Barclays

Mayank Mehta
12 Oct, 2009
New York City

Barclays is planning to sell its risky loans portfolio that may raise

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – Barclays is planning to sell its risky loans portfolio that may raise £4 billion. Qatar increases its stake in Songbird Estate that owns Canary Wharf real estate.[/R]

UK stocks increased after metal prices gained and regional market advances.

Qatar based sovereign fund increased its stake in Songbird Estate after it participated in the rights offering. Xstrata agreed to sell its stake in mining operation in Chile to Barrick Gold. Barclays is planning to spin-off its collateralized loan obligation portfolio that may raise as much as £4 billion.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 65.12 or 1.2% to 5,227.00 and the pound edged lower to close at $1.581 and to 1.068 euros.

Vodafone Group Plc decided it switch its American Depository Receipts traded under the symbol ‘VOD’ to Nasdaq Group Inc from NYSE Euronext. The move will save $400,000 in listing fee.

Gainers & Losers

Angel Biotechnology Holdings Plc rose 7.8% to 0.30 pence after the biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer said it signed fourth manufacturing contract with Materia Medica Holding a pharmaceutical company in Russia.

Avisen Plc surged 11.8% to 15.38 pence after the performance management specialist said that Tesco, has selected its performance analyzer to enhance its financial reporting capability in Tesco Direct.

Barclays PLC decreased 0.6% to 374.70 pence after the banking giant said is planning to spin off a £4 billion ($6.35 billion) portfolio of complex credit assets to avoid future earnings write-downs. The news was reported by the Financial Times and Barclays declined to confirm it. The prices of these loans have traded as low as 63% of its issued value and have recently rebounded to 84% according to an index tracked by Standard & Poor’s.

BlueStar SecuTech, Inc surged 11.1% to 25.00 pence after the Chinese digital video surveillance firm said that it has signed a new contract of RMB 3.6 million (£0.3 million) with the Langfang Rural Credit Cooperatives in the Heibei Province of China.

Carillion plc fell 0.4% to 288.70 pence after the support services company said it has entered into an agreement for the sale of its environmental consultancy business, Enviros, to engineering firm, Sinclair Knight Merz, for a net cash consideration of £27 million, subject to completion balance sheet adjustments.

C.H.Bailey Plc surged 84.6% to 120 pence after the investment company said one of the company''s overseas subsidiaries entered into conditional agreements to sell Dolphin House and the Main Site the majority of the Group''s properties in Malta, to Vic Bon Limited a company incorporated in Malta.

EMED Mining Public Limited rose 2.8% to 10.80 pence after the results of the initial study for a gold mining operation that may produce 60,000 ounces a year for ten years.

International Personal Finance plc surged 10.6% to 201.30 pence after the credit lender said that its pre-tax profit for the third quarter edged down from last year.

ITV plc added 4.4% to 48.46 pence after the embattled broadcaster said the succession woes at company continued after two of the leading candidates for the chairmanship dropped out. Chief operating officer John Cresswell was appointed interim chief executive but said he is planning to leave the company once the new chief executive is appointed.

Intec Telecom Systems plc rose 6.1% to 107.75 pence said it expects full-year adjusted pretax profit to exceed market consensus on an improvement in gross margins on a constant-currency basis.

Innovation Group PLC closed unchanged at 13.25 pence after the property and insurance software firm said it expected its full-year adjusted pretax profit to be in line with market expectations on new contract wins.

JJB Sports plc increased 5.3% to 34.50 pence after the troubled sportswear group said over the weekend that it is committed to a £100 million offering that may be oversubscribed three times.

Keller Group plc rose 3.2% to 766.00 pence after the engineering firm announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Resource Holdings Limited, a Singapore based foundation contractor, for an initial cash payment of S$68.2 million (£30.6 million), including an estimated S$4.5 million (£2.0 million) of acquired net debt, plus further payments based on future profits.

Sinclair Pharma Plc closed unchanged at 46.00 pence after the pharmaceuticals group said its chief executive would retire as a replacement had been found.

Speedy Hire Plc plunged 12.7% to 37.75 pence after the plant hire firm was downgraded to “sell” from “hold” at Panmure Gordon.

Songbird Estate closed after rising as much as 12% closed unchanged at 1.43 pence after Qatar based sovereign fund participated in the rights offering to increase its stake to 24%.

Sovereign Reversions plc increased 5.9% to 145.70 pence.

Tristel plc rose 1.9% to 51.48 pence and infection and contamination control company said full-year revenues rose 14% to £6.85 million from £6.0 million a year ago. Net profit for the full-year fell 12% to £0.92 million or 3.31 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £1.05 million or 4.06 pence per share a year ago.

Xstrata plc advanced 1.4% to 967.00 pence after the diversified miner agreed to sell its 70% interest in the El Morro copper-gold project in Chile for $465 million to Canada''s Barrick Gold Corp, company said on Monday.

YouGov plc fell 1.5% to 48.50 pence an online market research agency said full-year revenues rose 9.7% to £44.3 million from £40.4 million a year ago. Net loss for the full-year was £0.54 million or 0.6 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £5.28 million or 5.3 pence per share a year ago.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 78 increased, 22 declined and 2 were unchanged.

Lloyds Banking Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 2.54% followed by losses in Thomas Cook Group Plc of 2.06%, in National Grid Plc of 1.50%, in Serco Group Plc of 1.43%, in Centrica Plc of 1.35%.

Old Mutual Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 4.56% followed by increase in Man Group Plc of 3.63%, in Amec Plc of 3.13%, in Johnson Matthey Plc of 3.02%, in London Stock Exchange Group Plc of 2.96%.