STOCKS NEWS UK-Liberty Intl rises as UBS ups to 'neutral'
STOCKS NEWS Reuters Results diary
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UK [STXNEWS/UK] Stocks on the move [HOT-RTRS]
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09:11GMT 10Jul2009-Liberty Intl rises as UBS ups to 'neutral'
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Shares in Liberty International (LII.L) gain 1.6 percent in a weaker broader market, supported by an upgrade to "neutral" from "sell" by UBS on a valution perspective, with its target price left unchanged at 380 pence.
UBS points out that Liberty's share price has pulled back 11 percent since its peak on June 11, compared with a 7 percent fall by the FTSE 350 index and a 10 percent decline by the UK real estate sector.
The broker says in the sector, at current prices, it favours British Land (BLND.L) and Corio (COR.AS) as its preferred European exposure and remains cautious on Great Portland Esates (GPOR.L) and the Spanish real estate companies.
British Land shares add 0.8 percent, Great Portland is up 1 percent and Corio gains 0.5 percent.
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08:24GMT-Pearson gains; Credit Suisse upgrades
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Shares in Pearson (PSON.L) take on 1.8 percent after Credit Suisse raises its rating for the publishing group to "outperform" from "neutral", mainly on valuation grounds.
The broker notes that Pearson shares have fallen 18 percent over the last quarter, underperforming the market by 24 percent with media valuations having converged as the market has tarred all media with the same brush.
Credit Suisse believes it is time to differentiate and says Pearson becomes one of its 'fallen angels' that have derated with the sector to well below historical trading ranges.
The broker says professional publishers, such as Pearson, with low expectations but minimal structural impact should perform well through the first-half reporting season.
Credit Suisse raises its target price for Pearson to 680 pence from 630.
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07:46GMT 10Jul2009-Bodycote shares sink on profit warning
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Bodycote (BOY.L) shares drop 15.4 percent after the British engineer says it will miss analysts' 2009 consensus earnings forecast if demand remains at current depressed levels.
"Today's trading update for H1 2009 is substantially worse that we would have expected and we anticipate that our earnings estimates for this year, and probably next year too, will be reduced by at least 25 million pounds in profits and 10 pence in EPS," says Arbuthnot analyst Michael Blogg.
"In the medium term, we expect the current extreme shakeout in manufacturing industry to generate a trend towards the use of outsourced services, such as those provided by Bodycote," he adds, though in the short term he is removing his "buy" recommendation on the stock.
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07:38GMT 10Jul2009-UK small caps gain 0.3 pct early on
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The FTSE small cap index .FTSC adds 0.3 percent in early trade outperforming the FTSE 100 .FTSE index, which loses 0.6 percent, and the FTSE 250 .FTMC index, down 0.1 percent.
Housebuilder and construction firm Galliford Try (GFRD.L) gains 5.2 percent, extending Thursday's advance following a reassuring trading update in which it said it saw encouraging signs for a second half recovery.
Property group St Modwen (SMP.L) falls 3.8 percent on news that the Clarke and Leavesley families, whch currently own 30.5 percent of the group, are to reduce their holdings down to around 26.5 percent via a book-built offering of up to 7.98 million shares.
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