London open: Blue chips flat

15th Jan 2010 08:44

London is going nowhere this morning despite more gains in the US overnight and better than expected fourth quarter results from chip giant Intel, announced after hours.On home soil, Man Group suffered a 4% drop in funds under management during the third quarter, mainly due to the $1.2bn pulled out of its flagship AHL fund. Funds under Management (FUM) at 31 December slipped to $42.4bn from $44bn at the end of September, traditionally a quiet period for sales.Latin America was once again a bright spot for credit checking firm Experian, which saw underlying organic revenue growth of 1% in the last three months of 2009, but the group remains cautious on the outlook for the UK. FT publisher Pearson has confirmed it is looking at possible options for its Interactive Data subsidiary, including the sale of its 61% stake. Its interest in the New York-listed provider of financial market data, analytics and related solutions, currently valued at $2.4bn, is worth about $1.5bn.Daily Mail is higher after an UBS upgrade to buy.Defence technology group QinetiQ has warned that the seasonally stronger second half will not happen this year due to a delay in orders from government's in both Britain and the US.Restaurant chain Prezzo expects full year results to 27 December 2009 to come in ahead of market expectations, following stronger trading in the second-half of the year. Christmas brought a little bit of cheer for Magners cider group C&C, with December sales recovering after a weak November and profits to end-February still expected to come in at the top end of guidance.