News

London's top stocks are flat with the rising crude price once again boosting oil companies but weighing on fuel consuming stocks.

Cairn Energy and BP are among the risers after the price of a barrel of oil rebounded following a militant attack on Shell's Nigeria Bonga Field.

However, British Airways and Carnival fell back.

JP Morgan has raised its price target on Scottish and Southern Energy to 1,740p from 1,700p, saying the fundamentals look good for the power supplier.

"The bulk of SSE's businesses have a bright outlook currently in our view: network regulatory risk is at a low; renewable energy policy is moving the right way; wholesale power prices are rising," the broker said.

Morgan Stanley has raised its stance on Pennon Group to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight' and lifted its price target to 730p from 645p, saying the water group should provide a safe haven for investors.

Chocolate maker Cadbury expects second quarter growth to be modestly higher than the 7% like-for-like growth reported for the first quarter. It added that good progress is being made on margins despite further increases in marketing.

Oil majors are going well after crude prices closed near $137 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday. Cairn Energy, Shell and BP are all among the top blue chip risers.

Banks are dominating the early fallers. HBOS said trading continues to be in line with expectations but expects first half write-downs to reach £1bn and the UK economy to slow with house prices deteriorating further. Write-downs in its Treasury Trading Book, since its interim statement in April, have increased by £58m to £1,028m.

Barclays is the biggest faller, closely followed by Royal Bank of Scotland, Alliance & Leicester and Lloyds TSB.

Centrica continues to trade in line with guidance provided in its interim statement last month. The British Gas owner said in May that operating profit for the first half will be "materially lower" than the same period last year.
Housebuilders were staging a mini-fightback Thursday after Citigroup lifted ratings in the sector, saying that while the near term looks ugly, it offers investors opportunities longer term. The broker raised its rating on Redrow to 'buy' from 'sell' after the recent sell-off in the company's shares and in light of its cash generation potential.

Go-Ahead rose after the bus and train operator said it expects to surpass last year's record earnings after a strong performance at its main divisions. "We now anticipate delivering a full-year performance ahead of our previous expectations in April and significantly ahead of our record results last year,'' said the group in Thursday's statement.

Specialist lender Cattles said it has applied tighter credit criteria to new business, which has resulted in lower receivables growth in its Welcome Finance unit. As a result of the moderation in the rate of growth of receivables, the traditional split of profits between half one and half two will be less pronounced this year.

Automotive and building products focused holding company Tomkins has sold Stant Corporation to US private equity group HIG Capital for an undisclosed amount. Stant, a fuel system and vapour emission control products company, had gross assets of $95m last year and annual sales of $179m.

Workforce management software developer WorkPlace Systems swung to a full-year pre-tax profit and said its outlook remains 'cautiously optimistic'. Pre-tax profit came to £1.34m in the year ended 31 March compared to a loss of £2.14m in the previous period. Turnover rose 23% to £10.8m.

Norcros, the firm behind Triton showers, reported a 75.5% rise in full year pre-tax profit despite difficult trading conditions in both its main markets. While its main tiling and shower businesses faced challenging conditions, the group pushed through a 4.6% increase in trading profit and a 75.7% increase in profit before tax and exceptional items on a 3.4% increase in turnover.