UK/Euro Financial Market Daily Morning Briefing 14-11-2006

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London shares up in early deals; Vodafone gains on forecast-busting H1

Leading shares were higher in early deals, following on from gains on Wall Street overnight, with Vodafone Group among the top gainers on the back of a solid earnings report while miners also offered support. At 9.01 am, the FTSE 100 index was 16.5 points firmer at 6,210.7, albeit off an earlier high of 6,223.9, after closing down 14.2 points at 6,194.2 yesterday.
   
Overnight on Wall Street, US stocks ended slightly higher, with comments from Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher putting investors at ease about upcoming economic and retail sales reports.
     
The DJIA closed up 23.50 points at 12,131.90, while the Nasdaq Composite was 16.66 points higher at 2,406.38 at the close and the S&P 500 index ended 3.50 points better at 1,384.40.
   
Meanwhile, across Asia this morning, the mood was upbeat as Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closed 267.06 points firmer at 16,289.55 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 9.88 points ahead at 18,878.42 by midday.
   
Hong Kong share prices closed only marginally higher as index heavyweight HSBC fell on concern over its North American operations and pared the market's gains, led by Chinese financials.
   
Meanwhile, crude oil prices firmed in range-bound Asian trade as the market steadied, following reports of warmer winter weather in the US.
   
Earlier this morning, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, was up 13 cents at 58.71 usd a barrel from 58.58 in late US trades overnight.
   
In London, InterContinental Hotels Group led the risers, adding 26-1/2 pence at 1,075, after posting a rise in pretax profits to 49 mln stg from 33 mln, with operating profit coming in at 53 mln, up from 38 mln previously.
   
In response, Credit Suisse reiterated its 'outperform' stance, saying the numbers were in line, but also highlighted the lack of restructuring or buyback news. In a note to clients, the broker said EBIT before one-offs reached 62 mln stg, ahead of its estimate of 55 mln but in-line with consensus of 60 mln.
   
Remaining on the reporting front, Vodafone Group took on 2-1/4 pence at 138-1/4 -- a climb of over 4 pct, as investors reacted positively to this morning's interim results, which beat many expectations, and with the mobile giant guiding to a lower-than-expected tax rate.
   
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation rose 2.8 pct on a like-for-like basis to 6.242 bln stg for the six months to the end of September, as revenues for the period improved 4.1 pct to 15.594 bln.
   
And Alliance Boots was in demand, 10 pence higher at 829, after the recently-merged healthcare group's maiden interims revealed better-than expected interim numbers, although the company also warned of "several challenges" in the second half.

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This morning, the group, created from the merger of Boots Group and Alliance UniChem in July, posted a pro forma pretax profit of 272 mln stg, compared to analysts' consensus forecast of 261.4 mln stg and 244 mln stg last time.
   
Elsewhere, the mining sector also offered support, bouncing back from yesterday's falls, with Kazakhmys 17 pence ahead at 1,157, Anglo American up 32 pence at 2,458 and Xstrata 22 pence firmer at 2,214.
   
Meanwhile, Resolution extended yesterday's gains, taking on 12-1/2 pence at 680 this morning as punters continued to buy into the stock following the life insurer's announcement Monday that it is in discussions with several unnamed companies over a range of possible deals, including a sale of the group.
   
Meanwhile, Standard Chartered enjoyed news that South Korea's SC First Bank, which was formed by the UK group Korea First Bank, reported a jump in net profit in the third quarter on a rise in net interest income, driven by higher mortgage volumes, securities and loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.
   
Third-quarter net profit stood at 66.6 bln won, compared with 26.7 bln a year earlier. Standard Chartered shares took on 14 pence at 1,510.
   
On the downside, however, Scottish Power traded lower, 3-1/2 pence lighter at 740, as the group's strong interim results were overshadowed by fading bid hopes, escalated by rumours that potential bidder Iberdrola is also in talks with Gas Natural, which is generally seen as a better fit.
   
This morning, the UK utility announced it has grown pretax profits in the half year to Sept 30 by 77 pct to 483 mln stg from 273 mln. The results, well ahead of analyst expectations of around 408 mln stg, were adjusted for new accounting rules.
   
Following recent news that Scottish Power is the target of takeover interest from Spanish firm Iberdrola, chief executive Philip Bowman said he was unable to comment at this stage, but noted there was continuing support for consolidation from the European Union.
   
The main faller, however, was Wm Morrison Supermarkets, off 2 pence at 267, as Panmure Gordon reiterated its 'sell' advice and highlighted that a press report has stated that half the firm's executive board has been selling shares in the market.
   
On the second line, Babcock International Group was the top performer, 17 pence to the good at 396-3/4, thanks to a 40 pct increase in interim profits and management's comment that it believes full-year results will be ahead of its expectations at the time of its trading update in September.
   
The support services company said pretax profit rose to 26.4 mln stg for the half year ended Sept 30 from 18.9 mln in the same period last year. Underlying profits jumped 49 pct to 30.6 mln stg, while sales grew 26 pct to 487.6 mln stg.
   
The company also boosted its interim dividend to 2.40 pence from 1.75 pence.
   
