 344.30p +3.05%Pace (PIC) 112.80p +2.92%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,962.00p +2.72%Shanks Group (SKS) 121.80p +2.70%SThree (STHR) 408.50p +2.66%Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,199.00p +2.39%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 114.50p +2.23%FTSE 250 - FallersDaily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) 440.90p -9.06%SIG (SHI) 146.40p -3.37%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 300.80p -1.89%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 50.05p -1.77%Victrex (VCT) 1,500.00p -1.64%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,736.00p -1.55%Punch Taverns (PUB) 71.10p -1.39%Babcock International Group (BAB) 685.00p -1.37%Britvic (BVIC) 419.40p -1.32%De La Rue (DLAR) 832.00p -1.25%