Morning Eyecatchers: July house prices fall monthly 1.7%

 * UK July house prices fall monthly 1.7%, the ninth straight fall, according to Nationwide

 * Mitchells& Butlers confirm £78 million asset swap with Whitbread; Whitbread to swap 44 pubs for 21 Express Hotels with M&B; sees deal earnings enhancing from 2010/11

 * HBOS first-half pre-tax profit £848 million vs £2.997 billion; underlying pre-tax profit £2.546 billion, down 14%; negative fair value adjustments in Treasury £1,095 billion; sees stronger second half; net interest margin outlook more positive; underlying pre-tax including negative fair value £1.451 billion, down 51%; Tier 1 c apital ratio 8.6%; core Tier 1 capital ratio 6.5%; impaired loans as percentage of closing advances 2.35%

 * Royal Dutch Shell second-quarter ocs earnings $7.9 billion vs $7.6 billion; dividend 0.40 cents, up 11%; Roace 25.8%; gearing 14.5% at end second-quarter; production, plus oil sands, 3.126 million boepd vs 3.178 million; earnings include net gain $73 million vs gain $660 million a year ago; exploration and production ccs earnings $5.9 billion vs $3.1 billion; oil products ccs earnings $1.1 billion vs $2.9 billion; raises 2008 asset sales proceeds target to $5 billion from $4 billion; sees acquisitions of $10 billion in 2008

 * Anglo American posts record first-half underlying profit $3.5 billion, up 14%; interim dividend riased 16% to 44 cents; sees strong second half from operational peformance; pre-tax $6.468 billion vs $4.974 billion

 * Prudential first-half operating eev profit up 7% at £1.4 billion; group eev new business profit £602 million, up 11%

 * BT Group first-quarter adjusted pre-tax £613 million vs £658 million; revenue £5.18 billion vs £5.03 billion; operating profit before specific items and leaver costs £742 million; ebitda before specific items and leaver costs £1.43 billion; guidance remains unchanged

 * Carphone Warehouse first-quarter distribution revenue up 4% to £735 million; retail revenue up 10% to £498 million; retail revenue down 1.4% like-for-like; retail gross profit up 1.7% like-for-like; total mobile connections up 12% to 2.6 million; first-quarter mobile connections up 9%; fixed-line revenue down 1% to £343 million; sees broadband net adds in year to March of 200,000-250,000; sees year to March ebit margin at top of 12-12.5% range; residential revenue flat at £268 million; distribution revenues up 4% to £735 million; retail revenues up 10% to £498 million; broadband customers 2.8 million, 41,000 adds; like-for-like retail revenues down 1.4%; UK fixed line revenues down 1% to £343 million; now expects 200,000 to 250,000 broadband net adds; secod quarter starts well but cautious about consumer environment; now expects flat broadband revenue growth this year; UK business chief Andrew Harrison to step down; Telecoms business chief David Goldie stepping down

 * BSkyB full-year pre-tax profit £60 million vs £724 million; operating profit £724 million vs 815 million; churn cut to 9.8%; ARPU up to £427; retail subs revenue up 11%; has good headroom for growth

 * BAT first-half sales £5.457 billion vs £4.725 billion, up 15%; profit from operations £1,724 billion vs £1,492 billion, up 16%; adjusted eps 62.02p vs 53.51p, up 16%; dividend 22.1p vs 18.6p,up 19%

 * Unilever second-quarter pre-tax profit €1.353 billion, up 4% at constant rate; turnover €10.37 billion, up 6%; underlying sales growth 7%; eps up 6%, or 12% a constant exchange rates; confirms outlook to deliver growth ahead of 3-5% target range; operating margin 13.7%, down 0.9% points on last year

 * Smiths Group sees full-year pre-tax profit in line with management view; wins €10 million gas seal deal with Siemens for John Crane division