London open: Mixed reception for company updates

3rd Feb 2011 08:27

Stocks are moving in both directions after updating the market and the top share index is currently in the red by about a dozen points.Royal Dutch Shell is a faller even though the oil titan more than quadrupled fourth quarter profits thanks to higher energy prices, an increase in production and cost-cutting. Earnings for the last three months of 2010 on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis surged to $5.7bn from $1.2bn a year ago. They grew 90% to $18.6bn for the full-year. Excluding certain items, earnings grew to $4.1bn from $2.8bn last time. "We are making good progress against our targets, and there is more to come from Shell," said chief executive Peter Voser. The dividend stays at 42 cents a share.The turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia threatens to reverse an improving trend at holiday group TUI Travel. The operator of brands such as Thomson and First Choice, whose shares are lower, posted higher revenues in the three months to 31 December and said it has had a good start to 2011. However, the problems in North Africa could impact results for the current quarter by £25m to £30m. Holidays to Egypt from mainland European destinations such as Germany and France have been cancelled. TUI is still sending holidaymakers from the UK to Red Sea resorts.Strong growth in broadband subscribers and a pick-up by its global services operation helped telecoms titan BT, one of today's best performers, lift profits by almost a third over the past three months. Pre-tax profits in the quarter to December jumped by 30% to £531m from £408m, even though sales fell slightly to £5.04bn from £5.2bn. BT added 188,000 new broadband subscribers in the three months to take its market share to 53%. Profits from its global services division rose by 15% to £141m on an underlying business, though sales here fell by 7% to £1.98bn. Investors also have an appetite for Compass after the contract caterer said revenue growth seen in the second half of 2010 continued into the first quarter of the new financial year, with organic revenue growth of around 5.5%.Sticking with food, Unilever has taken a €110m provision to cover possible competition law breaches in the European consumer detergents market. The Anglo-Dutch food and households goods giant, which owns the Domestos bleach brand, said it had concluded it is now 'appropriate' to take a provision following an European Commission investigation that began in 2008.Mobile phone titan Vodafone thinks full-year profit will be at the top end of the range following a third quarter that went pretty much as expected, driven by strong growth in India and parts of Europe. The company, which yesterday announced the departure of chairman Sir John Bond, reckons adjusted operating profit will be towards the upper end of the £11.8bn to £12.2bn range given in November.South Africa-focused bank Investec said it saw a marginal improvement in profit in the nine months to 31 December as strength in its asset and wealth management businesses helped offset a weaker performance from banking and advisory businesses. Investec, which also has a large presence in the UK and Australia, said that the pace of the economic recovery is varied across the markets in which it operates and that the regulatory environment remains challenging.Military researcher QinetiQ expects to 'exceed its previous expectations' for the current year, as it delivers a backlog of its products. However the high-tech weapons group warned that its view of future periods is unchanged as its principal markets 'remain subject to considerable uncertainty'.