London afternoon: Stocks back on an even keel

Footsie is more or less back to square one after a lunchtime trading session which saw US oil giant Exxon announce better than expected fourth quarter figures. Travel companies are still friendless as investors fret about civil unrest in the popular holiday destination of Egypt. Airline IAG, the former British Airways, TUI Travel, Thomas Cook Group and Intercontinental Hotels have all run into turbulence.Budget airline Ryanair is one travel-related stock having a good day, however. The no-frills operator is not only still on track to match full-year profit forecasts despite a loss-making third quarter hit by strikes and bad weather that caused over 3,000 flights to be cancelled, it also thinks that profits will be towards the upper end of its guidance range. National Grid is restructuring its US business and its management structure and believes that it can save $200m (£125m) a year in its US operations. Tom King will become responsible for the US business from April. This is part of a change from having management for each line of business to a regional model. National Grid believes that it will be able to take advantage of its scale and also improve efficiency.Brewer and pubs owner Greene King is in demand after it saw healthy trading over the past eight weeks despite the poor weather with all of its divisions in-line or improving from the half-year.Oil group BG Group is higher after Chevreaux issued a broker note on the firm, with an "outperform" rating and a 1600p price target. BG has signed up engineering and project management group AMEC to provide services for all of its facilities in the central North Sea. The three year contract, worth £140m, is to provide engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and project management services. Following the completion of contract negotiations Rexam forecast that overall operating profit in the Beverage Can North America division in 2011 is expected to remain comparable to that in 2010, as improved pricing, new customers, continued growth in specialty cans and further cost control initiatives will offset the impact of lower net 12 ounce volumes.Carillion has won contracts worth around £350m this year and believes that the opportunities to work with both central and local government to deliver greater efficiencies through outsourcing services remain very strong.Despite battling rising polymer prices, plastic packaging firm RPC saw an improvement in underlying operating profit in the final three months of 2010.James Halstead is in bullish mood as overseas trade helps the commercial floorcoverings supplier report record "bottom-line" results for the first half despite increasing raw material costs. Turnover for the six months to 31 December is up 14% as the positive trend continued into the final month of 2010.SThree has fallen even though profits bounced 20% higher last year with all of the recruitment specialist's markets growing so far in 2011. Peel Hunt has downgraded the shares to "hold" after the recent good run.Shares in Infoserve have taken a dive after a profit warning from the online directory group after the close on Friday. The company said it was hit by the bad weather in November and December.The future is looking bleak for cancer drug developer Antisoma after it stopped work on its leukaemia treatment drug AS1413 after the drug failed to reach its endpoint in a trial.