London midday: Stocks off the bottom

Leading shares entered the lunch time trading session with a bit of momentum, with the FTSE index coming off its lowest levels of the day in the last half hour of the morning. Investors are turning to utilities after EDF sold its UK electricity grid operation to a consortium headed by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing for £5.8bn. Severn Trent, National Grid and United Utilities are all ahead. Embattled airline British Airways also provides an element of cheer as it said it still expects to break-even for the year even though ash clouds from Iceland and strike action caused losses to grow at during a tough first quarter. Losses before tax jumped to £164m in the three months ended 30 June from £148m a year ago as revenue fell by £46m, or 2.3%, to £1.94bn. Passenger revenue dropped 3.4% on capacity down 11.2%. BA blamed "additional finance costs and the impact of non cash foreign exchange movements" for its higher pre-tax loss. Anglo American's interim results came in slightly below analyst forecasts but the mining giant said it remains confident about its prospects. The group also announced that it reinstated its dividend payments with an interim dividend of 25c per share. Revenue came to $15.02bn in the six months ended 30 June compared with $11.13bn last time, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $5.41bn from 2.99bn previously. Sticking with the miners, Indian mining giant Vedanta more than doubled EBITDA in the first quarter, though mined metal production dropped slightly on last year. Broadband group TalkTalk has signed a deal with Vodafone to launch a mobile service under its own brand. The group also updated the market on quarterly figures. It added 34,000 net new broadband customers in the quarter, taking the total base to 4.231 million. Bid target Dana Petroleum's Fin-1X exploration well has discovered a new oil field, in the North Zeit Bay area in the Gulf of Suez, in Egypt . The latest find follows the discovery of the Lorcan oil field last month in the same area, Dana said. Rentokil is to merge its pest control and washrooms businesses to cope with 'increasing price pressures', especially in Europe. Profits in the half year to June rose from £8.2m to £30.9m, with underlying profits up 37% to £77m. Revenues fell though, by 2.3% to £1.23bn. The first six months of 2010 were "encouraging" for insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson as profit easily beat expectations. Paper and packaging group Mondi confirmed underlying operating profit for the first half of 2010 will be considerably higher than last year. Media conglomerate UBM is on track to meet expectations for the full year despite a decline in profit before tax at the half-way stage. Pre-tax profit for the six months ended 30 June fell to £58.1m from £59.5m, but was down 8% at £61.9m before exceptional items. Revenue was little changed at £434.3m. Adjusted operating profit rose 6% to £83.2m. Funeral home operator Dignity reported higher first-half revenue and profit and said it is on track to meet full-year expectations. Home maintenance specialist Homeserve reports good progress during the first four months of the year, with guidance unchanged. Gourmet Burger Kitchen restaurant chain owner Clapham House has confirmed that it has received a bid approach. The shares have shot up by more than a third over the last week. FTSE 100 - Risers United Utilities Group (UU.) 592.50p +5.71% Severn Trent (SVT) 1,324.00p +3.44% British Airways (BAY) 220.60p +2.13% National Grid (NG.) 520.50p +1.96% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 69.76p +1.23% Diageo (DGE) 1,116.00p +1.09% Carnival (CCL) 2,325.00p +0.82% British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 716.50p +0.77% British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,212.00p +0.68% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 554.00p +0.54% FTSE 100 - Fallers Investec (INVP) 496.20p -2.13% TUI Travel (TT.) 210.50p -2.00% Pearson (PSON) 992.00p -1.98% BP (BP.) 405.45p -1.93% Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,250.00p -1.81% Shire Plc (SHP) 1,464.00p -1.74% Essar Energy (ESSR) 421.50p -1.73% Man Group (EMG) 219.90p -1.57% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,132.00p -1.54% Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,233.00p -1.52%