UK Stocks: Balfour, Premier Oil, Next Plc

Mayank Mehta
05 Jan, 2010
New York City

Nestle SA says no plan to make or participate in Cadbury plc offer. Next celebrates Christmas sales surge. Balfour Beatty Gammon wins

[R]4:00 PM London, 11:00 AM New York – Nestle SA says no plan to make or participate in Cadbury plc offer. Next celebrates Christmas sales surge. Balfour Beatty Gammon wins £180 million of new contracts. Premier Oil agrees to an oil field stake deal with Serica. Speedy Hire signs 5-year deal with Carillion in the Middle East.[/R]

UK stocks traded higher but weakness in the metals and resources sectors kept the gains limited. Financial gained but retailers declined.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 8.25 or 0.1% to 5,508.59 and the pound edged lower to close at $1.604 and edged lower to close at €1.113.

Brokers recommendations lifted Man Group by 4.1% and Barclays Plc by 6.3%. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc soared 10% and Lloyds Banking Group added 3.4%.

Gainers & Losers

Ark Therapeutics Group Plc surged 20.6% to 17.50 pence after the drug developer announces that it has filed the formal request to the European Medicines Agency for re-examination for Cerepro, gene-based therapy for brain cancer.

Balfour Beatty plc rose 1.5% to 263.10 pence said its Hong Kong partner, Gammon Construction received two new contracts valued at HK$2.27 billion or £180 million.

Cadbury plc decreased 2.0% to 788.50 pence after the confectionery company said that Nestle SA said it won''t bid for U.K. based Confectionery Company and Kraft offered a bid with more cash component but did not revise its preliminary offer of £10.2 billion.

Carr’s Milling Industries PLC increased 3.5% to 439.95 pence.

Galliford Try plc decreased 0.6% to 298.00 pence after the home builder said it has been confirmed as a construction partner of the Equitix consortium, which has been appointed as the preferred bidder on the Cambridgeshire building schools for the future program.

John Lewis of Hungerford plc closed unchanged at 1.02 pence.

Jetion Holdings Limited surged 25.6% to 71.00 pence after the solar power technology group said the board is pleased to announce that net profit for the year ended December 2009 will be significantly ahead of current market forecasts of $11.7 million.

May Gurney Integrated Services plc added 3.5% to 266.00 pence after the public sector outsourcing firm today announces that it has renewed its long-term maintenance contract with South West Water for distribution services, to include an expanded geographical area, valued at up to £170 million over a period of up to 10 years.

Mediterranean Oil & Gas Plc advanced 1.1% to 39.45 pence after the company announces that the Italian ministry of economic development awarded the production concession for the Guendalina gas field.

Next plc slipped 2.4% to 2,086.00 pence after the high street retailer second-half trading sales in the run up to Christmas were better than expected and were higher in the last two weeks of the year. But the company also said sales in the current year may decline as much as 3%.

Premier Oil Plc climbed 4.1% to 1,207.00 pence after the oil and gas explorer said Serica Energy plc announces that it has reached agreement with the company for the farm-out of UK Central North Sea Block 22/19c, which contains the Oates and Bowers Palaeocene prospects and in which Serica presently holds a 100% interest.

Speedy Hire Plc rose 3.5% to 29.00 pence after the business-to-business support services provider announces that it has signed a five year Strategic Services Agreement with Al Futtaim Carillion in the Middle East.

The Weather Lottery Plc rose 9.0% to 0.30 pence.

William Sinclair Holdings plc the garden and horticultural products firm surged 10.1% to 90.28 pence.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 48 increased, 54 declined and None were unchanged.

Autonomy Corporation Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 3.86% followed by losses in Cadbury Plc of 3.23%, in Smiths Group Plc of 2.90%, in Cairn Energy Plc of 2.45%, and in GlaxoSmithKline Plc of 2.43%.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 10.28% followed by increase in Barclays Plc of 6.26%, in Man Group Plc of 4.13%, in British Airways Plc of 3.56%, and in Lloyds Banking Group Plc of 3.39%.