London open: Royal Bank of Scotland leads the slide

5th Aug 2011 08:23

Stocks are on the slide following the rout in Wall Street last night, with Royal Bank of Scotland in the eye of the storm after exposure to Greece pushed the bank into losses in the second quarter.Exposure to Greek government bonds and a charge for mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) meant the part-nationalised bank posted an attributable loss of £897m in the quarter to 30 June, against a profit of £257m in the same period the previous year. It was hit by a £850m charge for PPI claims and £733m provision related to Greek government bonds.Software provider Logica is sharply lower even after it reported a 5% rise in interim revenues in the six months to 30 June but pre-tax profits were lower after its exposure to the squeezed public sector pushed it to an underlying loss in the Benelux countries. Full-year revenue growth is expected to be at a similar level to the first half, but margin improvement now depends on progress in Benelux, the company said.Food manufacturer Premier Foods's 29% drop in trading profits from ongoing operations has left a bad taste. It was hurt by higher raw material costs and a temporary pricing dispute with its major customer, sending its shares lower. For the half year ended 25 June, the company, which makes Hovis bread and Hartley's jams, saw profits fall 29% to £69m, down from £94m, in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. In other company news, medical devices firm Smith & Nephew reported higher revenues and profits in the quarter to 3 July, but said margins were "disappointing" due to higher sales of lower margin products and other factors. Revenue climbed to $1.077bn (£659m) from $959m over the same period the previous year, while operating profit rose to $236m from $226m. First half profits at insurance titan Prudential jumped by a quarter to top expectations, driven by strong growth in Asia. Operating profit, on an International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) basis, rose 25% from £0.85bn to £1.06bn, ahead of expectations of £0.96bn.Housebuilding company Bellway saw a slight improvement in operations in the year to 31 July. The group has legally completed 4,922 homes, an increase of 7.1% compared with the previous year's total of 4,595, while the average selling price of homes sold has increased by 7.2% from £163,175 to around £175,000.FTSE 100 - RisersUnilever (ULVR) 1,962.00p +0.26%Inmarsat (ISAT) 391.70p -0.71%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,289.00p -0.85%Carnival (CCL) 1,892.00p -1.05%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 286.80p -1.10%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,499.00p -1.64%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 568.90p -1.66%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,262.00p -1.79%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,475.00p -1.80%Reed Elsevier (REL) 487.70p -1.81%FTSE 100 - FallersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,646.00p -11.51%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 27.01p -10.80%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 31.46p -10.07%Barclays (BARC) 176.75p -9.82%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 609.00p -8.14%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,164.00p -7.47%GKN (GKN) 190.80p -7.15%John Wood Group (WG.) 547.50p -6.81%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,026.00p -6.64%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 527.00p -6.56%FTSE 250 - RisersCarpetright (CPR) 609.00p +2.70%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 79.00p +0.89%Rank Group (RNK) 140.90p +0.64%BH Macro Ltd. EUR Shares (BHME) € 17.46 +0.34%Spirent Communications (SPT) 124.10p 0.00%BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 1,790.00p 0.00%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 633.00p 0.00%Avis Europe (AVE) 312.00p 0.00%BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.02 0.00%Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 468.60p -0.04%FTSE 250 - FallersLogica (LOG) 83.25p -19.10%Sports Direct International (SPD) 200.00p -17.59%Rightmove (RMV) 1,000.00p -15.61%Premier Foods (PFD) 13.53p -14.80%Hunting (HTG) 620.00p -13.89%Pace (PIC) 86.05p -13.04%Croda International (CRDA) 1,534.00p -12.84%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 40.58p -12.62%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 88.65p -11.35%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 74.50p -11.20%