UK Home Prices Rise; HSBC Profit Surges

Arthi Gupta
28 Feb, 2011
New York City

The UK indexes traded lower after home prices in England rose and Irish retail sales fell in January. HP Enterprise Services won deal worth more than $400 million from Centrica. Tesco entered in a venture to develop shopping malls in China.

[R]3:30 PM London – The UK indexes traded lower after home prices in England rose and Irish retail sales fell in January. HP Enterprise Services won deal worth more than $400 million from Centrica. Tesco entered in a venture to develop shopping malls in China.[/R]

The British government has frozen the assets of embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his family in Britain and U.N. imposed sanctions and travel ban on Libyan regime.

In London, FTSE 100 Index gained 13.13 or 0.22% to 6.014.27 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.6218.

Home Price in England/Wales Rise

Home prices in England and Wales rose for the first time in five months in January, Land Registry said today. The average property price in the month was £163,177. Home prices dropped 0.9% annually, the first decline since October 2009.

Irish Retail Sales Fall

Ireland''s retail sales dropped for the third month in a row in January, according to data from the Central Statistics Office published today.

The volume of retail sales declined 3.8% in January as against the 1.9% drop in December. Annually, the retail sales volume increased 4.6% in January compared to a 3.2% drop in December.

HP Enterprise Services Wins Centrica Deal

HP Enterprise Services UK Ltd said that Centrica plc signed a seven-year outsourcing services agreement worth more than $400 million.

As per the agreement, HP will enable Centrica to move to a utility-based private cloud computing environment that will support Centrica''s change program.

Tesco in Venture to Develop Malls in China

Tesco PLC said it signed an agreement to set up a joint venture to develop shopping malls in China. Accordingly, 50% of the joint venture or JV will be owned by a consortium of Asian investors including Singapore''s Metro Holdings.

The total value of the project is £170 million with Tesco and the JV consortium each investing about £30 million of equity.

Gainers & Losers

Aer Lingus Group Plc plunged 5.93% to €0.89 after the Irish airline reported fourth quarter revenue rose 2% to €265.9 million from €260.6 million in the same period last year, reflecting higher passenger and cargo revenue. Loss in the quarter narrowed 85% to €18 million compared with a loss of €117.9 million in the year-ago period.

Avis Europe plc dipped 0.48% to 209.00 pence after the car rental company said fiscal year 2010 revenue increased 9.1% to €1,521.9 million from €1,395.5 million last year. Profit for the year increased 14,300% to €28.8 million or 18.2 euro cents per share from €0.2 million or 0.2 euro cents per share in the prior year.

Bunzl plc gained 0.79% to 762.00 pence after the multinational distribution and outsourcing company said fiscal year 2010 revenue grew 3.9% to £4.83 billion from £4.65 billion in the prior year. Profit for the year rose 6.8% to £159.0 million or 48.8 pence per share from £148.9 million or 46.3 pence per share last year.

Chemring Group plc fell 1.17% to 3,251.50 pence after the producer of countermeasures said that trading during the first three month period to the end of January 2011 was 38% higher than in the same period in 2010, when calculated on a constant currency basis driven by continued strong growth in its Counter-IED and Munitions businesses.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc climbed 0.28% to 1,183.25 pence after the healthcare firm stated that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval for its oral, rare blood disorder tablet Promacta or eltrombopag that can raise platelet counts in patients.

Hays plc surged 3.25% to 123.90 pence after the recruitment firm stated first-half turnover increased 22.5% to £1.58 billion versus £1.29 billion a year earlier. Profit generated in the period was £32.3 million compared to a loss of £8.0 million in the previous year.

HSBC Holdings plc slumped 5.39% to 672.80 pence after the financial services firm reported fiscal year 2010 profit improved 126% to $13.16 billion or 72 cents per diluted share from $5.83 billion or 34 cents per share last year, reflecting mainly lower loan impairment charges and other credit risk provisions.

Net interest income declined 3.2% to $39.44 billion from $40.73 billion last year. The company''s total assets at December 31, 2010 were $2.46 trillion, up 3.8% from last year.

Pearson plc rose 2.27% to $17.28 after the global media company said fiscal year 2010 sales increased 10.1% to £5.66 billion from £5.14 billion a year ago. Profit for the year increased 39% to £524 million or 65.9 pence per share compared to a profit of £377 million or 47.0 pence per share last year.

Provexis plc fell 1.21% to 3.27 pence after the health food developer said it is in advanced discussions to enter into a development agreement with DSM Nutritional Products to commercialize DSM owned intellectual property through the development of a product for the promotion of healthy blood glucose levels.

Ultra Electronics Holdings Plc dropped 3.9% to 1,720.00 pence after the aerospace and defense company stated fiscal year 2010 revenues grew 9% to £710.04 million from £651.04 million a year earlier. Profit for the year declined 15.5% to 66.33 million pounds or 96.2 pence per share from 78.48 million pounds or 114.8 pence per share a year ago.