Vedanta, Invensys, Unilever Fall in London

123jump.com Staff
05 Nov, 2009
New York City

The Bank of England left its key lending rate unchanged at 0.5% and increased the Treasury bond purchase plan by

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – The Bank of England left its key lending rate unchanged at 0.5% and increased the Treasury bond purchase plan by 25 billion. Cable & Wireless dropped after it plans to split into two separate companies. Vedanta Resource fell. Invensys Plc dropped on weaker than expected sales. Man Group first half net plunged. Unilever guided higher restructuring costs.[/R]

The Bank of England left its key lending rate at 0.5% and the European Central Bank left its rate unchanged at 1%. U.S. Fed left its target rate between zero and 0.5% a day ago.

Central banks around the world are in a concerted effort to keep interest rates low and continue the purchase of government issued bonds to pump liquidity in the market.

The Bank of England has completed the purchase of 175 billion of government bonds and increased it by 25 billion today. The Monetary Policy Committee also noted that capacity utilization is “underutilized” and “that will continue to bear down on inflation for some time to come.”

The ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet also indicated that emergency liquidity provided “are phased out in a timely and gradual fashion.”

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 26.16 or 0.5% to 5,134.05 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.657 and to close at €1.114.

Gainers & Losers

3i Infrastructure plc fell 0.7% to 102.80 pence after the investment firm said its six-month pre-tax profit declined to £28.3 million from £54.4 million in the prior year period.

Alliance Trust PLC the investment company fell 0.9% to 303.80 pence.

BTG plc decreased 5.6% to 182.10 pence after the specialty pharmaceutical company said first-half revenues rose 58.6% to £47.9 million from £30.2 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half rose 28% to £4.1 million or 1.6 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £3.2 million or 2.1 pence per share a year ago.

Cable & Wireless plc fell 7.4% to 137.00 pence an international telecommunications company said first-half revenues rose 13% to £1.86 billion from £1.65 billion a year ago. Net profit for the first-half rose 45% to £120 million or 4.8 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £83 million or 3.4 pence per share a year ago.

Catlin group Limited fell 1.4% to 324.80 pence after the Bermuda-based insurer said gross premiums written on a constant currency basis increased 10%.

Charles Stanley Group PLC closed unchanged at 260.00 pence after the stockbroker said first-half revenues rose 14% to £55.9 million from £49 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half rose 5.6% to £3.8 million or 8.60 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £3.6 million or 8.13 per share a year ago.

Charter International plc fell 3.5% to 673.00 pence after the industrial engineer said financial position “remains strong” and declared the payment of the interim dividend of £11.7 million.

easyJet plc fell 1.6% to 367.80 pence after the low-cost airline operator said in October number of passengers increased 6.6% to 4.22 million from 3.96 million in the previous-year month.

Invensys plc dropped 5.9% to 281.60 pence after the global technology company said first-half revenues fell 3% to £1.06 billion from £1.09 billion a year ago. Net profit for the first-half rose 5.5% to £77 million or 9.5 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £73 million or 9.1 pence per share a year ago.

Man Group Plc closed unchanged at 325.00 pence after the fund manager said first-half revenues fell 47.6% to £692 million from £1.32 billion a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 51% to £248 million or 13.8 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £507 million or 28.8 pence per share a year ago.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels PLC dropped 3.2% to 340.50 pence after the hotel operator said third quarter revenues fell 7.8% to £160.4 million from £173.9 million a year ago. Net profit for the quarter fell 11% to £17.5 million or 5.7 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £19.7 million or 6.5 pence per share a year ago.

National Express Group PLC dropped 2.4% to 317.20 pence after the transportation company said that it will continue to operate its loss making franchise on the east coast until the committed funds are exhausted. The company’s discussion with the Department for Transport has not yielded any outcome so far.

SEGRO plc decreased 2.4% to 335.80 pence and chief executive officer Ian Coull said that the business “shows operational resilience.”

Shanks Group plc dropped 1.4% to 85.75 pence an independent waste management company said first-half revenues fell 3.2% to £335 million from £346 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half was £28.9 million compared to net loss of £6.7 million a year ago.

Spirent Communications plc the communications technology firm fell 1.1% to 93.95 pence.

Spectris plc rose 0.8% to 683.50 pence after the instrumentation and controls company said on a reported basis, sales for the four months ended October were 4% lower than the prior year period. Sales on a constant currency basis declined 19% from a year ago.

Tomkins plc rose 1.2% to 171.60 pence after the engineering and manufacturing conglomerate said a number of businesses continued to see month-on-month improvements throughout the third quarter, with the automotive original equipment market showing some increased activity, driven by government incentives and scrappage programs.

Unilever PLC fell 3.0% to 1,774.00 pence after the supplier of consumer products said third quarter revenues fell 2% to €10.2 billion from €10.4 billion a year ago. Net profit for the quarter fell 36% to €1.05 billion or €0.36 per diluted share compared to net profit of €1.64 billion or €0.57 per share a year ago.

Vedanta Resources plc fell 3.1% to 2,219.00 pence after the mining group said first-half revenues fell 25% to $2.98 billion from $3.97 billion a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 46% to $188.2 million or 68.5 cents compared to net profit of $350 million or 121.4 cents a year ago.

Wincanton plc rose 1.2% to 218.75 pence after the supply chain solutions provider said first-half revenues fell 10% to £1.08 billion from £1.20 billion a year ago. Net profit for the first-half was flat at £6.0 million or 5.2 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £6.0 million or 5.1 pence per share a year ago.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 69 increased, 29 declined and 4 were unchanged.

Cable & Wireless Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 6.89% followed by losses in Whitbread Plc of 3.49%, in Invensys Plc of 2.71%, in The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc of 2.70%, in British Airways Plc of 2.61%.

Amec Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 3.58% followed by increase in BT Group Plc of 3.37%, in Rentokil Initial Plc of 3.12%, in Compass Group Plc of 2.83%, in Kingfisher Plc of 2.81%.