London afternoon: Shares still drifting
24th Nov 2009 14:31
London continues to lack direction, with Bank of England governor Mervyn King's comments to the House of Commons Treasury select committee on the state of the economy having more of an effect on sterling than on share prices. With sterling dipping after King's comments, package holiday firms Thomas
Read moreLondon midday: Leading shares mixed
24th Nov 2009 12:10
Footsie has fought its way into positive territory after a dull opening, helped by a recovery by some mining stocks. Anglo American, ENRC and Lonmin are the brightest features of a mining sector that initially opened lower on softer copper prices. Lloyds Banking Group is firmer after it priced i
Read moreLondon open: Lloyds unveils record cash call
24th Nov 2009 08:52
London's blue chips have fallen back after yesterday's strong gains, with Lloyds Banking getting most of the attention. Lloyds Banking Group priced its world record £13.5bn rights issue at 37p a share, a discount of 59.5% to last night's closing price. Britain's third-largest lender will offer s
Read moreLondon pre-open: Negative start ahead
24th Nov 2009 07:31
London's blue chips are expected to start around 50 points lower, falling back from yesterdays triple-digit gains. Footsie closed more than 100 points higher on Monday thanks to a record price for gold, an early rally on Wall Street and strength across the financial sector. Lloyds Banking Group h
Read morePetrofac agrees Saudi Arabian JV
24th Nov 2009 07:12
Petrofac, the oil & gas facilities service provider, said it has established a joint venture agreement with Zamil to create and operate a new service centre facility in Saudi Arabia. The joint venture company, will be a limited liability company, owned and operated equally by Petrofac and Zamil wit
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Miners among the wounded
28th Oct 2009 15:37
The list of blue chip fallers is littered with miners as the dollar's ongoing recovery sends commodity prices lower. Xstrata, Lonmin, Kazakhmys and Rio Tinto are nursing losses, while a fall in oil prices towards $78 a barrel has hurt Petrofac, BP and Shell. Insurer Prudential fell as a 22% dive i
Read moreFriday tips round-up: Petrofac, Anglo American, Unilever
23rd Oct 2009 06:32
Full-year earnings at oil services group Petrofac will be up by "at least" 20% as the company continues to win new orders, the company said yesterday. The shares are trading on a December 2009 earnings multiple of 17.7 times, falling to 13.2 next year. This is at a significant premium to some rival
Read moreLondon close: Tough day for Footsie
22nd Oct 2009 16:41
Blue chips rallied late in the day, but it was a tough session generally with miners and insurance companies under pressure. Telcos led the rally with Vodafone, British Telecom and satellite group Inmarsat all making gains near the close. Lloyds was also a late riser as on reports that it is close
Read moreLondon afternoon: Stocks stuck at lower levels
22nd Oct 2009 14:10
The Footsie finished the lunch-time session little changed from where it started it, despite mining stocks trimming losses sustained in the morning. Mining giant Anglo American is actually higher on the day after it announced plans to divest assets, including its zinc and tarmac operations, as it
Read moreLondon midday: Footsie off worst but still lower
22nd Oct 2009 12:12
Footsie is off its worst but is still showing hefty falls as miners and insurers lead the market lower. Platinum miner Lonmin has again unsettled the mining sector as it saw a 20% decline in production of the precious metal in the fourth quarter after having to shut down mines for safety reasons an
Read moreLondon open: Miners drag Footsie lower
22nd Oct 2009 08:26
Miners are leading London's blue chips lower in early dealings on Thursday after both Lonmin and Anglo American updated the market. US blue chips also turned down sharply overnight as investors mulled another rush of third quarter earnings figures. Over here, platinum miner Lonmin saw a 20% declin
Read moreLondon pre-open: Sharp fall expected
22nd Oct 2009 07:37
Footsie is expected to fall sharply in early dealings following a late turn downwards on Wall Street last night. Bus and rail group National Express, which is facing a merger approach from rival Stagecoach, warned that full year pre-tax profits will be 'slightly' below previous expectations. The gr
Read morePetrofac sees at least 20% earnings growth
22nd Oct 2009 07:17
Oilfield services firm Petrofac said it is increasingly confident that the group will deliver earnings growth for the full year of at least 20%. The group said it has continued to win business during the period with contracts secured in both its Engineering & Construction and Offshore Engineering &
Read moreThursday preview: Debenhams, Anglo American, Petrofac
21st Oct 2009 17:52
Full year results from department store group Debenhams should see pre-tax profits comfortably ahead of last year's £106m, and in line with market expectations of £124m, despite the company reporting a 3.8% drop in second half like-for-like (LFL) sales last month. The dip in LFL sales was widely ex
Read moreLondon close: Footsie closes higher by a whisker
25th Sep 2009 16:32
Footsie finished slightly in the blue going into the weekend on another indecisive day for the leading share index. Oil groups went well as the steady decline in the price of crude over the past few days took a pause. It dropped below $66 per barrel last night but has recovered a tad this morning.
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