News

Footsie is in the red in early deals with banks amongst the major fallers despite miners posting strong gains.

Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are posting heavy losses but miners are trying to stem the fall, with Rio Tinto up after it received US anti-trust clearance for the proposed acquisition of Alcan by its subsidiary.

Oil services group John Wood reported continuing strong progress in 2007 and said it reckons full year results will top expectations.

The firm posted a 64% hike in pre-tax profit for the six months to 30 June to $124m on revenue 35% higher at $2.12bn. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization climbed 61%.

Distribution and outsourcing business Bunzl saw interim profits rise but warned the weak US dollar could have a negative affect on full year results.

"The current value of the US dollar is somewhat weaker than the average for the second half of 2006 and, should that continue...it would have a negative translation effect on our full year results for 2007," said the group.

Scanning software specialist Dicom pushed full year profits ahead by 5% as margins increased despite flat sales.

Pre-tax profits rose from £9.6m to £10.1m in the year to end June, on revenues of £160.2m against £160.4m, though in local currencies there was a 4% improvement. Adjusted operating profits rose 8% to £15.5m as gross margins picked up a couple of percentage points to 56.4%.

Car rental firm Avis Europe announced Tuesday it had more than halved underlying losses during the first half Tuesday and said revenues had remained strong in July and August to date.

The group reported an underlying loss of €1.9m versus a €4.5m deficit this time last year on revenue excluding discontinued operations up 4.7% to €604m. Total loss before tax excluding discontinued operations narrowed to €7.9m from €13.2m.

Residential property owner Grainger said it has completed the fundraising for its residential investment fund G:res after raising £159m.

Irish building materials group CRH has posted a better than expected first half profit and said it expects strong full year profit growth. Pre-tax profit for the six months ended 30 June climbed 27% to €670m, ahead of analysts forecasts, on revenue up 21% to €9.7bn.

Highland Gold has bought exploration and production rights for the Iska ore field for 1.87m roubles, or $72,300, the Russia focused group said in a statement Tuesday.

Neptune Minerals has completed its Kermadec 07 exploration program offshore New Zealand and discovered a second inactive seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) zone.

Pallinghurst confirms that it has no current intention to support any existing rival takeover proposals for Consolidated Minerals with its shareholding.

Net assets increased by 4.3% in the first half of 2007, property group Blackrock International said today.