London open: Banks spearhead unhurried advance

22nd Dec 2011 08:40

If Footsie is to show a gain on the year, it needs to add about 600 points between now and the close of play on December 30th and though the top-share index has made modest inroads into that deficit this morning, helped by the strength of banks, it is looking increasingly likely that 2011 will be a down year for the London stock market.International Airlines Group (IAG) has managed to beat out rival Virgin in the battle to land the British Midland (bmi) airline. IAG, the company formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, is to pay £172.5m in cash for British Midland (bmi). Crucially, from IAG's point of view, the purchase gives it 56 additional daily slot pairs at London's Heathrow airport.IAG's previous target of making an operating profit of €1.5bn by 2015 has now increased by €100m with the bmi acquisition expected to become earnings per share enhancing by 2014. However, IAG will be forced to incur restructuring costs (in regards to bmi) but these will be spread over three years and are said to be significantly lower than bmi's current annual losses.Ring out the old, ring in the newMedia distribution group Perform has signed a four-year deal with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) to manage and oversee the development of all media rights for the WTA from the start of 2013 to the end of 2016, outside of the USA and Canada. Perform plans to double the number of current live matches produced, by increasing both the number of courts and days covered. Perform is a distributor of digital content, and its business model seems to be holding up better than that of Metrodome, the old-school DVD and film distributor. Metrodome's shares plunged in early trading after the company issued a profit warning. Hansteen, the investor in UK and Continental European property, has bought up 88 property assets from The Spencer Group of Companies, a commercial property specialist. Hansteen is paying £150m for some 88 assets totalling 4.1m square feet of predominantly industrial property located across the UK. AIM-quoted diagnostic tests and testing equipment supplier Avacta tumbled after conditionally placing 1.03m shares at 0.5p, and announcing the £1.48m acquisition of diagnostics firm Aptuscan.FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 20.33p +2.57%Barclays (BARC) 176.30p +2.53%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 148.50p +2.34%BP (BP.) 447.90p +1.90%Schroders (SDR) 1,291.00p +1.89%Aviva (AV.) 297.30p +1.88%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 247.70p +1.85%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 103.70p +1.67%Old Mutual (OML) 132.30p +1.61%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 487.75p +1.59%FTSE 100 - FallersVedanta Resources (VED) 1,025.00p -1.63%Evraz (EVR) 373.60p -0.45%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,079.00p +0.09%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,954.50p +0.14%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,710.00p +0.15%Man Group (EMG) 126.10p +0.16%United Utilities Group (UU.) 590.00p +0.17%CRH (CRH) 1,207.00p +0.25%Vodafone Group (VOD) 173.55p +0.29%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,533.00p +0.33%FTSE 250 - RisersExillon Energy (EXI) 250.60p +4.85%Spirent Communications (SPT) 114.70p +4.27%Perform Group (PER) 208.20p +4.10%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 545.00p +3.42%Supergroup (SGP) 494.90p +3.10%FTSE 250 - FallersCOLT Group SA (COLT) 84.00p -1.93%Regus (RGU) 80.15p -1.90%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 265.70p -1.67%--jh