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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest retirement homes builder McCarthy & Stone has backed a 1.1 billion pound bid from a consortium led by Bank of Scotland, withdrawing its support from a previously agreed deal. Earlier on Tuesday, Mother Bidco, the Bank of Scotland consortium which also includes property magnates David and Simon Reuben and retail entrepreneur Tom Hunter, announced an offer of 1,075 pence a share in cash for McCarthy & Stone. McCarthy & Stone (MCTY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) ...

European stock markets traded mixed on Tuesday, as investors contrasted disappointing Deutsche Bank results with an improved outlook from KPN, the Dutch telecom. The U.K. FTSE 100 indexgained 0.2% at 5,941 and the French CAC-40 indexincreased 0.1% at 5,016. The German DAX Xetra 30 indexdipped 0.1% at 5,676, however. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 indexrose 0.1% at 326.40, led by gai ...

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) on Tuesday said its second-quarter loss widened, amid weakness in its film and photofinishing systems group and consumer digital imaging. For the three months ended June 30, Kodak lost $282 million, or 98 cents a share, compared to a loss of $155 million, or 54 cents a year earlier. Net sales fell to $3.36 billion from $3.69 billion. At the end  ...

Home builders gained ground in London on Tuesday, as a mixture of M&A speculation, earnings news and economic data all combined to give the sector a boost. Retirement home builder McCarthy & Stoneshowed some of the strongest gains, up 1.6% after a consortium including Bank of Scotland, a unit of HBOS, unveiled a 1.1 billion-pound ($2.05 billion) cash offer for the company. This bid topp ...

By Friedel Rother LONDON (Reuters) - Stocks traded higher on Tuesday, lifted by miners and construction stocks after upbeat results from Travis Perkins (TPK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , but the mood was subdued ahead of key U.S. data. Investors are closely watching economic figures for any clues on the direction of interest rates. The Federal Reserve is seen keeping rates on hold in August after recent indicators on the health of the world's biggest economy came in softer than expected. Wol ...

By David Cullen LONDON (Reuters) - Housebuilder George Wimpey beat forecasts with a 25 percent leap in first-half profits on Tuesday after sales and margins rose sharply in a "solid and stable" UK housing market. Group sales rose 19 percent to 1.4 billion pounds. The company's shares (WMPY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) rose almost 4 percent in early trade to 499 pence and by 9:47 a.m. were up 1.2 percent at 485-3/4 pence, valuing the group at around 1.93 billion pounds. But Wimpey, which ear ...

By Philipp Gollner SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's largest technology services company, on Tuesday is announcing new server computers giving businesses access to computing power typically used by universities and large corporations. The five systems, set to be unveiled at a New York briefing on Tuesday, use microprocessors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which has been making inroads against industry  ...

By Simon Challis LONDON (Reuters) - Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) reported flat first-half underlying pretax earnings on Tuesday and reiterated its downbeat 2006 forecast, sending its stock more than 2 percent lower. In the half, higher investment income offset lower trading profit. Pretax profit before exceptional items and impairment charges w ...

By Clara Ferreira-Marques LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Life (SL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a 17 percent rise in first-half sales on Tuesday as key UK pension products lifted new business at home, and the life insurer said it was "very optimistic" for the rest of 2006. In its first earnings update since its July stock market debut, Britain's fifth-largest life insurer said worldwide sales rose to 745 million pounds. UK life and pensions sales climbed 25 percent to 594 million pounds,  ...

By Pete Harrison LONDON (Reuters) - The World Cup helped William Hill (WMH.L: Quote, Profile, Research) beat first-half profit forecasts on Tuesday as it announced a deal to enter Spain as part of its plans to expand overseas. Britain's biggest bookmaker said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Spanish gaming group Codere to develop a sports betting business in Spain if deregulation goes ahead as expected. "Catalunya, the Basque region and Madrid all have draft legislation i ...