FTSE heads south |
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| Strategic Finance | |
| Written by Gary Howes and Sharecast | |
| Thursday, 21 May 2009 | |
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The markets are heading down this morning as there is little good news to be found and Lloyds continues its dismal form.
The FTSE 100 is markedly down this morning by 109.22 points or 2.44% by 9:30am. (See INDEXFTSE:.FTSE). Alistair Darling is braced for an order by the European Commission seeking the shrinking of Lloyds Banking as a condition for the granting of state aid. Treasury officials believe Brussels could insist that the bank shrink its balance sheet – possibly through asset disposals – or accept restrictions over its behaviour in the market. The news announced yesterday, as the bank made a £4bn share offer, saw shares in Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) tumble. Full-year profit from Cable & Wireless (LON:CW) was roughly in line with expectations, but the telecom group forecasts EBITDA of more than £1bn for the current year. British Land (LON:BLND) said its net asset value (NAV) per share slumped 64% last year, while its property portfolio lost almost two-thirds in value. Meanwhile, £3.24bn of markdowns led to a widened full-year net loss of £3.88bn compared with a loss of £1.56bn last time. Underlying pretax profits came to £268m. Pub group Mitchells & Butlers has parted company with chief executive Tim Clarke after reporting a 48% slump in half year pre-tax profit. Profit before tax and exceptional items for the 28 weeks ended 11 April tumbled to £44m from £84m a year ago on revenue up nearly 3% to £1.02bn. Utility company Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) has hiked its final dividend by 9% to 46.2p and said it plans an increase of at least 4% more than inflation for 2009/10. Sports shop chain JJB Sports fell heavily into losses in the year to 25 January after an extremely difficult period for the group that was compounded by the economic downturn. Newspaper publisher Daily Mail and General Trust saw profits fall by nearly half after feeling the impact of a severe advertising downturn. The group, which publishes the Daily Mail as well as local papers and business titles, said pre-tax profits in the six months to March 29 fell to £77m from £144m over the same period the previous year as revenues fell to £1.08bn from £1.168bn. A US court has granted AstraZeneca a preliminary injunction preventing Apotex from launching a generic version of Astra’s asthma treatment for children, Pulmicort Respules, in the US. Engineering and construction group Balfour Beatty gained after it said its US building business has won work totaling up to $560m. Yesterday, a Balfour Beatty-led consortium has secured a £6.2bn contract to widen and maintain London's M25 motorway. Clinton Cards said its Birthdays greeting card chain has been placed into administration as prospects of it generating a profit in the near future faded.
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