UK Banks, Miners Surge; RBS, Punch Tavern Soar

123jump.com Staff
29 Apr, 2009
New York City

UK stocks surged after banks and miners rallied. Revised expectations of lower losses at Royal Bank of Scotland lifted banks. Higher prices of copper and other base metals lifted miners. Punch Tavern surged 39% on adequate capital till 2010.

[R]7:30 PM London, 2:30PM New York – UK stocks surged after banks and miners rallied. Revised expectations of lower losses at Royal Bank of Scotland lifted banks. Higher prices of copper and other base metals lifted miners. Punch Tavern surged 39% on adequate capital till 2010.[/R]

In London trading stocks closed higher led by a rise in banks and miners. The benchmark index FTSE 100 increased 93.19 or 2.3% to 4,189.59. Of the FTSE 100 index, 93 increased and 9 declined.

Broker recommendation and lowered estimate of losses drove Royal Bank of Scotland Group 13% higher followed by gains of 8% in Barclays, of 7.5% in Standard Chartered and 1.2% rise in HSBC Holdings Plc.

Copper and base metal prices rebounded between 2% and 4%, lifting stocks of miners. Kazakhmys surged 5.9% to 511 pence and Vedanta Resources increased 5.7% to 985.5 pence and Xstrata added 4.1% to 586.50 pence.

Index Gainers & Losers

Royal Bank of Scotland led gainers in FTSE 100 index with a rise of 12.5% followed by increase in Barclays Plc of 10.5%, in Lloyds Banking Group of 8.2%, in WPP Plc in 7.6%, Standard chartered Bank of 7.5%.

Home Retail Group led decliners in FTSE 100 index with a fall of 2.3% to 263.75 pence followed by losses in Liberty International Plc of 1.9%, in Tesco Plc of 1.4% and in Thomas Cook Group of 1.1%.

Punch Taverns Plc surged 39% to 117.75 pence after it reported than better than expected earnings and also indicated lower gross debt of 7% to 318 million pounds and the company does not need any new refinancing before December 2010.

Wolfson Microelectronics Plc surged 12% to 125 pence after it reported earnings indicated that it has enough capital to withstand current market weakness.

Earnings Review

ARM Holdings plc, the physical library solutions (physical IP) and related technology and software, and sells development tools said first quarter revenues rose 18% to £79.9 million from £67.88 million a year ago. Net profit in the quarter increased 52.0% to £9.78 million or 0.8 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £6.43 million or 0.5 per share, a year ago.

ARM Holdings plc, in the last one year traded as high as 138.00 pence in September 2008 and as low as 75.75 pence in October 2008. Based on the yesterday’s closing price of 113.75 pence the company has market cap of £1.43 billion.

Fenner PLC, british engineer said first-half net profit fell 25% to £12.1 million compared to net profit of £16.2 million, a year ago.

Fenner PLC, in the last one year traded as high as 272.75 pence in June 2008 and as low as 32.75 pence in March 2009. Based on the yesterday’s closing price of 74.25 pence the company has market cap of £135.45 million.

Home Retail Group plc, the U.K. owner of the Argos store chain said full-year revenues lost 1% to £5.89 billion. Net loss in the full-year was £413.1 million or 47.7 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £294.6 million or 33.6 pence per share, a year ago.

Home Retail Group plc, in the last one year traded as high as 286.00 pence in April 2009 and as low as 156.25 pence in November 2008. Based on the yesterday’s closing price of 259.00 pence the company has market cap of £2.27 billion.

Punch Taverns plc, a pub company in the United Kingdom, with over 8,400 pubs across its leased and managed portfolio said first-half sales lost 5.6% to £767.9 million from £813.5 million a year ago. Net profit in the first-half dropped 38% to £82 million compared to net profit of £133 million, a year ago.

Punch Taverns plc, in the last one year traded as high as 649.00 pence in May 2008 and as low as 28.75 pence in January 2009. Based on the yesterday’s closing price of 94.00 pence the company has market cap of £251.01 million.

Wolfson Microelectronics plc, a semiconductor company engaged in the designing and supplying of mixed-signal integrated circuits said first quarter net loss was £3.9 million compared to net profit of £3.7 million, a year ago. The company also reported order backlog of $25 million for the current quarter and has nearly $100 million in cash.

Wolfson Microelectronics plc, in the last one year traded as high as 148.00 pence in May 2008 and as low as 58.50 pence in October 2008. Based on the yesterday’s closing price of 115.00 pence the company has market cap of £132.39 million.