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Thursday's news and tips

Created:

29 July 2010

Written by:

ShareCast

■ Defence firm BAE Systems continues to expect revenue growth in 2010 despite the threat of cutbacks in government spending.

■ Pay TV and internet service provider British Sky Broadcasting posted slightly better than expected full-year figures but warned that the economic outlook remains uncertain.

■ Royal Dutch Shell has trumped forecasts with a 15 per cent jump in second quarter profit, in stark contrast to loss-making rival BP, thanks to higher oil prices and an increase in production.

■ Variety magazine publisher Reed Elsevier said advertising and promotion markets are stabilising although it remains cautious as it reported a decline in first half operating profit and flat revenue.

■ Cobham subsidiary Cobham Analytic Solutions has been selected as a prime contractor to provide infrastructure and deployment support services to the US Missile Defense Agency.

■ Telecoms leviathan BT reported a 17 per cent rise in pre-tax profits in the first quarter and reiterated its full year outlook.

■ Aero engines developer Rolls-Royce expects 2010 profit to be modestly higher than 2009 after a 'robust performance' in the first half of the year.

■ Diversified mining giant Kazakhmys said its operations delivered a solid performance in the first half of the year.

■ Scottish soft drinks maker AG Barr expects full year trading to beat forecasts after sales continued to perform ahead of the market in the first half.

■ Connaught , the social housing group which issued a profit warning last month, has agreed a short-term overdraft facility and deferral of loan payments with its banks.

■ An "impressive uplift" in the mineral resource estimate at Collahuasi, Chile's third largest copper mine, is good news for Xstrata and Anglo American who each own a 44 per cent stake in the business.

■ Electronic sensors firm Halma says trading since the start of the financial year has been strong and is in line with expectations.

■ Bus and rail firm National Express said it plans to resume dividend payments as the group posted a return to profit.

■ Oil services group Petrofac has won a $400m (£256m) contract with the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to build fuel gas and gas oil pipelines.

■ Advertising firm Aegis Group has made an agreed bid for Australia's largest marketing communications group, Mitchell Communication Group.

■ Australia's Rio Tinto and Chinese state-owned miner Chinalco have formed a "powerful union" after the pair set up an iron ore joint venture in the West African state of Guinea.

■ Shares in electrical component maker Laird jumped after pre-tax profits almost doubled in the half year to June 30.

■ Production rose in the three months to June 30 at Aquarius Platinum but the shares fell as the South African miner of the precious metal outlined safety measures that will hit future output.

■ Shares in PartyGaming jumped after the online gambling group announced that it is to merge with its Austrian rival bwin.

■ Travis Perkins beat expectations as underlying first half profits jumped by a quarter, but the Wickes owner says trading patterns still remain hard to predict.

■ Plumbing supplies firm BSS Group, in the process of being taken over by Wickes owner Travis Perkins for £558m, has had a strong start to the new financial year.

■ Shares in Rank moved ahead after the bingo hall and casino operator announced a slight rise in profits and reported strong customer numbers in both businesses.

■ Environmental consultancy RPS posted broadly flat revenues and profits in a year in which it said the timing of recovery varied from market to market.

■ A better advertising performance and a contribution from recent acquisition Guardian Regional Media sent first half profits climbing at newspaper group Trinity Mirror.

■ Publishing and education group Pearson is to acquire English language training company the Wall Street Institute from Carlyle Group and Citi Private Equity for $92m.

■ China-based healthcare and consumer products group Hutchison China Meditech saw strong sales growth in the first half of 2010, driven by continued like-for-like growth in the China Healthcare Division and the launch of Hutchison Hain Organic.

■ Defence technology group QinetiQ said its performance should be steady in the current year, with a strong result in the US for its global products division offset by delays in the UK.

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NEWSPAPER SHARE TIPS (29 JULY 2010):

PRESS HEADLINES:

BP has fired the starting gun on a $30 billion fire sale, holding talks with TNK-BP, its Russian joint venture, about the sale of a $1 billion package of oil projects in Venezuela, the Times has learnt. The talks, part of a programme of disposals designed to shore up BP's finances in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, are understood to revolve around BP's minority stakes in two exploration and production joint ventures in Venezuela with Petroleos de Venezuela, the South American nation's state-owned oil producer.

The Telegraph adds that UK safety officials have begun a crackdown on elderly North Sea oil and gas rigs, at the same time as it emerged a clutch of US federal regulators are preparing to begin a formal investigation into whether BP and its partners drilling the ill-fated Macondo well contributed to the Gulf of Mexico spill.

Russia is aiming to raise up to $29bn (€22.3bn) through asset sales on the open market over the next three years in the biggest privatisation programme since the chaotic asset sales of the 1990s, according to the FT.

European banks have amassed €30 trillion in liabilities and face a serious funding threat over the next two years as authorities withdraw emergency support, according to a new report by Standard & Poor's, writes the Telegraph.

Google is spoiling for a fight with Facebook over the fast-growing market for online games, part of the search engine giant's latest attempt to build a social networking business. Google is believed to have opened talks with several of the games developers that have come to prominence on Facebook, where millions of users play simple social games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, reports the Independent.

Virgin Media, the UK's only big cable company, on Wednesday announced a share buy-back scheme of up to £375m ($585m) as its expanded high-definition television service and high-speed fibre optic broadband internet service drove an unexpected increase in customer numbers, says the FT.

A promised grant of up to £5,000 towards the cost of an electric or ultra-low carbon car has survived Government cutbacks. The Transport Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday said the funding, first announced by the Labour government, will go ahead from January 2011. The grant will reduce the cost of new ultra-low carbon vehicles by 25 per cent, capped at £5,000, according to the Independent.

Anger erupted at mining company Vedanta's annual shareholder meeting yesterday as protesters attacked its management for alleged human rights abuses and "crimes against the environment". While campaigners chanted slogans against the company outside the London gathering, senior executives faced criticism from shareholders, celebrity activists and charities inside the meeting hall, writes the Guardian.