Last week in London

The London market ended the week lower last week, ending a strong first quarter, says Quentin Smith at Old Mutual Asset Managers in the UK.

The London market was jittery ahead of the midweek FOMC meeting, which saw the 15th rate rise in as many meetings in the current US tightening cycle.

Over the week the All-Share Index lost 1.1%, with the FTSE 100 1.8% lower, midcaps down 0.8% and smaller companies flat. Basic materials led the sector gainers on underlying price strength, while telecoms was the weakest area on a European Union proposal to cut roaming charges for wireless users.

Magazine publisher Emap (-5.6% to 881p) said that it expects an 8% rise in annual revenue, helped by its UK consumer magazines and radio divisions. Advertising revenue in consumer magazines is expected to show a 5%.

The company reported that trading had been good in the second half of the financial year despite tough conditions, but that underlying growth had been constrained by the performance of the French consumer magazines business and the ongoing weakness in public sector recruitment advertising.

Pharmacy chain Boots Group (-0.6% to 719p) reported a rise in same store revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter, the first increase in five quarters. Sales increased 2.2%, reducing the decline for the year to 0.2%. Boots is cutting prices to fend off rivals, spending more to modernise stores and extending opening hours, with price cuts on 1,000 products averaging 8%.

Man Group (+4.0% to 2465p), the world's largest publicly traded hedge fund company, said full year pretax profit exceeded analysts' estimates as increased client investments helped boost assets under management. The increase in investments has been helped by the performance of its main funds, which have enjoyed a strong year.