UK Stocks, Pound Fall; RBS Offering

Mayank Mehta
21 Sep, 2009
New York City

UK stocks declined as commodities and the pound fell. Land Securities agreed to sell its one third holding in Bullring mall in Birmingham. PetroNeft plans to raise $27.50 million. Royal Bank of Scotland is planning multi-billion dollar issue to raise capital.

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – UK stocks declined as commodities and the pound fell. Land Securities agreed to sell its one third holding in Bullring mall in Birmingham. PetroNeft plans to raise $27.50 million. Royal Bank of Scotland is planning multi-billion dollar issue to raise capital.[/R]

Stocks in UK and Europe fell after commodities and the pound fell in London. Lloyd Banking Group Plc is planning to £2.9 billion securitization of mortgage bonds, the first sale in one year.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 56.72 or 1.1% to 5,116.17 and the pound declined to $1.61 and unchanged at 1.10 euros.

Gainers & Losers

Advanced Computer Software plc rose 1.1% to 34.39 pence after the healthcare software provider said first half ending in August results are in line with management expectations. Adastra, the group''s software business reported 20% increase in revenues and costs are under control.

Allergy Therapeutics plc added 3.4% to 17.85 pence after the specialist pharmaceutical company said full-year revenues rose 22% to £37.8 million from £31.0 million a year ago. Net loss for the full-year was £11.8 million or 14.3 pence per diluted share compared to net loss of £20.3 million or 24.8 pence per share a year ago.

Alliance Trust PLC rose 0.06% to 309.40 pence after the investment company said net asset value at the end of first half increased 6.8% and achieved total shareholder return of 8.8%. The Scotland based investment manager held 89% of its assets in stocks.

Arcontech Group PLC decreased 9.0% to 0.25 pence after the financial data provider said full-year pre-tax loss from continuing operations narrowed significantly to £0.57 million from £1.33 million last year. Loss for the year reduced 71% to £0.47 million from £1.64 million a year earlier.

Japan Leisure Hotels Limited closed unchanged at 50.50 pence after the hotel sector in Japan is estimated to have annual gross revenue of more than £17 billion.

Land Securities Group plc declined 0.5% to 683.00 pence after it has sold its one third ownership of the Bullring, Birmingham to the Future Fund, sovereign fund for the Australian government, for £210 million reflecting a net yield of 6.8% after settlement of outstanding rent reviews.

Lighthouse Group plc added 2.4% to 10.50 pence after the IFA and pension specialists said first half profit attributable to equity holders of £60,000 or 4 pence per share compared to £355,000 or 34 pence last year.

Northern Foods plc fell 0.5% to 72.45 pence said Andrew Booker will resign by mutual agreement as the group Finance director at the end of the year.

Optare Plc advanced 4.0% to 9.75 pence after the bus maker said first-half revenues rose 568% to £52.1 million from £7.8 million a year ago. Net loss for the first-half was £3.91 million or 3.6 pence per diluted share compared to net loss of £3.18 million or 7.3 pence per share a year ago.

PetroNeft Resources is in the process of raising $27.50 through a sale of stocks priced at 14 pence.

Portrait Software plc surged 15.5% to 16.75 pence after the customer interaction software developer sees profitable first-half.

Punch Taverns plc slipped 3.1% to 120.30 pence after the pub operator purchased more of its convertible debt and lowered the total outstanding debt to £100 million.

Punch Partnerships and The Cloud, Europe’s largest independent provider of wireless Internet provider partnered to enable Punch licensees to provide secure commercial Wi-Fi to their customers for free.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc decreased 5.3% to 53.30 pence said is considering a multi-billion-pound share issue in an attempt to stop the British government''s stake in the bank from creeping higher, the Sunday Times reported without citing sources.

Real Estate Opportunities Limited fell 2.2% to 21.50 pence said on behalf of REO, Treasury Holdings, developers of the Battersea Power Station site, has secured full planning permission for the €800 million (£700 million) regeneration of Ballymun Town Centre in north Dublin close to the airport.

At 255,000 square meter, the Spring Cross development will be the largest mixed use town centre permission that has ever been granted in Ireland.

SOCO International plc fell 0.6% to 1,444.00 pence after the oil group said that the Viodo 4 appraisal well spudded on September 17 in the Marine XI Block located in the Congo Basin, offshore the Republic of Congo.

Velosi Limited increased 7.0% to 96.85 pence after the provider of engineering services to oil and gas firms said first-half revenues rose 15.4% to $89.2 million from $77.3 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half rose 14.5% to $5.05 million or 11.0 cents per diluted share compared to net profit of $4.41 million or 9.4 cents per share a year ago.

Wellstream Holdings PLC fell 4.7% to 667.00 pence after the design and manufacture of pipeline products and systems for the oil and gas industry said that its Chief Executive Officer, Gordon Chapman, has recently undergone surgery and is now recovering at home.

During his absence, which is anticipated to be until January 15, 2010, Mr Alasdair MacDonald is appointed to the Board as a director and Acting Chief Executive Officer, reporting to John W Kennedy, Chairman.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 29 increased, 72 declined and 1 were unchanged.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 5.15% followed by losses in Wolseley Plc of 3.97%, in Fresnillo Plc of 3.64%, in Xstrata Plc of 3.63%, in Vedanta Resources Plc of 3.48%.

Marks and Spencer Group Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 1.60% followed by increase in Scottish and Southern Energy Plc of 1.21%, in Tui Travel Plc of 1.20%, in Smith & Nephew Plc of 1.16%, in Inmarsat Plc of 1.10%.