London open: Footsie back over 6,000

18th Jan 2011 08:49

Blue chips have rallied following a strong performance in Asia this morning, renewed demand for the miners and some good trading updates.Brewer SABMiller helped more drinkers in Africa and China quench their thirst during the third quarter, sending organic lager volumes up 3%. The owner of Peroni and Grolsch says volumes, stripping out the effects of acquisitions and disposals, were up 2% in the first nine months of the financial year.Bumper demand for outdoor coats and other luxury accesssories meant a storming third quarter for Burberry with revenue up by 30% and profits now set to hit the top end of forecasts this year. "The Burberry team delivered a 30% increase in revenue in the third quarter, with strong, consistent growth in both retail and wholesale and in every product division and region," chief executive Angela Ahrendts said. State-owned lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has sold its majority stake in care homes operator the Priory Group. Private equity firm Advent International is buying the business for an enterprise value of up to £925m. RBS expects to receive gross equity proceeds of up to £133m in cash.Miners are strong led by Vedanta, Kazakhmys and ENRC.Rio Tinto's global iron ore operations set a new quarterly production record in the final three months of 2010. The group produced 65m tonnes in the final quarter of last year, up from 50m tonnes the year before, taking 2010 production up to a record 239m tonnes, versus 185m tonnes in 2009.Credit checking company Experian enjoyed double-digit revenue growth during its third quarter as performances overseas put the UK & Ireland in the shade. Revenue both on an actual basis and at constant exchange rates was up 12% in the three months to 31 December, with organic growth at 8%. Fast expanding engineer Meggitt has taken another leap forward with agreement to acquire Pacific Scientific Aerospace (PSA) from US firm Danaher $685m in cash. A placing of 69.8m new shares will help fund the deal. Shares in spread betting firm IG Group slumped after it revelaed a £143.1m write-down in the value of its Japanese business. Net trading revenue in the six months to 30 November rose 9% to £156.7m from £143.74m the year before but on a statutory basis the group posted a loss of £69.1m.Plant hire group Ashtead has ended its bid interest in Lavendon after a firm rebuttal from the board of the powered access platform group. Lavendon unanimously rejected an "opportunistic" 115p per share offer from joint bidders Ashtead and Belgium's Thermote & Vanhalst.