Investments: London ends the week positively
FTSE buoyed by the British
Friday, 16 May 2008 10:24
The FTSE 100 opened strongly this morning – up 1.17 per cent to 6325.20 – as British Airways and British Energy impressed the market.
BA was up 4.8 per cent by 9:30 to 234.75p after it
announced profits were up 44.5 per cent and it would pay its first dividend since 2001.
British Energy rose 5.44 per cent to 717p after the firm revealed it had received a number of proposals to take over the company.
Bidders for the nuclear power generator are believed to have come in from RWE, EDF, Iberdrola and Centrica – as the UK government looks to promote nuclear.
Other strong gains in the FTSE 100 were recorded for Icap (up 3.7 per cent), private equity group 3i (up 3.63 per cent) and Thomas Cook (up 3.62 per cent) following its strong results out yesterday.
The largest falls were recorded for J Sainsbury – down 1.92 per cent – while Tate & Lyle, Thomson Reuters, Unilever and Rolls-Royce all fell below one per cent.