London midday: Stocks move both ways after updates

15th Jul 2011 12:04

Stocks are moving in both directions on a surprisingly busy company news day for a Friday. The FTSE 100 is flat.BHP Billiton falls after the company, best known as a miner, said it is increasing its oil and gas activities with the $12.1bn (£7.5bn) purchase of Texas and Louisiana-focused firm Petrohawk. Publishing, events and electronic information group Euromoney roars ahead after saying it has been trading in line with management expectations since its interim results were announced on 19 May. Total revenues for the quarter to June 30, 2011 - the third quarter of the group's financial year - increased by 4% to £102.0m, driven by another strong performance from the group's event businesses.Rail and bus company FirstGroup is in the fast lane after saying it is persuading more people to use its rail services. The group saw 8.5% year-on-year (yoy) like-for-like (lfl) growth in passenger revenues in its UK rail business in the second quarter of 2011, as it said the company had traded in line in the first quarter (April to June) of its fiscal year. Peer National Express is also higher.Credit checking firm Experian saw organic revenue growth of 6% in the second quarter of 2011, and continues to anticipate organic revenue growth in the mid-high single digit range over the full-year. Total revenue growth from continuing activities was 10%.Spectris, which develops precision instrumentation and controls to help firms improve their productivity, expects sales for the first half of 2011 to be more than a fifth higher than the same period last year.You can't win them all, as Tullow Oil has discovered with the Makore-1 exploration well on the West Cape Three Points Block, off the Republic of Ghana. The operator of the well found plenty of water but precious little oil in its test drilling.Similarly, shares in Salamander Energy fall back after the Southeast Asia-focused oil and gas group Salamander said it is abandoning its Dao Ruang-3 well off Thailand after analysis of data from drilling showed it "would have limited potential as a producer."Electrocomponents, the FTSE 250 firm which supplies electronic products and provides maintenance services, falls after it saw revenue rise 14% in its first reporting quarter. Publisher, Future, which is behind hobby magazines such as Classic Rock and Guitar World, slumps after saying it expects its earnings before interest and taxation for the full year to be £2m less than expected after disappointing sales in the US. The poor performance has prompted the company to accelerate its transformation into a mainly digital business. International jewellery designer and manufacturer, Abbeycrest, today said it would need to renegotiate its debt facilities in the coming months. The news wiped 57% of the value of its shares in morning trading. The company said that in May 2011 it had agreed revised and extended facilities with its lenders in the UK and Thailand. Water purification technology firm, Halo Source, said first half revenue fell by 9% versus the first half of 2010. The company said revenues had grown slower than expected and revised its expectations for 2011 revenue to be in the $18-$22m range. Healthcare software provider Advanced Computer Software Group (ACS) has clinched a partnership deal with Vodafone UK to supply its iNurse mobile phone application for nurses, giving them access to patient records on a smartphone. FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,633.00p +2.38%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,472.00p +1.87%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,538.00p +1.59%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 707.00p +1.58%Next (NXT) 2,410.00p +1.39%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 359.40p +1.24%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,094.00p +1.20%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,284.00p +1.18%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,343.00p +0.98%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,161.00p +0.93%FTSE 100 - FallersRolls-Royce Group (RR.) 640.50p -2.81%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,869.00p -2.25%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,339.00p -1.97%Experian (EXPN) 798.50p -1.54%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,397.00p -1.34%Aggreko (AGK) 2,007.00p -1.33%ITV (ITV) 67.10p -1.18%IMI (IMI) 1,080.00p -1.10%Prudential (PRU) 686.00p -1.08%Inmarsat (ISAT) 547.00p -1.08%FTSE 250 - RisersEuromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 669.50p +12.52%FirstGroup (FGP) 359.30p +8.94%PZ Cussons (PZC) 363.60p +3.59%National Express Group (NEX) 249.30p +3.02%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 112.20p +2.65%Carpetright (CPR) 595.00p +2.50%BH Global Ltd. GBP Shares (BHGG) 1,139.00p +2.34%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 59.60p +2.32%Grainger (GRI) 125.50p +2.03%Berkeley Group Holdings (BKG) 1,276.00p +2.00%FTSE 250 - FallersBetfair Group (BET) 643.00p -5.72%Electrocomponents (ECM) 233.50p -4.46%Premier Foods (PFD) 20.70p -4.43%Misys (MSY) 375.90p -2.97%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 274.60p -2.69%Home Retail Group (HOME) 147.90p -2.50%Mondi (MNDI) 629.50p -2.48%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 867.50p -2.31%CSR (CSR) 292.90p -2.04%Spectris (SXS) 1,646.00p -1.97%