London close: Down day for Footsie
With no help from a gloomy Wall Street, London finished the session in downbeat fashion as banks found the going tough and negative broker comment tripped other blue chips.
Shire struggled after Goldman Sachs lowered its rating on the drugs group to 'neutral' from 'buy' and cut its price target to 990p from 1,250p. It no longer expects an acceleration in prescriptions for hyperactivity drug Vyvanse.
A downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Citigroup was responsible for a slip at British Land, while the broker cut its price target for Royal Bank of Scotland to 350p, sending the shares lower.
But Mitchells and Butlers soared late on after the mid-cap pub group confirmed that a number of parties have now made preliminary and tentative expressions of interest in the company. Punch Taverns also frothed higher.
But housebuilders Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments beat a retreat as did mortgage lender Alliance & Leicester after the Bank of England revealed mortgage approvals fell to their worst-ever in December.
Vodafone and credit checker credit checking firm Experian were among the best performers, with the mobile titan up ahead of third quarter KPI's tomorrow, which are expected to be upbeat.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto rose on a rumour it is talking to BHP Billiton about an increased offer even though BHP recently insisted it would not up its price.
Vedanta Resources saw underlying profit fall by 7% in the third to $671.5m from $724m, blamed on the weak rupee. Revenue for the quarter and nine months ended 31 December 2007 was $1.89bn and $5.78bn, up 7% and 21%.
Other miners were better as South Africa's state run utility Eskom agreed to increase electricity supply to 80% capacity following recent cuts. Anglo American closed better, but Xstrata was flat at the finish.
Standard Life fell despite a 12% rise in 2007 worldwide life and pensions sales, slightly ahead of analysts' forecasts, although it is more cautious over prospects in 2008. "The early indications are that some of the markets in which we operate will remain difficult in 2008," it.
In addition, Standard's UK head Trevor Matthews has resigned to become the new chief executive at Friends Provident.
Travel group Thomas Cook's pro-forma profit from operations was €375.3m (up 26%) in the year to October. Trading for the winter 07/08 season is in line with expectations, with demand ahead of capacity. Trading for summer '08 is encouraging in all markets and we are in a strong position for the rest of the year, it said.
JP Morgan has reacted to yesterday's trading update from Cook's peer TUI Travel by raising its price target on the travel firm to 425p from 400p and keeping its 'overweight' rating.
Elsewhere, banknote maker De La Rue said its remains confident in its trading outlook and cash generation for the year. Within Security Paper & Print, trading during the period has been in line with expectations, said the group, with continued strong level of banknote demand supporting revenue and margin improvement.
A confident Chloride has upped its expectations for the current year after a good third quarter. "The product order book again increased, and the operating margin has continued to strengthen against the prior year. Accordingly the full year results are expected to be slightly ahead of management's previous expectations," it said.
Soft drinks firm Britvic said it is confident to meet full year expectations as it posted a 31% jump in quarterly revenue helped by its Irish acquisition, though UK sales again struggled.
Shares in Hull-based telecoms group KCOM slipped as it cautioned first half margins in its managed services business are likely to come in at the lower end of its guidance range.
Toledo Mining slumped to its lowest in 10 months after the nickel miner said wet conditions impacted production and shipments to Australia and China during the fourth quarter.
Oakdene Homes lost over a quarter of its value Wednesday as the housebuilder focused on South East England warned that 2007 pre-tax profit will be materially below market expectations.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Experian Group (EXPN) 432.50p +5.75%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 449.50p +4.35%
TUI Travel (TT.) 248.00p +3.33%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,819.00p +3.19%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 654.00p +2.75%
Whitbread (WTB) 1,329.00p +2.70%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,665.00p +2.19%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 176.90p +1.78%
G4S (GFS) 217.25p +1.76%
BAE Systems (BA.) 480.00p +1.53%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
SABMiller (SAB) 1,087.00p -4.65%
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Home Retail Group (HOME) 277.75p -4.55%
Friends Provident (FP.) 155.20p -4.37%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 672.00p -4.00%
Shire (SHP) 899.00p -3.85%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,790.00p -3.66%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 385.25p -3.63%
Liberty International (LII) 1,020.00p -3.59%
British Land (BLND) 984.00p -3.53%
Compass Group (CPG) 314.00p -3.16%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 473.00p +17.96%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 604.50p +8.04%
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 87.50p +6.71%
PV Crystalox Solar (PVCS) 141.00p +6.02%
eaga (EAGA) 160.00p +5.96%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 709.50p +4.96%
Enodis (ENO) 146.00p +4.85%
Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 943.50p +4.14%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 555.00p +4.13%
Regus Group (RGU) 72.50p +3.94%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
PartyGaming (PRTY) 26.00p -8.77%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,310.00p -5.83%
New Star Asset Management Group (NSAM) 95.75p -4.73%
Southern Cross Healthcare Group (SCHE) 332.00p -3.77%
Morgan Sindall (MGNS) 929.50p -3.73%
BlueBay Asset Management (BBAY) 260.75p -3.60%
GKN (GKN) 267.00p -3.17%
Derwent London (DLN) 1,356.00p -3.07%
Imperial Energy Corporation (IEC) 1,460.00p -2.99%
Wincanton (WIN) 352.25p -2.89%
