Evening Standard (London): Bookies out of luck with roulette addiction figures

THE wheel of fortune looked to be turning against betting groups today amid growing prospects that highly profitable touch-screen roulette machines will face tighter Government regulations.

A report by gambling charity GamCare claims nearly a quarter of first-time callers are seeking help with addiction to fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), a figure thought likely to prompt the Government to toughen its stance.

Hilton, which owns the Ladbrokes chain, was 11/4p lower at 272p and Stanley Leisure was off 4p at 529p while William Hill put on 1p to 5291/2p.

The FTSE 100 was 21.6 points lower at 4897.3, taking a breather after last week's rally and barely stirring as the Bank of England's monetary policy committee left interest rates on hold as expected.

There was no sign of support from Wall Street, the Dow moving 21.9 points lower to 10,323.5.

Among the losers was Pearson, under pressure as the Wall Street Journal turned up the heat on the Financial Times. The WSJ plans to publish its Asian and European editions in a compact format. Pearson, which owns the FT, dipped 101/2p to 6431/2p.

Hays was 21/4p weaker at 1263/4p after Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the recruitment company to sell from neutral. Although the broker noted that share buyback activity is accelerating, it believes the risks are weighted to the downside because of the recent slowdown in world economic growth.

Bucking the negative trend was mining giant Rio Tinto, up 20p at 1676p. The company has upped an off-market buyback of its Australianlisted shares to around Pounds 408 million. Meanwhile, Merrill says Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are looking better value in the wake of a sell-off in the shares since mid-March.

The shares were flat at 668p.

Kingfisher, up 111/2p to 2641/4p, led the blue-chip gainers. Although the DIY group, which owns the BQ chain, has denied being in takeover talks with US-based Home Depot, investors continue to believe an offer is likely to emerge.

Kingspan, an Irish-based maker of specialist products for the construction industry, was up 29 cents to e9.29 after forking out Pounds 20 million cash for Advanced Thermal Composites, a maker of thermal blocks for cold-storage facilities.

Indian State-owned oil and gas specialist ONGC has become the first company to confirm an interest in buying Pounds 1 billion AIM- listed energy group First Calgary.

ONGC said it made two bids in the recent auction via its overseas arm, ONGC Videsh, one to acquire the whole group and another for buying an interest in its two Algerian exploration blocks. First Calgary shares rose 10p to 620p.

Paladin Resources was marked 11/4p higher to 1841/2p after the exploration company won Department of Trade and Industry approval to develop the North Sea's Wood oilfield. The company and its jointventure partner, Energy North Sea, plan to spend about Pounds 80 million developing the resource.

AIM-listed Griffin Mining rose 3/4p to 341/4p after " weathering the doom merchants and scaremongers" to post its first pre-tax profit - Pounds 211,000 for the 12 months to December against a loss of Pounds 10.6 million the year before.

Shareholders in Biocompatibles International, up 1p at 192p, are to receive Pounds 12 million via a return of capital worth 29p a share after the company settled litigation relating to its Isostent arm with Abbott Laboratories.