Prudential, Rio, Anglo American Rise

Mayank Mehta
13 Aug, 2009
New York City

Stocks in UK and Europe gained after economies expanded in the second quarter in France and Germany and the pace of contraction across euro zone declined. The pound strengthened against major currencies. Prudential Plc first half loss narrowed and raised dividend.

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – Stocks in UK and Europe gained after economies expanded in the second quarter in France and Germany and the pace of contraction across euro zone declined. The pound strengthened against major currencies. Prudential first half loss narrowed after the portfolio value increased and on rising variable annuities sales in the U.S.[/R]

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 38.27 or 0.8% to 4,756.13 and the pound closed at $1.65 and unchanged at 1.16 euros.

Gross domestic product declined slowed to 0.1% in the second quarter from the first when it fell 2.5% in the euro zone. Germany, France and Greece expanded at 0.3% in the quarter and Lithuania fell 12.3%.

UK economy fell 0.8% in the second quarter after decreasing at 2.4% in the first according to the latest read from the Eurostat, according to the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

Gainers & Losers

Alphameric plc surged 20.7% to 33.50 pence on the expectations of takeover offer.

Anglo American plc gained 5.0% to 1,957.50 pence after the South Africa based miner said it completed the sale of its sugar producer Tongaat Hulett to institutional investors for $523 million. The company sold 51.2 million shares at 82 rand each.

Carclo plc dropped 2.1% to 91.50 pence after the management guided that business is operating in line with expectations for the year.

Greencore Group Plc the Irish ready meals supplier edged slightly lower to 1.41 euros after sales in the four months to July 24 increased 2.5% to 278.1 million euros. Sales in Europe increased 42% from a year ago period and in continental decreased 9% from a year ago.

On a full year basis, the Group now expects to deliver full year operating profit modestly ahead of fiscal year 2008 on a constant currency basis.

Hot Tuna (International) Plc surged 3.5% to 0.440 pence after the surf-oriented fashion label announce that it has today raised £1.11 million (gross) through the placing of 370,000,000 new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence at a price of 0.3 pence per share with new and existing shareholders.

Interserve Plc advanced 2.6% to 246.60 pence after the company was appointed as preferred bidder for a £60 million Thames Water Utilities contract. The sludge treatment and other works related contract is expected to be signed in September.

Prudential Public Limited Company added 6.6% to 513.50 pence after the insurer said first-half revenues fell 14% to £376 million. Net loss in the first-half was £254 million or 10.2 pence per diluted share compared to net loss of £116 million or 4.7 pence per share a year ago.

Psion PLC surged 5.2% to 70.25 pence after the mobile computer software firm implemented annualized cost savings of £46 million, £42 million of which began to benefit performance through the second quarter of 2009.

Rio Tinto plc rose 4.8% to 2,424.00 pence after the company filed to sell in public offering its coal business in the U.S. Cloud Peak Energy includes most of the coal business located in the Powder River Basin and western U.S. coal assets for $500 million. The company mined 97.1 million tons of coal and has proven reserves of 885 million tons.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc advanced 3.4% to 46.69 pence after the government-owned lender signs share sale agreement with MCB Bank Limited.

Salamander Energy plc rose 3.1% to 210.00 pence after the Asia focused oil and gas exploration firm announces that it has completed drilling operations on the South Sebuku-1 exploration well in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Thomas Cook Group plc fell 5.0% to 218.40 pence after the travel group management estimated the impact of swine flu in the period ended June 30, caused by the global governmental advice not to travel to Mexico was £12.6 million of which the majority occurred in the UK and Germany.

Tomkins plc jumped 4.4% to 185.20 pence after the engineering group swung to a first-half loss due to declining sales volumes across the group. The company cut its interim dividend and warned of an uncertain outlook.

Vectura Group plc gained 1.1% to 82.90 pence after the inhalation product development company announces that it has received a $6 million (£3.6 million) US milestone payment in relation to progress on the development of its combination asthma/COPD product, VR315.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 77 increased, 25 declined and none were unchanged.

Thomas Cook Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 4.78% followed by losses in Thomson Reuters Plc of 2.57%, in Inmarsat Plc of 2.41%, in Reed Elsevier Plc of 2.16%, in GlaxoSmithKline Plc of 1.85%.

Prudential Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 10.70% followed by increase in Petrofac Plc of 8.92%, in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Plc of 5.96%, in Xstrata Plc of 5.95%, in Kazakhmys Plc of 5.44%.