Footsie limped to a slightly higher finish on a sluggish day dominated by uncertainty over the Irish debt situation.

Ireland appeared close to accepting a European bailout Wednesday ahead of a visit from European Union and International Monetary Fund experts the following day. The discussions should determine whether Ireland needs to draw from a $750bn (£636bn) EU/IMF rescue fund as it seeks to fix its banking system.

There were some interesting moves in stocks. Credit checking firm Experian was the star performer after it saw improving trends across all regions in the first half of its financial year. Revenue from continuing activities in the six months to 30 September was up 8% at constant exchange rates, while organic revenue growth was 7%. Total group revenue improved to $2bn from $1.9bn the year before. Profit before tax fell to $283m from $316m.

Derivatives broker ICAP was another in demand after first half underlying revenue rose 2%. Total turnover in the half year to September rose by 9% to £867m, but profits tumbled from £150m to £116m after one-off charges. Underlying profits rose by 2% to £183m with operating profits up 9% at £197m

Utility group Centrica said it had a strong third quarter, with operating profit forecasts for 2010 "slightly" ahead of current market expectations, though earnings per share will likely match estimates. British Gas, which last week announced a 7% hike in bills for both electricity and gas, is still doing well. The number of residential energy accounts on supply is up 270,000 since the start of the year, while services accounts have jumped 181,000.

BHP Billiton is to increase its spending on its iron ore mine operation at Pilbara, Western Australia by $635m. The investment comes a month after BHP and Rio Tinto abandoned plans to merge their Pilbara operations in the face of regulatory, customer and shareholder objections.

Rolls-Royce provided a welcome distraction from its aeroplane engine woes today, announcing the first order for its new 'wave-piercing' boat to the Norwegian shipping group Farstad. Even better, it later announced that is has won a share of an order from TAM Airlines of Brazil for V2500 engines to power ten Airbus aircraft, worth more than $100m to Rolls-Royce.

Business publisher Informa saw continuing growth and recovery in its three main divisions in the first 10 months of 2010. The company said it is trading in line with management expectations and is seeing encouraging renewals and forward bookings for next year.

Chip designer Imagination Technologies is building up its war chest to fund an acquisition spree, starting with HelloSoft, a US voice over internet protocol (VOIP) operator. Imagination is paying a maximum of $47m for Hellosoft, a company that has technology patents that are complementary to Imagination's. The final consideration is dependent on the performance of Hellosoft over the next three years.

The coalition government's strategic defence review is broadly neutral for military decoy flares and mine detection firm Chemring, which today uncovered a 42% increase in revenue for the fourth quarter. In 2011, the UK will only represent 15% of group revenue, it said.

Premier Foods, the Hovis bread, Bisto gravy and Branston pickle group, has received approaches for its East Anglian canning operations, which could lead to a sale of the unit. The company said back in August that it was "open minded" about disposals as long as they deliver shareholder value and speed up the reduction of average net debt/EBITDA.

That was not the only M&A-related action in the food sector for investors to digest. Irish ready made meals supplier Greencore and Goodfellas pizza and Fox's biscuits group Northern Foods have agreed a 50:50 merger that will save £40m a year. The new company will trade as Essenta Foods when the deal completes, expected during the second quarter of 2011. Over 30% of Greencore and almost 12% of Northern's shareholders have already backed the move.

Mother and baby retailer Mothercare produced a 22% surge in half yearly profit and increased its dividend as global sales continued to flourish compared to a weaker UK performance. For the 28 weeks ended 9 October 2010 underlying pre-tax profit increased to £12.2m. Group sales were up 2.5% at £397.1m.

Fashion chain Ted Baker's sales soared by over a fifth in the past three months as wholesale sales powered forward and UK business held up well.

Housebuilder Barratt Developments has had a weaker than expected autumn selling season, though new site openings will drive a "limited" increase in volume growth for the full year.

SIG, a supplier of insulation and construction products, said it is confident of reaching full year profit expectations and posted a modest rise in second half sales.

Engineer Morgan Crucible's profits this year are expected to be in "in the top half of analyst forecasts" after strong sales since the half year.

Plant hire specialist Speedy Hire has grown UK revenue, volume and average hire rates for the third quarter in a row following a further increase in the three months to 30 September, and October was up 5% on the year before.

Entertainment content owner and distributor Entertainment One saw underlying earnings increase by a third in the first half and said the second half has started off well.

Texas-focused oil explorer Pantheon Resources' loss for the year to September fell to £2.54m, from £3.05m last year, which included impairment charges of £1.4m for the abandonment of the Vision Rice University number 1 well.

Ethanol producer GTL Resources is doing well after more than doubling interim pre-tax profit to $6.2m from $2.5m last year on revenue up 2% to $109.2m.

Record company and music publisher Chrysalis piped up to remind us that it will also be a beneficiary of the deal to put Beatles songs on iTunes, as the Fab Four's legendary producer George Martin is one of its clients.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Experian (EXPN) 748.00p +6.33%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,243.00p +2.43%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 360.60p +2.36%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 41.73p +2.13%
Wolseley (WOS) 1,742.00p +2.05%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,102.00p +1.94%
SABMiller (SAB) 2,052.00p +1.86%
Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 599.50p +1.78%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,689.00p +1.75%
Invensys (ISYS) 336.10p +1.73%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 384.20p -2.98%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 539.50p -2.09%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 166.95p -2.05%
3i Group (III) 309.00p -1.87%
Capita Group (CPI) 722.00p -1.77%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 367.70p -1.61%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 905.00p -1.58%
Next (NXT) 2,078.00p -1.42%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 366.00p -1.27%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,346.00p -1.10%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,505.00p +6.60%
Fenner (FENR) 287.30p +4.97%
Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 180.00p +4.96%
Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 232.00p +4.36%
Yell Group (YELL) 10.76p +4.06%
Premier Foods (PFD) 18.09p +3.91%
RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 1,173.00p +3.71%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 373.60p +3.49%
Cranswick (CWK) 872.00p +3.13%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 136.00p +2.87%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 303.50p -6.62%
Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 240.00p -6.07%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 58.10p -4.91%
SIG (SHI) 112.90p -4.32%
John Wood Group (WG.) 466.50p -4.19%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 375.80p -3.47%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 318.20p -3.37%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 270.60p -3.36%
Unite Group (UTG) 194.00p -3.00%
Lamprell (LAM) 342.00p -2.92%

Related share prices
BHP Billiton (BLT) share price
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) share price
Barratt Developments (BDEV) share price
Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) share price
Northern Foods (NFDS) share price
Mothercare (MTC) share price
Speedy Hire (SDY) share price
Chemring Group (CHG) share price
Chrysalis (CHS) share price
ICAP (IAP) share price
Greencore Group (GNC) share price
GTL Resources (GTL) share price
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) share price
Informa (INF) share price
Pantheon Resources (PANR) share price
Experian (EXPN) share price
Entertainment One Ltd. (DI) (ETO) share price
Ted Baker (TED) share price