Southern Cross shares up 3%

May 17 2008 by Chris Knox, The Journal

THE FTSE 100 index ended the session 52.5 points higher at 6304.3, while shares in British Energy, London Stock Exchange and British Airways dominated the main index’s leaderboard.

Southern Cross Healthcare announced that it has opened three new residential sites in Newcastle, Aberdeen and Northern Ireland.

The site in Newcastle will operate under the Active Care Partnership brand.

The Aberdeen site is expected to be operated under the Ashbourne Senior Living brand.

The private health arm of Southern Cross is called Ashbourne and it was developed from a leading hotel chain. Shares in Southern Cross closed nearly 3% higher at 400p.

Dermasalve Sciences explained that the recent rise in the share price may be due to the issue of 3.26m shares to Trafalgar Capital.

The company believes that subsequent sale of these shares may have provided more liquidity within the market.

Shares in Dermasalve closed 3% higher at 4.25p.

Elsewhere, GlaxoSmithKline reported positive results from the combination trial of Tykerb and Trastuzumab for breast cancer.

The combination of both drugs increased the average survival period by 3.9 weeks compared to the use of Tykerb alone.

In addition, the overall clinical benefit rate increased from 12.4% to 24.7%.

The region’s largest riser was Opsec Securities, which closed 4% higher and the largest faller was Tanfield, 5.49% lower.

Ken Oiwa Ken.oiwa@brewin.co.uk