UK Retailers Lead Gainers; YouGov Down

123jump.com Staff
12 Apr, 2010
New York City

UK stocks traded higher for the second day led by a rise in retailers. Miners declined. UBM buys electronic design exhibition organizer. Ladbrokes sells its Italian business. e2v technologies revenues plunge. Hikma Pharmaceuticals takes full control of Algerian joint venture.

[R]4:00 PM London, 11:00 AM New York – UK stocks traded higher for the second day led by a rise in retailers. Miners declined. UBM buys electronic design exhibition organizer. Ladbrokes sells its Italian business. e2v technologies revenues plunge. Hikma Pharmaceuticals takes full control of Algerian joint venture.[/R]

UK stocks closed higher led by retailers but resource linked stocks declined on a weakness in commodities prices.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 6.67 or 0.12% to 5,777.65 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.538 and edged lower to €1.131.

Home Retail advanced 4.9% to 294.2 pence on a report published Sunday in the Mail speculating that Asda may make an offer for the company.

Gainers & Losers

Autonomy Corporation plc rose 0.1% to 1,858.00 pence after the infrastructure software specialist today announced enhancements to the company''s Virage MediaBin platform.

BAE Systems Plc increased 0.5% to 370 pence and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported today that the company was ranked first in worldwide arms sales with a sale of $32.4 billion in 2008. In total, $385 billion of arms were sold in the year by the largest 100 companies excluding those based in China.

Lockheed Martin was ranked second with sales of $29.9 billion and Boeing dropped to the third place with sales of $29.2 billion.

Carr’s Milling Industries Plc closed unchanged at 485.00 pence and the agriculture, food and engineering group said first half revenues fell 8% to £161.3 million from £174.5 million a year ago. Net profit for the first half rose 3% to £3.37 million or 38.4 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £3.27 million or 37.2 pence per share a year.

Cobham plc rose 0.1% to 275.70 after the aerospace group was awarded additonal production contracts by the Boeing Company to supply more than 500 BRU-61/A carriage systems for the Small Diameter Bomb program.

e2v technologies plc added 3.1% to 49.00 pence after the electrical component maker said revenue for the full year declined 14% from a year ago to £201 million. The year-end order book increased 4.5% to £161 million.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc increased 1.3% to 642.50 pence after the pharmaceutical group has signed an agreement to acquire the 50% stake that it did not previously own in the Algerian company Al Dar Al Arabia Pharmaceutical manufacturing company from the Jordanian pharmaceutical company, Dar Al Dawa, for $18.5 million.

Ithaca Energy Inc rose 0.9% to 2.20 pence after the Canadian independent oil and gas explorer reported full year net profit $7.9 million.

Ladbrokes plc closed unchanged at 161.40 pence after the company said it has agreed to sell its Italian retail betting and gaming business to an affiliate of Cogetech S.p.A. The company said that the anticipated cash consideration is €5.25 million.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc fell 1.6% to 486.30 pence after the hotel group and its Chinese partner are at a impasse in their joint venture.

Sainsbury gained 2.4% to 346.60 pence after Bank of America Merrill Lynch revised its rating to “buy” from “underperform.”

United Business Media Limited rose 0.1% to 551.00 pence after the business publisher acquired DesignCon, the exhibition and conference serving the electronic design and semiconductor industry.

Vernalis plc rose 1.9% to 53.00 pence after the biotech group said 2009 revenues fell 76% to £13.0 million from £54.8 million a year ago. Net loss for the year was £11.8 million or 27.1 pence per diluted share compared to net loss of £49,000 or 0.3 pence per share a year.

YouGov plc fell 4.5% to 37.00 pence an online market research firm said first half revenues fell 6% to £21.3 million from £22.6 million a year ago. Net loss for the first half was £48,000 or 0.3 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £729,000 or 0.3 pence per share a year.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 54 increased, 42 declined and 6 were unchanged.

ARM Holdings Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 3.52% followed by losses in British Airways Plc of 2.18%, in Intertek Group Plc of 1.80%, in Randgold Resources Ltd. of 1.74%, and in Fresnillo Plc of 1.70%.

Home Retail Group Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 5.21% followed by increase in The Sage Group Plc of 3.04%, in J Sainsbury Plc of 2.63%, in Barclays Plc of 2.29%, and in Marks and Spencer Group Plc of 1.54%.