London midday: Stocks fall back after news flurry

28th Jul 2011 12:00

Stocks are in the red after this morning's splurge of company updates.Anglo-Dutch integrated oil company Royal Dutch Shell fell after it reported net income on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, excluding specific items, of $6.6bn, compared to $4.2bn in the second quarter of last year. The figure was in line with market estimates. Phone company BT advanced after after pre-tax profits rose 20% in the first quarter. "Our super-fast broadband network has now passed over 5m premises and the customer base has almost trebled in the last six months," said chief executive Ian Livingston.Drugs giant AstraZeneca is slightly lower despite seeing second quarter profit before tax slide 2%, or 4% on a constant exchange rates (CER) basis, to $2.86bn from $2.92bn the year before. Revenue rose 3% (but fell 2% on a CER basis) to $8.43bn from $8.18bn. Tate & Lyle, the food ingredients group famous for its sugar, is slightly sour even after hailing an "encouraging start" to the year, with strong demand seen in its main two divisions, Bulk Ingredients and Speciality Food Ingredients.Rolls-Royce motored ahead after it revealed record orders in the first half while profits jumped 28% to beat expectations, enabling the aerospace, power systems and defense group to up its payout to shareholders.Catering giant Compass failed to whet appetites despite organic revenues rising 4.5% to beat expectations. While the group is seeing "modest signs of recovery" in Japan, it has been able to limit the impact on profit to £20m in the second half after reducing costs. In the FTSE 250, speciality chemicals group Croda International reacted negatively to a 30% surge in half year profit, bolstered its dividend and expects to make further progress through the remainder of the year.The provider of capture driven process automation solutions Kofax fell after disappointing revenues. Energy giant Centrica is lower after it reported a 24% drop in half-yearly earnings, after wrestling with higher supplementary tax rates and challenging economic conditions in the United Kingdom, but said it is on course to deliver full year earnings growth. Scottish soft drinks firm AG Barr has lost some fizz today. It said it remains on track for a first half sales rise despite being hit by disappointing weather in the four weeks to 9 July. The maker of Irn-Bru, Tizer and a host of other drinks said sales for the six months to 30 July are expected to be up by about 3.5% from the same period the previous year at £123m. Broadband provider TalkTalk added more customers in the first quarter and said it is experiencing less "churn" - customers moving to other operators. The shares are higher. Total revenue was down to £423m from £444m in the same quarter the previous year, with the unusual pattern of holidays among the reasons for the decline, according to Talk Talk.National Express is in the fast-lane. It said it sees "evidence that the UK recession is encouraging passengers to seek more cost effective modes of transport" as it posted a rise in interim profits and revenues. The bus and train operator saw revenues in the half year to 30 June rise by 6% from the same period the previous year to £1.12bn. Pre-tax profits rose by 26% to £95.5m. Bodycote is wanted after saying it expects its full-year results to come in ahead of forecasts after a strong first half for the metals and alloys treatment company. In the six months to 30 June, pre-tax profits at the company, which works in the aerospace, car, defence and other sectors, climbed to £40.3m from £19.1m the previous year on revenues that rose to £288.2m from £246.3m. Turning to small companies, Sarantel, the maker of high-performance GPS antennas for mobile phones and other devices, has won its "most significant" military contract to date, an order to make antennas for radios used by the US army. Sarantel's GeoHelix GPS antenna will be used in the US military's "Rifleman radio", which is to be used as part of the US Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) programme. FTSE 100 - RisersBAE Systems (BA.) 307.50p +5.13%Inmarsat (ISAT) 537.00p +3.87%BT Group (BT.A) 196.20p +2.88%Capita Group (CPI) 713.00p +1.13%ITV (ITV) 69.65p +1.09%International Power (IPR) 307.80p +0.92%IMI (IMI) 1,092.00p +0.83%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,498.00p +0.78%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 43.55p +0.74%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,920.00p +0.63%FTSE 100 - FallersCompass Group (CPG) 565.50p -2.84%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 575.50p -2.70%Lonmin (LMI) 1,287.00p -2.65%Xstrata (XTA) 1,303.00p -2.62%Centrica (CNA) 312.40p -2.47%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,113.00p -2.40%Investec (INVP) 481.30p -2.31%Amec (AMEC) 1,064.00p -2.30%Carnival (CCL) 2,179.00p -2.16%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 642.00p -2.06%FTSE 250 - RisersInchcape (INCH) 387.50p +7.73%Bodycote (BOY) 382.80p +6.57%Laird (LRD) 184.50p +3.94%Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 494.40p +3.45%National Express Group (NEX) 256.70p +2.56%Invensys (ISYS) 312.40p +2.49%Unite Group (UTG) 214.90p +2.43%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 14.35p +2.28%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 141.00p +2.17%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 36.75p +2.17%FTSE 250 - FallersKofax (KFX) 409.00p -13.99%Britvic (BVIC) 330.60p -9.13%Afren (AFR) 138.80p -5.06%Elementis (ELM) 165.10p -5.06%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 138.90p -4.01%CSR (CSR) 281.50p -3.43%Sports Direct International (SPD) 253.30p -3.39%Renishaw (RSW) 1,633.00p -3.37%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 58.75p -3.29%Rank Group (RNK) 144.60p -3.15%