CPW.L Share News (CPW)

The Footsie's eight day winning streak looks set to become nine days as the blue chip index hit 4,500 again amid more gains for US stocks.On the positive side, miners Fresnillo, Kazakhmys, Vedanta Resources, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, ENRC, Xstrata and Lonmin are all among the top ten risers on hopes for renewed economic growth.Kingfisher reported a 0.7% rise in like for like sales at B&Q in the UK, thanks to a growing trend for home and garden DIY. Total group sales rose 1% in constant currencies in the 10 weeks to 11 July, but fell 2% on a like-for-like basis. On the downside, the water regulator's draft proposals would see the average annual water bill fall by £14 to £330 before inflation between 2010 and 2015. Severn Trent is leading the fallers, while United Utilities, Pennon Group and Northumbrian are also down.Catering giant Compass the day's major faller though, after it said operating profit, margins and free cash flow continued to grow in the third quarter but revenue growth slowed. The group, which provides catering for schools and offices, said in the first nine months of the year, revenue growth on a constant currency basis was 1.8%, and organic revenue growth was 0.8%.Power supplier Scottish & Southern Energy said it is on course to achieve moderate profit growth for the year despite distributing less electricity in the three months to June 30. Outsourcing group Capita saw its bid pipeline ease back a little but said demand for outsourcing remains buoyant, after announcing a 18% increase in interim underlying pre-tax profit. Profit before tax, excluding various charges, rose to £141.7m in the first half of 2009 from £120.2m in the first half of 2008.Newspaper group Daily Mail and General Trust's revenue declined sharply in the third quarter but said its business to business operations turned in a resilient performance. Revenue in the third quarter was down 13% on a year earlier to £520m, but was only down 3% in the business to business division. Trading in the consumer media division remains weak, however.Shares in Tate & Lyle bounded ahead as the sugar and sweetener group reported first quarter underlying profits were ahead of expectations. "Profit before tax and exceptional items from continuing operations in the first quarter, after the benefit of favourable exchange translation, was in line with the comparative period and ahead of our expectations," Tate said. Colt Telecom fell back after reporting a worse than expected 3.6% drop in second quarter revenue, although it's still confident of making progress in 2009. Bus and rail group National Express confirmed that it has received a second approach after rival FirstGroup walked away from a possible deal last night. "The group received an approach in connection with a possible offer for the group from another third party whose intentions are not yet known," the statement reads. The Times is reporting that Stagecoach was named by transport industry sources as the interested party.Yellow Pages owner Yell has given its shareholders something to shout about after it said revenue and earnings in the second quarter of 2009 were slightly ahead of guidance.Online gaming titan PartyGaming has beefed up its bingo offering with the acquisition of Cashcade, owner of some of the UK's leading bingo web sites. It is paying a price that is a multiple of 5.9 times 2008 earnings.Carphone Warehouse said its electrical retail and broadband businesses performed well in the first quarter, with plans to demerge the two operations still on track.Merchant bank Close Brothers has seen a strong performance from its Winterflood market making division while other parts of the business have performed broadly as expected.BSS Group, distributor to the plumbing and construction markets, said it is growing market share albeit in declining markets. Revenue in the first 16 weeks of the company's new financial year fell 5.6% to £369.5m, compared with a year earlier.Specialist printer De La Rue said first quarter trading has been in line with company expectations.Elsewhere, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued a supplementary statement of objections in relation to its investigation into dairy prices. The supplementary statement provides additional support to the OFT's provisional finding that a number of parties colluded to increase the retail prices of various dairy products in 2002 and 2003, in breach of the Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998. Supermarket chains Tesco and Wm. Morrison are disputing the OFT's findings, whereas other parties named in the investigation have admitted their participation in some anti-competitive practices.