London open: FTSE 100 bounces back after early jitters

14th Sep 2011 09:00

The volatility continues with the top share index in the blue now after a weak start.In what it confessed has been a difficult year so far, clothing retailer Next saw half-year sales rise 3% to £1,565m from the year before, while profit before tax jumped 8.5% to £228m. Excluding its Ventura arm, Next is guiding to full-year profit before tax of between £545m and £590m. "Looking ahead to our full year results, we believe that VAT exclusive NEXT Brand sales for the year will be between 2.0% and 4.5% ahead of last year, which would result in NEXT Group profits being up between +0.4% and +8.7% and EPS up between +7.5% and +16.4%," the group said.House building and construction group Galliford Try exceeded its profit expectations last year after putting on a spurt in the second half. Underlying profit before tax rose 34% to £35.1m from £26.1m the year before, on revenue that climbed 5% to £1,284m from £1,222m.Barratt Developments returned to profit (before exceptional costs) for the full year with a pre-tax return of £42.7m, versus a loss of £33.0m the year before. For the first 11 weeks of the current financial year, the house builder's average net private reservations totalled 183 per week, 10.2% above the same period last year.Strong carbon markets helped coal supplier Hargreaves Services post a sharp rise in profits for the year to 31 May. Underlying pre-tax profits rose to £40.5m from £34.3m on revenues up to £552.3m from £459.8m. Underlying diluted earnings per share rose to 103.7p from 88.8p. Broker Panmure Gordon had predicted a profit of £40m for the year, with earnings per share climbing by 34.1% to 101.4p.Avingtrans, the designer, manufacturer and supplier of critical components and associated services to the energy, medical, industrial and global aerospace sectors, posted a 32% increase in full year earnings and reintroduced a dividend payment. EBITDA increased 32% to £3.3m for the year ended 31 May 2011 from £2.5m in 2010. Turnover increased by 27% to £36.3m. Gross profit margin increased to 29% from 26% the year before. AIM listed integrated wealth management group Brooks Macdonald said underlying pre-tax profit rose 37% to £7.8m in the year ended 30 June 2011. Revenues rose by 29% to £52.2m while statutory pre-tax profits advanced 28% to £7.3m. Total funds under management increased by 36% to £2.969bn. Gold miner Noricum has reported more positive results from its sampling and reconnaissance work at its Altenburg Valley target in south-central Austria. The company took 92 samples from the valley, which showed values up to 86.4 g/t (grams per tonne), a high grade.