LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s blue chips finished slightly lower after Wall Street tumbled on news that US consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in five years.

BP’s first-quarter replacement cost profit was $6.59bn, compared with $4.44bn a year ago, an increase of 48%, well ahead of forecasts and boosted by the soaring price of oil.

Royal Dutch Shell also beat forecasts with a 12% rise in first-quarter current cost of supply net income, also helped by record oil prices. Excluding non-operating items, profits were $7.85bn compared with forecasts of about $6.77bn. Production averaged 3.52m barrels daily, up slightly on last year. BG, due to report tomorrow, and Cairn Energy were also going well.

Meanwhile, British Airways said it will increase its fuel surcharge on all tickets issued from 2 May due to continuing high oil prices.

Miners were not sharing in the oil sector’s buoyancy though, with copper prices falling amid concerns over US demand. Kazakhstan’s ENRC joined in the bottom 10 by compatriot Kazakhmys, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.

Banks were only slightly lower after HBOS announced a $4bn rights issue.
The new shares will be issued at 275p per share on the basis of 2 new ordinary shares for every 5 currently held.

HBOS is also reducing its dividend pay-out to 40% of earnings per share, and will be paying its 2008 interim dividend in shares rather than cash.

In the same sector, mortgage lender Abbey took advantage of its rivals’ reluctance to lend money in the first quarter to almost double its share of Britain’s mortgage market. Abbey, now part of Spanish banking group Santander, lent £2.9bn in the first quarter, compared with £1.3bn in the first quarter of 2007.

Friends Provident said first quarter new life & pensions business increased by 11% to £247m, ahead of market expectations. Strong international business drove overall sales, the group said.

Car insurer Admiral is on course for a record year in 2008, in line with market expectations. Turnover during the first quarter rose by 14% from the same period last year to £232m, with customer numbers climbing by 15% to 1.57m.

Pubs group JD Wetherspoon's like-for-like sales fell 0.1% in the third quarter with operating margins under pressure from higher marketing, food and labour costs. Like-for-like sales so far this financial year are down 1.5%, Wetherspoon added.

Market research agency Taylor Nelson Sofres confirmed it is in merger talks with GfK, Germany’s largest market research company. Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) and GfK have agreed a non-binding agreement setting out the terms of the envisaged “nil premium merger of equals” which will be effected by way of a share offer for TNS by GfK.

An upbeat trading statement lifted computer games retailer Game, which reported the 13 weeks to 26 April had seen a 20.1% rise in like-for-like sales. Microchip designer Arm rallied as it reiterated its guidance for the current year. Own label consumer goods specialist McBride slipped on a cautious trading statement.

Glass mineral fibre insulation products manufacturer Superglass reported a rise in first-half pre-tax profits and said it remains optimistic about its second-half prospects. Pre-tax profit rose to £1.1m in the six months ended 29 February from £401,000 last time, however, turnover fell 4.2% to £20.5m.

Clinical trial technology provider ClinPhone slipped into the red after suffering operational difficulties in the summer of 2007, but said it finished the year strongly. In the year to 29 February the company registered a loss before tax of £2.5m, compared with a profit of £4.1m in the preceding year. Administrative expenses grew to £29.1m from £21.5m and amortisation of acquired intangible assets rose to £3.5m from £0.9m.

Box office revenues at multiplex cinema operator Cineworld were up in 2008 despite a dearth of blockbuster films on release. Cineworld said total revenues in the 17 weeks to 24 April were up 3.4% on the corresponding period of 2007. Box office revenues rose 3.3%, while retail revenue grew 5.5%, but other income dipped 1.4%.

FTSE 100 - Risers
BP (BP.) 613.00p +5.96%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,035.00p +5.82%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,043.00p +5.26%
Shire (SHP) 931.00p +3.10%
Amec (AMEC) 792.50p +1.80%
WPP Group (WPP) 605.00p +1.09%
Friends Provident (FP.) 118.20p +0.85%
Admiral Group (ADM) 820.50p +0.80%
BG Group (BG.) 1,308.00p +0.77%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 871.00p +0.69%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,648.00p -4.46%
Persimmon (PSN) 581.00p -3.57%
Wolseley (WOS) 523.50p -3.50%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,010.00p -3.47%
ICAP (IAP) 579.00p -3.42%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 242.75p -3.38%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,247.00p -3.26%
Experian Group (EXPN) 379.25p -3.25%
Prudential (PRU) 685.50p -3.18%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 1,071.00p -3.16%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) 204.00p +19.30%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 100.00p +12.99%
Telecity Group (TCY) 210.00p +5.26%
Game Group (GMG) 264.50p +4.86%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 243.75p +3.61%
Bunzl (BNZL) 757.00p +3.56%
Northern Foods (NFDS) 85.50p +2.40%
DSG International (DSGI) 66.00p +2.33%
Hiscox (HSX) 250.00p +2.25%
Mapeley (MAY) 1,280.00p +2.07%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 378.00p -6.90%
Invensys (ISYS) 285.50p -6.24%
eaga (EAGA) 122.25p -5.96%
Genus (GNS) 795.00p -5.69%
Premier Foods (PFD) 126.50p -5.42%
DS Smith (SMDS) 132.75p -5.18%
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 1,253.00p -4.64%
Debenhams (DEB) 63.00p -4.55%
Galiform (GFRM) 69.25p -4.48%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 272.50p -4.22%

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