London open: Fourth day of falls as oil passes $119

24th Feb 2011 08:31

Shares are down for the fourth day in a row as the Libyan crisis continues to cast a shadow. Today's stream of company results has been given a mixed reception.Worries over the ongoing crisis in Libya - and concerns that other oil rich nations could be affected by protsests - continue to drive the oil price higher. Brent crude rose above $119 a barrel. British Airways owner IAG is down again, taking its losses for the week to 10%.Taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland leads the fallers in the FTSE 100 after it stayed in the red last year, though lower impairment charges meant the deficit was sharply reduced. Pre-tax losses came in at £239m in 2010, down from £1.93bn, with the bank posting a small profit in the last three months of the year.RSA Insurance Group's net written premiums rose 11% (8% at constant exchange rates) to £7,455m in 2010 from £6,737m in 2009, with profitable top line growth seen in all regions. The combined operating ratio deteriorated to 96.4% from 94.6% in 2009, with 3.5 points of the ratio being attributed to bigger than usual losses related to adverse weather conditions. Profit before tax eased 14% to £474m from £554m the year before.Profits soared at British Gas owner Centrica in the year to 31 December as the cold weather towards the end of last year forced homeowners to crank up the heating. Pre-tax profits climbed to £2.8bn from £996m the previous year on revenues that rose to £22.4bn from £22bn. The results have failed to impress the market though and the shares are down.British American Tobacco, the maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes, is lower today even after it squeezed out a higher profit in the 2010 as price increases and emerging market growth helped it offset sluggishness in some markets. Pre-tax profits rose to £4.39bn from £4.08bn the previous year on revenues that rose to £43.86bn from £40.7bn. Capita, the provider of outsourced services that depends on the government for much of its turnover, is bucking the downward trend after it lifted revenues and profits in the year to 31 December despite the coalition government's cost-cutting drive. Pre-tax profits climbed to £364.2m from £325.1m on revenues that rose to £2.74bn from £2.69bn. Capita, whose activities include collecting the TV license, said it is strongly positioned despite having faced a slowdown in decision making on major outsourcing contracts. The bid pipeline stands at a record £4.7bn, up from £3.7bn at the same time last year. Fellow outsourcer Serco is up in sympathy.Engineer Invensys has won its third long term contract with China Nuclear Power Engineering. The latest contract is for the provision of safety and distributed control systems and solutions for the Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant being built in the Fujian province in southeast China.Soft drinks group Britvic has turned a little sour after saying that recent price rises forces it to revise its input-cost inflation guidance upwards.FTSE 100 - RisersCapita Group (CPI) 699.00p +4.33%Serco Group (SRP) 539.50p +1.89%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,372.00p +1.48%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,228.00p +1.32%Anglo American (AAL) 3,139.00p +0.74%Diageo (DGE) 1,191.00p +0.51%Xstrata (XTA) 1,353.50p +0.48%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,355.00p +0.44%Rexam (REX) 349.90p +0.43%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,539.00p +0.39%FTSE 100 - FallersGKN (GKN) 195.10p -3.46%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 228.60p -2.47%ARM Holdings (ARM) 564.00p -2.34%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,325.00p -2.00%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,122.00p -1.92%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 46.41p -1.92%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,716.00p -1.72%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,373.00p -1.66%Reed Elsevier (REL) 541.00p -1.55%Centrica (CNA) 330.00p -1.52%FTSE 250 - RisersSportingbet (SBT) 46.44p +3.20%Forth Ports (FPT) 1,495.00p +3.10%Sports Direct International (SPD) 180.10p +3.09%EnQuest (ENQ) 137.80p +2.15%International Personal Finance (IPF) 324.80p +1.00%Gartmore Group Ltd. (GRT) 104.00p +0.97%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 423.50p +0.83%PZ Cussons (PZC) 342.50p +0.74%St James's Place (STJ) 309.00p +0.62%Savills (SVS) 373.20p +0.59%FTSE 250 - FallersBritvic (BVIC) 390.00p -6.70%Ocado Group (OCDO) 212.20p -4.20%JPMorgan Indian Inv Trust (JII) 397.40p -3.10%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 120.30p -3.06%Ashtead Group (AHT) 168.00p -2.89%Spirent Communications (SPT) 146.80p -2.59%Grainger (GRI) 99.85p -2.59%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 287.00p -2.58%Fenner (FENR) 307.00p -2.48%Redrow (RDW) 125.40p -2.41%