UK Indexes Fall; Henderson Declines 5%

Arthi Gupta
18 Aug, 2010
New York City

The UK indexes declined after an unsuccessful bid for Potash Corp by BHP Billiton. The Bank of England minutes noted policy makers voted 8-1 to retain key interest rate. Semtek and RBS WorldPay entered into a multi-year deal for security services.

[R]4:30 PM London – The UK indexes declined after an unsuccessful bid for Potash Corp by BHP Billiton. The Bank of England minutes noted policy makers voted 8-1 to retain key interest rate. Semtek and RBS WorldPay entered into a multi-year deal for security services.[/R]

Semtek and RBS WorldPay entered into a multi-year deal for security services.

In London, FTSE 100 Index traded lower 46.81 or 0.87% to 5,303.33 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.5592.

The minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the Bank of England released today noted that eight members voted to retain the interest rate at a record low of 0.5%, while Andrew Sentance sought a 25 basis point hike. The meeting was held on August 4 and 5.

""For one member, the balance of risks was such that it was appropriate to start to withdraw some of the exceptional monetary stimulus provided by the easing in policy in late 2008 and 2009,"" the minutes showed.

Most members thought that the current level of Bank rate and stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves remained appropriate to balance the risks to the inflation outlook in the medium term.

Policy makers unanimously decided to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion.

Avia Health Informatics Plc said its wholly owned subsidiary, Plain Healthcare Limited signed an agreement with European-based shipping management group, Intresco Limited to trial Odyssey MarineAssess, on a touchscreen tablet, aboard certain of its cargo ships.

The Odyssey MarineAssess product is designed to be used by the ship''s captain/ master in the event of a crew illness or injury when the ship is located many miles off shore with limited or no communication or access to professional medical facilities, the company added.

Elephant Capital PLC acquired a 28.6% stake in ClinTec for £8 million. The investment will be made through Elephant Capital''s Mauritian subsidy, Tusk Investments Fund.

Semtek entered into a multi-year agreement with RBS WorldPay, the U.S.-based payment processing division of Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc to supply the merchant acquirer with end-to-end security services and infrastructure for RBS WorldPay U.S. merchants.

Semtek''s Cipher Decryption Service is being installed on RBS WorldPay''s host systems to capture transactions that have been encrypted in multiple formats.

BHP Billiton decided to make a hostile offer for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. direct to the shareholders. The offer values the total equity of PotashCorp at approximately $40 billion on a fully-diluted basis or $130 per share.

The offer represents a premium of 20% to the closing price of PotashCorp''s shares on the NYSE on 11 August 2010 and a premium of 32% to the 30-trading day period.

Gainers & Losers

Adventis Group Plc plunged 23.23% to11.90 pence after the marketing and advertising agency announced that its board currently expects the profit before tax, excluding exceptional items, of the group for the full year to be up to 50% below market expectations.

Diamondcorp Plc tumbled 7.41% to 6.25 pence after the diamond producer reported first half pre-tax loss widened 65% to £1.61 million compared to a £974,476 loss last year.

Falkland Oil and Gas Limited slumped 5.49% to 116.25 pence after the oil and gas explorer reported first half loss narrowed 29.4% to $2.16 million or 1.48 cents per share from $3.06 million or 3.24 cents per share in the same period last year.

Henderson Group plc declined 4.67% to 130.50 pence after the investment management services provider reported first-half profit before tax was £41.6 million, compared to a loss of £2.9 million in the previous year. Assets under management at the end of the period increased 6.4% to £56.4 billion from £53 billion a year earlier.

Hochschild Mining plc fell 0.52% to 324.70 pence after the silver and gold miner stated first-half revenues surged 33% to $306.9 million, compared to $230.6 million a year ago. Net profit for the period attributable to equity shareholders surged 87% to $29.2 million or 8 cents per diluted share, compared to net income of $15.6 million or 5 cents per share in the prior-year period.

Further, the company said it is on track to achieve full-year production target of 26.3 million attributable silver equivalent ounces.

Xaar plc soared 17.60% to 149.94 pence after the inkjet printing technology firm said first half revenues rose 14% to £23.86 million from £20.91 million in the previous year. Net profit in the period generated was £1.36 million or 2.1 pence per diluted share, compared to a loss of £875 thousand or 1.4 pence per share in the prior-year period.