05.06.07
Vague talk of Vodafone bid helps the FTSE 100 index
04.06.07
RBS leads the pack on Southern water sale rumours
01.06.07
Rumours of private equity takeover for Home Retail
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The buyers appeared again in London this morning with a late rally on Wall Street, a sharp turnaround in Chinese shares and vague talk of a bid for Vodafone all helping sentiment. Elsewhere though, there was plenty of corporate news to reflect on, with Royal Bank of Scotland issuing a broadly positive trading statement. It said a fall in its bad debt charges would help it exceed forecasts for first half underlying profits, and with UK retail markets unit to show a modest reduction in impairment losses in the six months to the end of June, the cost/income ratio should improve from the 2006 level. The shares were ahead, as were those of United Utilities which announced underlying profits at £561m in the year to March, up from £484m. It also announced it would sell its electricity assets and return the proceeds to shareholders.
There were very few movers of note this morning as the FTSE 100 index opened slightly up in quiet trading conditions. The early winner was Royal Bank of Scotland following newspaper rumours that its private equity arm had put Southern Water up for sale for £4bn, and at the other end, Tate & Lyle lagged the field on continuing concern of competition in the sweetener market.
On a quieter day for corporate news, the FTSE 100 index was up around 20 points early on as broker upgrades and takeover stories stirred various sectors again. Home Retail led the pack with a 2.2% rise on rumours of a CVC takeover approach, and similar gain was seen in Punch Taverns after Goldman Sachs raised its recommendation on the shares to "buy'' from "neutral'' within a generally bullish sector update.
The sharp turnaround in the US yesterday fed through to a good opening in London, with the FTSE 100 index up 40 points mid-morning. The best sector strength was seen in property after Tishman Speyer, the owner of New York's Chrysler Center, and Lehman Brothers paid $22.2bn for Archstone-Smith, the second largest US apartment owner. This fed through to the UK with Land Securities and British Land both up over 3% to add on to gains late yesterday. A similar performance was seen at retailer DSG International after it said that chief executive John Clare intends to retire at the AGM in September 2007 after 22 years at the group.
