Lloyds Plans

123jump.com Staff
02 Sep, 2009
New York City

UK stocks market closed lower as market valuations are near six-year high. Insurance companies fell sharply on the worries that the EU may require them to raise as much as

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – UK stocks market closed lower as market valuations are near six-year high. Insurance companies fell sharply on the worries that the EU may require them to raise as much as £50 billion. Lloyds is preparing to raise £10 billion.[/R]

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 23.02 or 0.4% to 4,796.42 and the pound unchanged at $1.62 and closed at 1.14 euros.

Gainers & Losers

32Red Plc slid 6.9% to 20.00 pence an online gaming operator said first-half revenues fell 9.4% to £5.8 million from £6.4 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 70.4% to £233,777 or 0.3 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £791,060 or 1.1 pence per share a year ago.

Ablon Group Limited rose 3.5% to 59.00 pence after the real estate owner and developer said gross rental income of €9.2 million for the six month period ended 30 June 2009, representing a 9% increase compared to the same period last year. Pre-tax loss of €2.9 million for the period ended 30 June 2009.

Aer Lingus Group Plc a low fares Irish airline said first-half revenues fell 12.2% to €555.0 million from €631.8 million a year ago. Net loss for the first-half was €73.9 million or 14.0 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of €21.6 million or 4.1 cents per share a year ago.

BP Plc rose 3.2% to 536.60 pence after the oil exploration company claims the discovery of oil field 35,000 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico that may have as much as 3 billion barrels of oil. The field is expected to be operational by 2013 and increase daily production by 600,000 barrels a day.

Cattles plc closed at 1.00 pence after the sub-prime lender plans to close 30 branches and to cut 510 jobs.

Charteris Plc the business and IT consultancy closed unchanged at 11.50 pence.

DSG International Plc surged 0.1% to 27.04 pence an electrical and computing retailer said a smaller than expected sales drop for the first four months of its year and indicating the consumer downturn may not last as long as some had feared.

Eaga plc added 1.5% to 129.50 pence an environmental services company said full-year sales rose 15.6% to £738.9 million from £639.0 million a year ago. Net profit for the full-year rose 49% to £26.7 million or 10.63 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £17.9 million or 7.17 pence per share a year ago.

Galliford Try plc gained 1.3% to 58.50 pence after the construction services provider was confirmed as one of the contractors on Network Rail's £1 billion five year enhancements project.

Great Portland Estates plc dropped 1.8% to 246.40 pence after the central London property investment and development company said Great Capital Partnership its joint venture company with Liberty International PLC has sold Spirella House, Oxford at 12.5% higher than the book value in March.

Hargreaves Lansdown PLC declined 1.6% to 243.80 pence after the investment broker said full-year sales rose 10% to £132.8 million from £120.3 million a year ago. Net profit for the full-year rose 23% to £52.1 million or 11.1 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £42.4 million or 9.0 pence per share a year ago.

Hydro International PLC fell 10.3% to 91.00 pence after the provider of environmentally sustainable products and innovative solutions said first-half revenues fell 5.4% to £14.1 million from £14.9 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 47.3% to £370,000 or 2.58 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £702,000 or 4.89 pence per share a year ago.

IQE plc fell 6.7% to 14.92 pence which makes semiconductor wafers for mobile phones said it now expects a strong financial performance in the second half of 2009 on stronger than expected orders.

Lloyds Banking Group plc tumbled 4.5% to 101.23 pence after Guardian reported that the lender is close to arranging the capital of £10 billion. Lloyds is partially nationalized and is operating under the supervision of trust established by the UK government.

Legal & General plunged 8% and Old Mutual and Aviva dropped 3.3% on the worries the European Union may require British insurance companies to raise as much as £70 billion according to the Association of British Insurers.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 36 increased, 64 declined and 2 were unchanged.

Legal & General Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 8.66% followed by losses in Lloyds Banking Group Plc of 6.23%, in BT Group Plc of 4.01%, in Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc of 3.96%, in Vedanta Resources Plc of 3.95%.

BP Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 4.26% followed by increase in Randgold Resources Ltd. of 3.68%, in Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc of 3.55%, in Centrica Plc of 3.53%, in Thomas Cook Group Plc of 3.20%.