London midmorning: Footsie pulled in both directions
Footsie is being pulled both ways as the mining and banking sector cancel each other out.
Comments by BHP Billiton's chief executive that he has not ruled out an increased bid for rival miner Rio Tinto sparked buying across the mining sector.
Speaking in an interview on the CNBC television network, BHP's chief executive Marius Kloppers said "we can't rule out anything" when asked whether the company would consider adding cash to its all-share offer for Rio Tinto. Anglo American, Vedanta Resources and Antofagasta are all up in sympathy.
Eurasian Natural Resource is up after the Kazakh-based natural resources firm said has seen a very significant increase in group revenue in the first quarter. HSBC started coverage on the Kazakh mining with a 'neutral' stance and a 1,300p price target.
Banks were offsetting the strong performance from miners with Alliance & Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and Barclays amongst the major fallers.
Supermarket giant J Sainsbury's reported a 28% rise in full-year pre-tax profits but said it expects the market to remain "intensely competitive".
Rail and bus group First Group is to raise up to £260m with the issue of 43.7m shares, 10% of the shares currently in issue. The final price has yet to set. Adjusted operating profit for the year to March was up nearly 40% at £360m.
Contract caterer Compass beat broker forecasts with a 29% rise in first-half profit to £289m in the six months to March 31. "Balance sheet efficiency remains a priority and looking forward, we are confident about the second half of the year and the future potential for the business," said the group.
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Land Securities swung to a full-year pre-tax loss after a revaluation deficit on its investment properties of £888.8m in the year ended 31 March, Basic net asset value per share fell 10.3% to 2067p. The group's investment portfolio valuation is down 8.8%.
A sharp drop in sales has slashed almost half a billion pounds off the forward order book of Barratt Developments, the housebuilder revealed. The group's forward order book currently stands at about £1.56bn versus £2.1bn a year ago following a 7.6% slide in housebuilding revenues during the 19 weeks to 11 May to £825m.
Mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley is to raise approximately £300m, net of expenses, in a 16 for 25 rights issue at 82p. This represents a 36% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price and a 48% discount to the closing price last night.
Software group LogicaCMG's first quarter revenue rose 3.6% on a pro forma basis to £856m (2007: £826m), with March impacted by the effect of an earlier Easter. For the first four months of 2008, revenue was up 6.0% on a pro forma constant currency basis.
Local newspaper publisher Johnston Press is to raise £212m through a deep discount right issue and share subscription by Malaysian group Usaha Tegas after a slump in advertising revenues in the past four months.
WPP said it is disappointed that market research group Taylor Nelson (TNS) has rejected the advertising giant's revised 164p per share offer.
Shares in sofa retailer ScS Upholstery plunged after it warned that continued difficult market conditions will result in full year earnings being below current market forecast
Absolute Capital rallied strongly Wednesday as the hedge fund manager disclosed details of the demerger of its Argo business.
