London open: Blue chips head lower

15th Dec 2010 08:58

Late weakness on Wall Street has caused an an early slip in London despite a bid for Capital Shopping and more drilling success for BG.Simon Property has written to Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) outlining an indicative proposal worth 425p a share in cash, or almost £3bn. US mall owner Simon, which first approached the UK company late last month, said it wants to work with CSC to announce a recommended offer. The two companies are at loggerheads over CSC's plans to buy the Trafford Centre in Manchester.Oil company BG Group has discovered gas in the deepwater Qiongdongnan basin in the South China Sea at its first attempt. The Lingshui 22-1-1 exploration well on Block 64/11, about 130 kilometres offshore, encountered gas-bearing sands, BG confirmed Wednesday.RBS has slipped on reports that more of the FSA inquiry into the bank's near collapse may be made public, though banks generally are weak on the threat of a credit rating downgrade for Belgium after the failure to form a government.Hammerson and its partner, the Oman Investment Fund, have sold their interest in the Bishops Square office building, London E1, to two funds run by JP Morgan. Hammerson will net £79m, representing a surplus of £34m over the June book value.Early signs for Christmas trade are "very encouraging" at SuperGroup, but that hasn't stopped its share price taking a bashing. Sales rose by 65% in the first half, driving a 69% surge in underlying profit at the firm focused on affordable youth fashion. Profit before tax, the impact of financial derivatives, and a new accounting policy, jumped to £13.5m in the 26 weeks ended 31 October, up from £8m a year ago. Sales rose to £90.3m from £54.7m.Engineer Senior has seen a decent tailwind since October with underlying profits slightly ahead of expectations in each of the past two months. As a consequence, underlying profits overall for 2010 will be above the top end of the previous market range of £61.0m to £63.5m. Recovery at electrical components group Laird has continued, with trading conditions overall still in line with its upbeat update in October.