London close: Reed leads Footsie higher
London recovered from a slow start to close the day at another new six-year high, with sentiment boosted by upbeat trading statements from Reed and Diageo.
Publisher Reed Elsevier was the main riser after it reported revenue growth for 2006 was in line with expectations, adding that it plans to sell its Harcourt Education division to allow it to concentrate on its digital opportunities. Other publishers including Pearson rose in sympathy.
Diageo also gained ground after it said 8% net sales growth in spirits was the key driver of its overall performance during the first half. The drinks giant also increased guidance for full year organic operating profit growth to 8%.
BAE Systems found a firm footing after Credit Suisse stuck with its 'outperform' advice and Merrill Lynch kept its 'buy' recommendation and lifted its price target to 515p from 450p.
Plumbing supplies group Wolseley led the fallers after its strong rise yesterday on reports that it was courting private equity interest. Merrill downgraded the group to "neutral" from "buy".
Marks & Spencer, which has been touted as a potential bidder for J Sainsbury, slipped back after a report from the ONS showed retail sales fell 1.8% in January, the worst performance for four years driven by poor clothing sales.
Miners dropped as investors took profit following the sector's recent rally. Antofagasta, BHP Billiton and Kazakhmys are among the worst performers.
HSBC started shares in hotel group Millennium & Copthorne with "underweight" advice and a price target of 615p while Altium Securities raised TV producer RDF Media to "add" from "hold".
RDF Media also said trading for the year across the group has been in line with expectations, driven by a strong performance from its US arm during the second half.
Car dealer Pendragon saw a 51% rise in pre-tax profit for the year as it benefited from the revenues of last year's acquisition of rival company Reg Vardy. Pre-tax profit for the year to December rose to £96.4m from £63.8m in 2005.
Tomkins was downbeat Thursday as the engineer reported a 7% drop in full year pre-tax profit and warned that the overall outlook for its markets this year is difficult, while the weak dollar is also expected to hurt.
Coal miner UK Coal steamed higher this morning as traders cited hopes that the group will receive planning approval for its Prince of Wales development at Pontefract.
Dream Direct warned this morning that sales in the four months from 1 October tumbled 21% year on year, with restructuring costs expected to tip the home shopping retailer deep into the red for the full year.
There was more woe for shareholders in property group Northern Lynx as the FSA launched an investigation into possible misconduct of share dealings. Northern Lynx is Aim-listed.
After the market closed Linktone, a Chinese provider of wireless value-added services, announced that it is considering making an offer for MonsterMob.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Reed Elsevier (REL) 644.50p +6.62%
BAE Systems (BA.) 454.00p +2.54%
Diageo (DGE) 1,045.00p +2.35%
Reuters Group (RTR) 437.00p +2.34%
Scottish and Newcastle (SCTN) 579.00p +2.30%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,639.00p +2.18%
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FTSE 100 - Fallers
Wolseley (WOS) 1,375.00p -2.27%
Smith and Nephew (SN.) 627.75p -1.49%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 1,613.00p -1.41%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,523.00p -1.17%
Sainsbury (SBRY) 508.50p -1.17%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,477.00p -1.07%
FTSE 250 - Risers
UK Coal (UKC) 473.50p +7.01%
Pendragon (PDG) 106.25p +6.52%
Soco International (SIA) 1,270.00p +5.92%
Informa (INF) 595.00p +4.57%
Abbot Group (ABG) 294.50p +4.53%
St Modwen Property (SMP) 611.50p +4.35%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 1,522.00p -3.97%
Tomkins (TOMK) 267.50p -2.73%
John Wood Group (WG.) 283.25p -2.16%
Carphone Warehouse (CPW) 313.00p -1.88%
BSS Group (BTSM) 448.00p -1.86%
Ultra Electronics (ULE) 1,185.00p -1.82%
