Miners Rally in London; Britvic Rises 3%

Trupti Mehta
14 Jul, 2009
New York City

Mining stocks rally in London lifted FTSE 100 index higher. Britvic Plc edged up 3% after it estimated higher than expected annual earnings. The industrial chain maker Renold dropped 7% after full year earnings plunged 72%.

[R]6:00 PM London, 1:00 PM New York – Mining stocks rally in London lifted FTSE 100 index higher. Britvic Plc edged up 3% after it estimated higher than expected annual earnings. The industrial chain maker Renold dropped 7% after full year earnings plunged 72%.[/R]

UK stocks closed higher after banks rallied in New York. Goldman Sachs reported sharply higher earnings and revenues as the underwriting fees and trading revenues surge in the second quarter.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 35.55 or 0.85% to 4,237.68 and the British pound close at $1.63 and at 1.16 euro.

Gainers & Losers

Mining stocks led the gainers in London trading. Fresnillo increased 13.3% to 533 pence, Lonmin Plc surged 9.4% to 1,077 pence and BHP Billiton decreased 3.5% to 1,383 pence.

Alphameric plc plunged 5% to 28.50 pence after the bookmaking technology company said first-half sales rose 17.4% to £19.9 million. Pre-tax profit for the first-half was £4.1 million compared to net loss of £3.0 million a year ago.

Britvic Plc increased 3.1% to 306.75 pence after the soft drinks maker expects that “its annual profits to beat the top end of market forecasts.” Its trading update brought forward from next week.

Total sales rose 5.9% to £249.1 million for three months to 5th July 2009. For the full 40 weeks to 5th July 2009, total revenue increased by 6.1% to £732.3 million. British and international revenues in the quarter rose 11.6% to £209.4 million on UK domestic stills growth of 8.3%, and carbonates growth of 14.4% and international growth of 17.5%.

CVS Group Plc increased 0.4% to 130.50 pence after the veterinary services company said that like-for-like sales growth was 2% for the year. Total sales for the year rose 23% with £6 million of additional sales delivered by businesses acquired during the period. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciations and amortization is expected to be “broadly in line with market expectations.’’

Glanbia plc, the international cheese and nutritional ingredients group said that “Its performance for the first half is broadly in line with expectations. Results will be significantly behind when compared with the first half of 2008.”

Jarvis plc surged 14% to 7.40 pence after rail network services operator said full-year revenues rose 7.4% to £345.8 million from £321.9 million a year ago. Net loss for the year was £9.6 million or 4.5 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £11.1 million or 5.4 pence per share a year ago.

Maxima Holdings Plc decreased 0.6% to 87 pence after the software company said that “the group remains steady and expects revenues and operating profits to be in line with market expectations.” Net debt at end of May was £15.5 million compared to £17.3 million at the end of the first half in November.

Renold plc dropped 6.2% to 22.75 pence after an industrial chains maker said full-year revenues rose 12.8% to £194.7 million from £172.6 million a year ago. Net profit for the year fell 72.7% to £2.1 million or 2.8 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £7.7 million or 10.8 pence per share a year ago.

Synergy Health plc increased 3% to 516 pence after the provider of outsourced healthcare support services said that “overall trading has been in line with expectations.’’ First quarter sales rose 9.7% to £72.6 million from £66.2 million a year ago. UK sales rose 1% to £38.8 million from £38.4 million a year ago.

Tenon Group PLC increased 5.89% to 45.25 pence after the accountancy services group said that “its underlying profits are in line with the expectations. It said excellent growth has been generated in its Recovery and related service lines, with revenue ahead by more than 30% over the prior year.”

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 73 increased, 26 declined and 3 were unchanged.

Vodafone Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 1.91% followed by losses in Diageo plc of 1.20%, in Legal & General Group Plc of 0.96%, in Tesco PLC of 0.94%, in Imperial Tobacco Group PLC of 0.93%.

Fresnillo Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 13.28% followed by increase in Lonmin plc of 9.34%, in Kazakhmys PLC of 8.38%, in Antofagasta plc of 6.47%, in Xstrata plc of 5.37%.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 35.55 or 0.85% to 4,237.68, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 29.79 or 0.98% to close at 3,081.87 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 59.35 or 1.26% to close at 4,781.69. In Zurich trading SMI increased 49.76 or 0.94% to close at 5,365.05.