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UK stock market morning note (February 22, 2013)

The FTSE 100 is called to open higher this morning after the decline in the previous session but concerns over the state of the US and euro zone economies with the Italian general election taking place on 24-25 February are also likely to impact sentiment. There is no major UK or US economic figures due for release today as we end a volatile week in the markets on a quieter note for both data and corporate news. Commodity prices are firmer and on the foreign exchanges, the key currencies are trading within narrow ranges. Read more >>>

Company Announcements

Bumi General Meeting Statement. Shareholders yesterday rejected 19 out of the 22 proposals put forward by Nat Rothschild. The board will now speed up the separation of Bumi Resources from the London listed Bumi plc, as well as undertake a board restructuring which will become significantly smaller. In addition, the board will continue to focus on operational improvements. 

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Final Results saw RevPAR up 3.9% mainly on account of higher average room rate but lower reported total revenue and headline operating profit of GBP768.3m (-6.4%) and GBP163.3m (-14.7%) respectively. The total dividend is raised 8.7% to 13.59p a share. It added that its focus for 2013 is to improve return on investment, and considers its owner/operator model, strong Balance Sheet and global spread of assets to be able to withstand the pressures of uncertain global economic conditions. It will continue to monitor acquisition opportunities in spite of prices remaining 'unjustifiably high'. It noted that lfl group RevPAR was down 1.1% in the first six weeks of the year, and whilst reflecting competitive trading conditions in some of its key markets, it added that the period was not indicative for the year as a whole.