London midday: Tesco joins market advance

15th Jun 2010 11:53

Though prices came off in the last hour of the morning Footsie still had a positive session, with equities boosted by the release of better than expected inflation figures. The annual rate of inflation fell to 3.4% in May from 3.7% the previous month. The fall was more than had been expected, but inflation is still some way ahead of the Bank of England's 2% target.News Corporation, the vehicle of media magnate Rupert Murdoch, is fed up being a 39.1% minority shareholder in BSkyB and wants to gain full control of the satellite broadcaster. The initial bid of 700p per share has been knocked back by BSkyB's independent directors who say that an offer somewhere north of 800p per share is more likely to get their approval. Tesco said it is continuing to see evidence of a steady consumer recovery in Britain as it reported UK like for like sales (lfl) growth of 1.1%. With the effects of January's VAT increase stripped out, UK lfl sales growth was 0.1% in the thirteen weeks ending 30 May. Total group sales increased by 8.2%, while growth excluding petrol was 6.9%. Satellite company Inmarsat is the worst performing blue-chip, and it is not because the company has launched its new global handheld satellite phone, the IsatPhone Pro, which the company said will retail for "as little as" $500. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the reason for the share price weakness; the broker has cut its rating on the shares from "neutral" to "underperform", saying the company will have to spend piles of cash to replace its older satellites. In contrast broker comment from Morgan Stanley and Societe Generale is prompting demand for hotels chain Intercontinental Hotels.Defensive stocks are out of fashion with the likes of United Utilities, Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco trading lower. Housebuilder Bellway said uncertainty surrounding the new government's fiscal policy has resulted in a slight reduction in visitor site visits and weekly sales rates. "Nevertheless, with a strong forward order book, net cash in the bank of £55 million and expected future margin improvement, Bellway remains well positioned to continue to deliver earnings growth," it said. Fashion retailer Ted Baker has seen a spurt in sales in the year to date, with its wholesale business also seeing a marked upturn. Total group revenue jumped by 18% in the 19 weeks from 31 January to 12 June. Gross margins were maintained in line with expectations, it added.Things were not so cheery at fellow fashion retailer Alexon, which said recent like-for-like sales were down due to volcanic ash cloud disruptions and the general election. Group like-for-like sales for the 19 weeks ended 12 June 2010 fell 5.4%.Healthcare staff supplier Healthcare Locums today confirmed that all discussions in relation to its recent bid approach have now ended. Meanwhile, Cinven Limited confirmed that it made an approach to Spice but it was rejected by the support service group. The group said it made the approach on 24 May 2010, indicating an offer price of 56p per share, a 51.4% premium to the share price at the close of business on 21 May 2010.CML Microsystems, which manufactures semiconductors, narrowed losses for the year as the value of its semiconductors increased. Pre-tax losses came in at £386,000 against the loss of £2m last year as revenues rose 12% to £18.02m.Crash repair and accident administration firm Nationwide Accident Repair Services said trading since the beginning of the current financial year to date has been encouraging.TV shopping channel Ideal Shopping said it expects to report a "substantial" profit in the first half of 2010. The group also said that it feels it can reintroduce a sustainable dividend policy when the interim results are announced in September.Instant service equipment group Photo-Me International said it expects pre-exceptional, pre-tax profits to top current market forecasts by at least 20%.Oxford Instruments, which supplies tools for industry and research, saw profits rise for the year as it continued to see growth in its research and industrial markets. Pre-tax profit for the year to March rose to £27.4m from £18.1m before on revenue that rose 2.4% to £211.5m.African Eagle spread its wings and took off after tripling the tonnage and more than doubling the contained nickel equivalent at its flagship Dutwa nickel project in Tanzania.FTSE 100 - RisersBritish Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 712.00p +18.57%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,231.00p +2.84%Whitbread (WTB) 1,492.00p +2.83%Centrica (CNA) 297.20p +2.20%ICAP (IAP) 425.90p +2.06%3i Group (III) 298.10p +2.05%Hammerson (HMSO) 369.60p +1.82%British Airways (BAY) 209.70p +1.75%Tesco (TSCO) 398.35p +1.71%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,078.00p +1.70%FTSE 100 - FallersInmarsat (ISAT) 782.00p -4.75%United Utilities Group (UU.) 559.00p -1.06%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,896.00p -0.84%Diageo (DGE) 1,110.00p -0.80%Home Retail Group (HOME) 229.70p -0.78%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,257.00p -0.73%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,175.00p -0.71%ARM Holdings (ARM) 291.40p -0.55%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,280.00p -0.54%Invensys (ISYS) 280.00p -0.53%