London open: Bright start as buyers keep at it

19th Oct 2009 08:34

London's blue chips are storming forward again helped by another possible bid emerging for National Express and a lack of anyone selling.Only five Footsie stocks are currently in the red with Cable & Wireless the worst performer, but it is down less than 1%. Fresnillo,Vedanta and British Land are the best of the risers.National Express has raced away after it confirmed it is considering a possible merger proposal from rival bus and train group Stagecoach. It is also still pressing ahead with its plans for an equity issue to relieve its debt burden in the event the talk comes to nothing. FirstGroup has definitely not made a move, it added.Distribution group Bunzl said it had seen a slight improvement in revenues since reporting first half results and that it was benefiting from cost-reduction initiatives.Bookmaker William Hill suffered from the absence of draws in the Premier League and an unusual run of horse racing results in the last three months despite good volumes of business. Net revenue fell 36% in the three months to end September with the successful punters cutting the net revenue margin to 3.2% compared with 7.0% in 2008, but the results could have been worse.Insurance group Standard Life has announced that its finance director David Nish is to succeed Sir Sandy Crombie as chief executive. Nish joined Standard Life on November 1 2006, having held senior positions at Scottish Power.Printing group St Ives reported a full year loss as the group battles against extreme competition and an oversupplied market. The group, which prints the Economist and Vogue magazines, said loss before tax came in at £7.2m for the 52 weeks ended 31 July 2009 compared with a profit of £30.6m.Petropavlovsk, the new name for Peter Hambro Mining, remains on track to produce 500,000 ounces of gold this year even though output fell in the three months to September. Total production in the three months to September dropped from 124,300 ounces to 123,600 ounces. Total production for the year so far is 346,200 ounces, up from 268,900.Allergy diagnostics company Omega has confirmed it has received a preliminary approach that may lead to an offer for the company.