COMPANIES

Troubled energy giant BP has announced that it made a loss of over $17 billion in the second quarter of the year, thanks to the disastrous impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which started in April and has confirmed that CEO Tony Hayward will be stepping down in October.

Tony Hayward, CEO of BP is to step down from his position in October, the BBC reports, following his handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which has been the largest ecological disaster in U.S. history and has wiped out nearly half the value of BP shares since the crisis began in April.

Shares in William Hill were down slightly on the FTSE 250 after the gambling group said its Online division would be setting up a new telephone betting operation in Gibraltar, while closing its British based telephone betting subsidiary, William Hill Credit Limited (WHCL), in order to avoid high taxes.

Shares in publishing company Pearson were up on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading after the group posted an 83 per cent rise in profit for the first half of the year.

BP have announced today that work continues on the relief well at the site of the oil leak, after a fierce Tropical Storm called Bonnie intervened over the weekend.

ARM Holdings, the chipmaker, has risen 2.04 pct on the FTSE 100 following its licensing arrangements with No 1 software maker Microsoft Corp.

BT SmartWater is an initiative to combat thievery of its lines by BT Openreach after rising prices, meant that BT's copper became more valuable.

Once every two years, Farnborough, a town of 58,000 in the north-east corner of Hampshire, finds itself for a few summer days at the centre of world aviation attention when it hosts the Farnborough International Airshow and companies and their representatives gather to buy, sell and promote their wares and services.

Shares in Reckitt Benckiser were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading despite posting a rise in net income of 23 per cent in the second quarter of the year to £380 million.

Tony Hayward, CEO of troubled oil giant BP is likely announce his resignation within the next 24 hours, it is being reported.

Channel Five has been bought by Northern & Shell, the company owned and run by Richard Desmond, also known as "Dirty Desmond" for making much of his fortune from pornographic publications.

The government has cancelled a lead firm on the e-borders contract over delays, Immigration Minister Damien Green said.

Shares in Fuller, Smith & Turner were up in afternoon trading after the pub-owner reported a rise in sales in the quarter ended 17 July.

Shares in BP were down on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading as BPs attempts to deal with a catastrophic oil leak look like being hampered by a tropical storm gathering in the Bahamas.

Shares in Vodafone were up in morning trading on the FTSE 100 after the group said it had returned to organic revenue growth in the quarter ended 30 June.

Shares in BP were up in afternoon trading on the FTSE 100 despite coming under fire for posting doctored pictures relating to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on its website.

Santander is apparently gearing up to launch an IPO for its Abbey National and Alliance & Leicester UK (including Bradford & Bingley deposits) onto the stock market to raise money for its expansion here.

Sports Direct, the UK's number one sports retailer, has boasted of 49 pct increase in profits after a strong year's earnings boosted profits before tax.

Shares in Kingfisher, owner of B&Q, were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the company said it was cautious about the near future, after delivering a statement for the second quarter ended 10 July.

Boeing's competitor to the huge double-decker A380 is 'probably' going to be delivered late, after schedule was delayed, according to Boeing's Vice President of programs, Pat Shanahan.

Shares in Kingfisher were up on the FTSE 100 and are a recommended buy ahead of tomorrow's statement on Q2 trading from the company.

Shares in Land Securities were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the company said it would be beginning work on its Trinity Leeds development in Leeds city centre.

Shares in chemical company Johnson Matthey were up in morning trading on the FTSE 100 after the group reported a rise in sales excluding precious metals, of 32 per cent in the first quarter ended 30 June.

Cabin crew have voted by two-third majority to reject the latest offer from airline British Airways, whose shares fell 2.6 pence on the news.

Shares in BP were up in afternoon trading on the FTSE 100 after losing over one per cent of their value in morning trading.

Cable & Wireless Worldwide, the telecoms provider that was spun off from Cable & Wireless Communications, has issued a warning that full-year earnings would be negatively impacted by austerity cuts sendings its shares sliding 16 pct.

Shares in pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline were down in afternoon trading on the FTSE 100 and are a recommended hold ahead of tomorrow's Q2 results announcement.

Shares in IG Group Holdings were down on the FTSE 250 in afternoon trading despite posting a rise in adjusted pre-tax profit of 25 per cent to £157.6 million in the full year ended 31 May.

Shares in water company Severn Trent were up on the FTSE 100 after the group said that trading for the quarter ended 19 July had been in line with expectations throughout the period.