UK Home Prices Drop; WPP Acquires Blue State Digital

Arthi Gupta
30 Dec, 2010
New York City

The UK indexes slid after home prices fell for a third straight month in November. WPP Digital agreed to acquire Blue State Digital. Balfour Beatty won infrastructure contracts in Hong Kong worth

[R]4:00 PM London – The UK indexes slid after home prices fell for a third straight month in November. WPP Digital agreed to acquire Blue State Digital. Balfour Beatty won infrastructure contracts in Hong Kong worth £190 million. Tristel ended deal with Clorox.[/R]

In London, FTSE 100 Index declined 20.84 or 0.35% to 5,975.64 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.5512.

UK Home Prices Drop

Home prices in England and Wales dropped for a third consecutive month in November, Land Registry said in a report published today.

Home prices dropped 0.6% on a monthly basis in November to £164,773. Compared to the previous year, home prices gained 2.2%, the smallest growth seen in twelve months.

WPP Digital Buys Blue State Digital

WPP, the world’s largest communications services group, agreed to acquire all the assets of privately held Blue State Digital, LLC in the United States and the United Kingdom through WPP Digital, the digital investment and operating arm of WPP.

Blue State Digital is a full-service digital agency specializing in advocacy, membership and fundraising campaigns for nonprofits, educational and cultural institutions, political campaigns and corporate brands.

Balfour Beatty Wins Contracts in Hong Kong

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, announced today that Gammon Construction, the infrastructure contractor in Hong Kong in which Balfour Beatty has a 50% shareholding, won a series of infrastructure contracts worth a total of HK$2.3 billion or £190 million.

A joint venture between Gammon Electrical and Mechanical and Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions has been awarded a five-year transmission line project in Hong Kong by CLP Power, covering the upgrading of 400kV overhead line assets and the refurbishment of existing lines as part of the customer’s ongoing lifecycle maintenance regime.

Tristel Terminates Clorox Deal

Tristel plc, the infection and contamination control specialist said on Thursday it has terminated the Development and License agreement with U.S.-based consumer products maker Clorox Co.

The companies entered into the agreement in September 2009, which licensed Tristel''s proprietary chlorine dioxide chemistry to Clorox for use in the hospital surfaces disinfection market.

Gainers & Losers

Gasol plc surged 37.50% to 1.10 pence after the African-focused gas company said it reached a convertible loan facility on December 30 which would be used to provide funds for the company''s working capital needs and to refinance certain existing liabilities.

The facility is for a total amount of £3 million and carries an interest rate of 5% payable at maturity or conversion.

Impact Holdings (UK) Plc gained 1.38% to 73.50 pence after the specialist lender reported first-half revenue increased 14.6% to £1.02 million from £0.89 million in the comparable period. Pre-tax profit from operations gained 1.5% to £0.139 million from £0.137 million last year.

Petrofac Ltd. rose 0.57% to 1,593.00 pence after the company engaged in the provision of facilities solutions to the oil and gas production and processing industry said that it received about $280 million contract from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd for the development of the SEPAT offshore early production system on the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Titanium Asset Management Corp. increased 2.86% to 0.900 pence after the company engaged in the acquisition and management of asset management businesses made an amendment to the membership interest purchase agreement pursuant to which it acquired 100% of the membership interests of Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC, a U.S.-based money management firm.

YouGov plc dropped 1.12% to 44.00 pence after the research and consulting organization said that it is disposing Great Place to Work Deutschland GmbH, a unit within its German subsidiary, YouGovPsychonomics AG through a management buy-out. The gross purchase consideration for GPW Germany shares is about £800,000, payable in cash.