Shares in Northern Foods also benefited from a bullish earnings report, which pushed the shares up 3-1/2 pence at 89-1/2, after the food producer said pretax profit for the six months ended Sept 30 was 16 mln stg compared with 25.7 mln stg the previous year, beating market expectations which ranged between 14-15 mln stg.

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And Emap also gained in opening deals, up 19-1/2 pence at 815-1/2 as the market warmed to a set of "comforting" first-half figures. The UK media group reported a fall in half-year revenue as expected, blaming challenging markets, and said it expected to meet full-year expectations.
   
Pretax profit from continuing operations for the six months to end-September was unchanged at 95 mln stg on revenue down 2 pct at 435 mln stg. Reacting to the figures, Bridgewell Securities reiterated its 'outperform' recommendation on the stock and said overall the numbers were "comforting".
   
Turning to M&A news, London Merchant Securities climbed up 6-1/2 pence at 289-1/2 after property group Derwent Valley Holdings said it has agreed the acquisition of its rival for 1 bln stg in shares to create Derwent London PLC, a specialist property company with a combined property portfolio of 2.25 bln stg.
   
Derwent Valley said it will issue 10 new shares for every 67 London Merchant shares, representing a value of 298 pence, and there will be a partial cash alternative of 280 pence per share for up to a maximum of 20 pct of the takeover target. Derwent's shares slipped 36 pence at 1,958 on the news.
   
Among the mid-cap casualties, bearish broker comment damaged Arriva, which fell back 20-1/2 pence at 703 after UBS downgraded its stance on the transport group to 'reduce' from 'neutral'.
   
Elsewhere, Burberry Group lost 11 pence at 545-1/4 after the luxury retail brand posted a 7 pct rise in underlying first-half profits and upped its expectations for wholesale sales in the second-half, but Merrill Lynch pointed out these first-half earnings were at the bottom end of market expectations on a reported basis.
   
Similarly, VT Group was under the cosh, down 12-1/2 pence at 476, amid market concerns over its shipbuilding business.
   
VT Group this morning released first-half numbers that were in line with expectations, Panmure Gordon said, but the broker also noted that the Education side is slightly disappointing and Shipbuilding was also lower than expected.
   
Finally, Schroders fell back 17 pence at 1,007-1/2 after announcing third-quarter pretax profits rose to 64 mln stg compared to 63.6 mln stg in the same period in 2005, but Credit Suisse highlighted that the group's net outflows were worse than expected.

UK Diary of Events

For a diary of key corporate and financial events in the UK today, click here

US Summary

For a summary of US stocks at yesterday's close of trade, click here

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FRANKFURT - Market data at 10.22 am
   
Major indices:
   
DAX - up 5.18 points or 0.08 pct at 6,398.91
MDAX - down 18.96 points or 0.21 pct at 8,876.88
TecDAX - up 1.28 points or 0.18 pct at 712.64
DAX future - up 6.50 points or 0.10 pct at 6,421.00  

Major gainers:
   
Infineon, up 0.10 eur or 1.08 pct at 9.38
   
Deutsche Postbank, up 0.64 eur or 1.06 pct at 61.26
   
Adidas, up 0.36 eur or 0.96 pct at 37.85
   
Deutsche Telekom, up 0.13 eur or 0.96 pct at 13.61, after the telecoms giant appointed a new chief executive yesterday
   
BASF, up 0.38 eur or 0.54 pct at 70.23
   

Major losers:
   
Fresenius Medical Care, down 0.75 eur or 0.72 pct at 104.10
   
TUI, down 0.11 eur or 0.68 pct at 16.18, after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services announced last night it lowered its long-term corporate credit rating on TUI to 'BB' from 'BB+', adding that the outlook is negative.
   
Siemens, down 0.39 eur or 0.52 pct at 74.56. The European Commission said last night it had approved Siemens's proposed joint venture with Nokia Oyj in mobile telecoms networks.
   
Deutsche Boerse, down 0.43 eur or 0.32 pct at 132.90
   
Deutsche Bank , down 0.26 eur or 0.26 pct at 98.46

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 AMSTERDAM  - Market data at 10.44 am

Major indices

    AEX                  494.11, down 0.10 points
    AMX Midcap           636.95, up 0.08 points
    Government bonds     unchanged to slightly lower

Major losers
   
Van der Moolen sank 7.37 pct to 4.40 eur after the market specialist's third-quarter results showed a much bigger-than-expected impairment charge
  
Numico fell 1.3 pct to 38.01, Nutreco shed 0.8 pct to 48.36
  
Getronics eased 1.16 pct to 5.97
  
Crucell slipped 0.38 pct to 18.46 after third-quarter results
   
Stork was down 0.53 pct at 39.29 as analysts see a legal battle looming after the company said it "cannot accept" the proposal by activist hedge funds Centaurus and Paulson to break up the company and focus on becoming a listed, stand-alone aerospace business
      
Major gainers:
    
ASML put on 1.63 pct to 18.65, ASMI added 1.06 pct to 16.18
   
TomTom advanced 1.3 pct to 34.37
   
KPN climbed 1.22 pct to 10.80 after strong results by Vodafone and a raised

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