London midday: Stocks gain on euro hopes

28th Jun 2011 12:16

Stocks are still going well on hopes that the Greek crisis will soon be acted on.However, Cable & Wireless Worldwide is lower after saying chief executive Jim Marsh is to step down after the telecommunications group concluded profits are likely to fall short of previous expectations due to slower than expected sales so far this year. While the financial performance in the first 10 weeks of the financial year is in line with expectations, sales orders, which contribute to margin growth later in the year, did not meet expectations.Carpetright axed its dividend after a sharp fall in sales and profits in the year to 30 April and says it sees "no respite" from the tough trading conditions that are hurting the carpet and flooring retailer. The shares took a sharp dive earlier but have won back some losses.Also in retail, Chocolatier Thorntons is to close up to 180 of its own shops over the next three years, replacing many of them with franchises. It said it will close at least 120 shops and "explore opportunities" to close another 60. Outsourcing giant Serco says nothing much has changed since its last trading update on 9 May. "For 2011, we expect good organic revenue growth and progress towards our 2012 margin guidance," the company said in its pre-close statement.Emerging markets banking leviathan Standard Chartered said that it has continued to build on the strong start it made to the year, with income and profit both showing double-digit percentage growth year-on-year at the end of May. Capita, the FTSE-100 outsourcing giant, has been given 'preferred bidder' status on a contract to provide call centre and council tax collection services for Lambeth council in South London. Capita originally won the contract in 1997 but it had come up for renewal this year. Hiscox, the specialist insurer, has estimated the cost of the April and May tornadoes in the US at around $35m. This comes on top of estimates for the Japan earthquake of between $60 and $150m. PV Crystalox Solar, the struggling solar power wafers manufacturer, slumps after warning it could make an operating loss in the second half of 2011. The problem, the company says, is the dramatic drop in photovoltaic (PV) installations in Germany in the first half of this year. Shares in Chariot Oil & Gas raced higher after it said the Namibian government had given its subsidiary Enigma Oil & Gas formal approval to drill of the southern African country's coast. Part of the drilling will be conducted by the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras through a farm-in agreement.FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 36.43p +3.82%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,460.00p +3.18%Glencore International (GLEN) 487.90p +2.60%Prudential (PRU) 702.50p +2.18%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,572.00p +2.08%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,943.00p +1.99%Schroders (SDR) 1,457.00p +1.96%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,287.00p +1.82%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,399.00p +1.75%Cairn Energy (CNE) 390.00p +1.67%FTSE 100 - FallersTate & Lyle (TATE) 613.00p -2.70%BT Group (BT.A) 194.90p -1.52%Diageo (DGE) 1,253.00p -1.34%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,093.00p -1.26%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,489.00p -0.73%ITV (ITV) 67.05p -0.67%Standard Life (SL.) 200.20p -0.65%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,032.00p -0.64%Vodafone Group (VOD) 163.05p -0.46%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 366.40p -0.43%FTSE 250 - RisersImagination Technologies Group (IMG) 378.00p +5.00%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 298.50p +2.90%Ocado Group (OCDO) 174.20p +2.47%Charter International (CHTR) 610.50p +2.35%Afren (AFR) 149.80p +2.25%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 316.00p +1.97%Synergy Health (SYR) 906.50p +1.97%WH Smith (SMWH) 482.90p +1.92%Bellway (BWY) 715.00p +1.85%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 228.00p +1.83%FTSE 250 - FallersCable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 44.14p -15.52%Devro (DVO) 268.50p -3.42%Halfords Group (HFD) 389.30p -2.70%Perform Group (PER) 206.80p -2.68%Carpetright (CPR) 673.50p -2.39%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 38.66p -2.18%Keller Group (KLR) 429.50p -2.14%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 260.50p -2.07%Atkins (WS) (ATK) 728.00p -1.89%Hiscox Ltd. (HSX) 404.20p -1.82%