UK Stocks Rise; H&T, Churchill Mining Up

123jump.com Staff
26 Oct, 2009
New York City

UK stocks tracked the gains in commodities and energy prices. The legal outsourcing services provider CPA Global is likely to be acquired by a private equity firm for

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – UK stocks tracked the gains in commodities and energy prices. The legal outsourcing services provider CPA Global is likely to be acquired by a private equity firm for £400 million. The pawnbroker H&T Group surged on higher revenues estimate. Churchill Mining after the Indonesian miner estimated one billion tons of thermal coal reserves.[/R]

UK stocks traded higher following slight gains in commodities and energy prices. UK business executives report rising confidence in the economy according to the latest quarterly survey done by Opinion Research for the accounting firm KPMG.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 23.45 or 0.4% to 5,266.02 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.633 and at 1.087 euros.

The number of executives indicating “good” and “very good” outlook increased to 19% from 9% and the number indicating “bad” or “very bad” decreased to 24% from 54%.

Gainers & Losers

Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC surged 14.7% to 19.50 pence after the oil and gas explorer plans to rationalize its assets to deliver greater and more immediate shareholder value.

Barclays PLC fell 1.2% to 357.00 pence has agreed to acquire Standard Life Bank Plc from Standard Life Plc for a consideration of £226 million payable in cash.

BAE Systems plc rose 0.9% to 320.30 pence and the board appointed Linda Hudson as an executive director of company.

British Airways Plc decreased 3.7% to 202.00 pence as the company’s flight attendant union canvasses for a strike and EU investigates its alliance with the parent of American Airlines and Spain based Iberia.

Boomerang Plus Plc surged 10.0% to 88.00 pence after the welsh TV Group estimated £42.9 million of programming revenue including £16.9 million for the current financial year.

City of London Investment Group PLC the asset manager increased 4.1% to 304.50 pence.

Churchill Mining Plc climbed 4.6% to 109.90 pence after the coal miner estimated a reserve of one billion tons of thermal coal at its mine in Indonesia in which the company has a 75% interest.

Galliford Try plc fell 1.4% to 352.00 pence after the builder said today that its infrastructure business in Scotland, Morrison Construction, has been awarded a contract by Transport Scotland to design and construct a new five kilometer section of the A96 to bypass the villages of Fochabers.

GEONG International Limited the China-based content management software provider rose 0.5% to 45.75 pence.

H&T Group plc added 6.3% to 303.00 pence after the pawnbroker said that more consumers are exchanging gold jewelry for cash to take advantage of rising gold prices. The company also indicated that business is ahead of management expectations.

Lloyds Banking Group plc declined 3.5% to 92.85 pence after its private equity unit LDC is in talks to acquire legal outsourcing company CPA Global for £400 million, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

McBride plc surged 10.3% to 221.50 pence after the private label personal care and household products maker for supermarkets group revenues increased 7% from July 2009 to October 2009 against the comparable period last year. Net debt around £65 million compared to £82.4 million at June 30, 2009. As a result of this finance costs are slightly lower than expected.

Portland Gas plc fell 5.2% to 113.75 pence after the gas storage group said fiscal year loss will be narrower.

Scotty Group Plc the video equipment group decreased 4.6% to 46.50 pence.

Timestrip plc the maker of labels which show how long containers have been open rose 3.1% to 1.65 pence.

UK Coal plc the mines for the fuel in central and northern England dropped 3.1% to 92.25 pence.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 18 increased, 83 declined and 1 were unchanged.

Lloyds Banking Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 7.01% followed by losses in The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc of 5.70%, in British Airways Plc of 4.77%, in Carnival Plc of 4.23%, in ICAP Plc of 3.65%.

Cable & Wireless Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 2.98% followed by increase in Bunzl Plc of 1.46%, in Fresnillo Plc of 1.35%, in Hammerson Plc of 1.28%, in Severn Trent Plc of 0.94%.