ICAP Share Price Takes a Drubbing

The parlous state of the economies in Greece, Portugal and Spain, amongst other European countries and disappointing employment data from the US sent investors running for cover on Friday afternoon. The FTSE 100 index closed down 78.39 points or 1.5% at 5.060.92, in so doing posting a loss of 2.5% for the week and 6% for the year so far.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Monday, February 08, 2010

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ICAP, which performs transactions for financial institutions and is, in fact, the largest such "interdealer" broker in the world, was the worst performer in the top tier down 71p or 19.47% at 294p. The share price slumped after ICAP announced that its full-year profit would miss market expectations of £320 million and come in somewhere between £295 million and £315 million. ICAP was the subject of controversy recently, of course, when Chief Executive Michael Spencer – also treasurer of the Conservative Party – sold £14.6 million worth of ICAP shares, a move that may or may not be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Rival interdealer broker Tullett Prebon also suffered closing down 29.1p or 10% at 262p.

Elsewhere, BG Group, formerly British Gas, reported a fall of 38% in fourth quarter profits down to £465 million. The results were broadly in line with market expectations, but did not stop BG's share price from closing down 37p or 3.22% at 1,112p. Gas producers generally have suffered as a result of falling demand and falling prices caused by the recession in recent months; in fact, the average price of gas fell by nearly 40% in the fourth quarter compared with the same period last year according to BG.

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