London close: Slim gains for Footsie
London finished in the blue Thursday despite a gloomy morning as miners perked up and telecoms clawed back early losses, although stocks were off their best levels as Wall Street struggled to hold above 12,000.
Publishing and conferences group Informa was the big story today as it confirmed it is in talks concerning a takeover by German publishing giant Springer. A deal would create the World's second largest academic publisher.
Springer is owned by two private equity groups, Cinven and Candover. Reports this morning suggested an offer could be pitched in the region of 600p to 660p per share. Magazine publisher EMAP rose in sympathy.
Yell was among the best performing blue chips following news that Verizon Communications is planning to demerge its print and online yellow pages business as a new public company called Idearc.
There was also good news for drug majors, with GlaxoSmithKline and Astrazeneca ahead following bright third quarter numbers from Swiss giants Novartis and Serono. Astra added that it is seeking EU and Canadian approval for Seroquel.
Prudential reversed an initial dip to join the blue chip risers as nine-month sales rose by 11%, in line with forecasts, but UK sales fell and it warned internet bank Egg will post a loss in the second half.
British Airways and Carnival were also strong on the back of continued weakness in the oil markets, although prices edged up ahead of today's OPEC meeting to decide on a possible 1m barrel a day cut in output.
Oil producers BP and Royal Dutch Shell closed little changed having been down in the dumps earlier on ahead of the oil cartel's get together in Qatar.
Meanwhile, higher metal prices had the likes of Xstrata, Anglo American and Lonmin going home happy tonight.
Vodafone ended the day flat, shrugging off weaker than expected results from Ericsson and news that Telefonica subsidiary O2 plans to cut the amount customers pay for incoming calls when they use their phones elsewhere in Europe.
Reports that Corus is preparing to accept the 455p per share offer from India's Tata Steel had the Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer lower. Reports have suggested that Brazil's CSN may also be mulling an offer.
Credit Suisse touted a 'neutral' stance on the banking sector, leaving HSBC and Lloyds TSB nursing losses.
Meanwhile, Reuters was better as Lehman Brothers has the financial information provider as 'overweight' with 585p target price.
Household products firm Reckitt Benckiser also enjoyed gains as Panmure Gordon lifted the shares to 'buy' from 'hold' with price target up to 2,450p from 2,070p.
Sportswear retailer JJB Sports lost its appeal against a fine related to the price fixing of replica football shirts, while Home Retail Group's Argos lost its appeal against a fine for fixing toy prices. Both have said they will appeal to the Lords.
Online gamer Sportingbet's full year pre-tax profit rose 75% to £71.5m, though it added it would take a charge of £210m this year for the sale of its US arm, which it disposed of for $1. Bets in Europe were up 62% year-on-year so far in the current year, it added.
Retailer Mothercare posted first half group sales up 5.3% and up4.4% for the 13 weeks to 14 October. UK like for like sales rose by 1.9% and for the second quarter were up 1.4%. International sales rose by 28% in the half and by 27% in the last quarter.
Colt Telecom has made its first ever quarterly profit, returning €1.3m in the first three months, up from a loss of €27.6m, on sales down slightly at €453.7m. The telecoms group added it expected to make progress this year despite tough markets.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Xstrata (XTA) 2,241.00p +3.18%
Yell Group (YELL) 618.50p +2.91%
ITV (ITV) 104.75p +2.70%
Prudential (PRU) 645.50p +2.54%
Astrazeneca (AZN) 3,509.00p +2.54%
Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) 2,213.00p +2.45%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,431.00p +2.06%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,227.00p +1.83%
Lonmin (LMI) 2,818.00p +1.77%
BG Group (BG.) 699.50p +1.75%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Scottish Power (SPW) 655.00p -1.80%
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Alliance and Leicester (AL.) 1,109.00p -1.77%
Corus Group (CS.) 478.50p -1.75%
William Morrison (MRW) 253.50p -1.55%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,441.00p -1.44%
Old Mutual (OML) 171.00p -1.30%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,001.50p -1.18%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,324.00p -1.12%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 1,430.00p -1.11%
HBOS (HBOS) 1,077.00p -1.10%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Informa (INF) 570.00p +14.29%
Wincanton (WIN) 331.00p +3.44%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 313.00p +3.39%
Autonomy (AU.) 522.25p +3.31%
DS Smith (SMDS) 173.75p +3.27%
WH Smith (SMWH) 350.00p +2.94%
St James's Place (STJ) 393.00p +2.68%
Brit Insurance (BRE) 330.00p +2.56%
Aga Foodservice (AGA) 394.75p +2.53%
Premier Oil (PMO) 1,200.00p +2.39%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 439.00p -3.99%
Colt Telecom (COLT) 138.50p -3.65%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 31.25p -3.10%
Speedy Hire (SDY) 995.00p -2.45%
Petrofac Ld (PFC) 334.00p -2.34%
Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 445.75p -2.30%
Renishaw (RSW) 760.00p -2.19%
Mitie Group (MTO) 206.00p -2.14%
Rathbone Bros (RAT) 1,132.00p -2.08%
Whatman (WHM) 296.75p -2.06%
