London open: Big guns lift Footsie

2nd Nov 2010 08:55

Results from the big guns reporting this morning have generally been favourable, helping Footsie to notch up decent gains so far.Beleaguered oil giant BP comfortably beat third quarter profit forecasts though it has had to take an additional $7.7bn charge in respect of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The market had been expecting underlying net income on a replacement cost basis to be around $4.5-$4.6bn, but after what it termed a "strong operating performance" BP boosted profits by 18% from a year earlier to $5.5bn.Cigarettes maker Imperial Tobacco topped market forecasts with its full year profits, and took a big bite out of its debt mountain. Adjusted profit before tax in the year to 30 September rose 10% to £2,467m from £2,233m the year before. The market had pencilled in a figure of £2.320m. Net debt was reduced over the period by £1.5bn to £9.3bn.BG Group grew third quarter earnings by 27% and now thinks there's an extra 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) at its oilfields in the Santo Basin offshore Brazil, 34% more than previous estimates. Best estimates of gross resources in the Tupi, Iracema, and Guará fields increase to 10.8bn boe from 8.1bn boe before.Better margins at its core banking business and bad debts under control kept state-controlled bank Lloyds on track over the past three months, despite 'subdued' loan demand. Impairments, or bad debts, have continued to decline and for the full year the level is expected to be in line with Lloyds' recent indications. Wholesale impairments will be lower than expected offset by higher Wealth and International charges, originating in Ireland and Australia primarily.Insurer Aviva is on track to deliver strong profitable growth for 2010 after a decent third quarter following "good sales growth" from both life and general insurance businesses. Worldwide total sales were up 5% during the first nine months of 2010 at £35.9bn, long-term savings sales rose 6% to £28.6bn, and total life and pension sales also grew by 6% to £25.6bn. Dettol and Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser lifted third quarter profits by a fifth and has raised it full year targets thanks to strong strong sales growth in developing markets and a full contribution from its prescription pharmaceuticals businesses. Bus and train group Stagecoach reported an increase in ticket sales at its train and bus operations in the first half and remains on track to meet profit expectations for the year. Like for like revenue at its UK rail business increased 6.5% in the 24 weeks to 17 October. Usage of Rightmove's property web site has been at or close to record levels in the period since the beginning of July, with August proving to be the site's second busiest month ever. The number of advertisers on the Rightmove website at the end of September stood at 18,100, up 2.5% since the start of the year. Changes to pricing are progressing according to plan, the company said.