London open: BSkyB shrugs off Ofcom attack

31st Mar 2010 08:49

Footsie is higher in early dealings as investors digest updates from food-related stocks and big news for televised sports.Telecoms regulator Ofcom is on a collision course with BSkyB after it ordered the satellite broadcaster to make its two top sports channels available to rivals at a 23% discount to the current price. But the market has decided it could have been worse, with BSKyB higher and major complainant BT, lower.Gartmore is the other big story. The shares are down another 10% today after tumbling 31% yesterday following the suspension of star fund manager Guillaume Rambourg. Gartmore, which only floated in December and is now worth less than half its listing value, insisted the suspension was not connected with the FSA's recent spate of insider dealing arrests.Catering giant Compass has had a good first half, with efficiency measures helping to improve margins in the face of sluggish revenues in many markets. The company, which provides catering for schools, businesses and hospitals, said revenue is expected to be broadly flat compared with the same period the previous year, with efficiency measures helping to improve margins by about 50 basis points.Sugar and sweeteners company Tate & Lyle said currency movements, in particular the stronger US dollar, will benefit its reported performance in the final quarter. Underlying trading in the quarter has been consistent with expectations, the group added.The impact of severe weather in the UK and North America during the fourth quarter is expected to hit Firstgroup's annual operating profit by approximately £16m, the bus and train group said. Tenanted pub group Enterprise Inns said it was making 'excellent progress' in selling off its underperforming pubs. The group, which didn't update the market with new profit or revenue figures, also said there has been no 'material change' in its performance since January. Goodfellas pizza and Fox's biscuits group Northern Foods reported a drop in fourth-quarter like for like sales but said it will deliver full-year profits in line with expectations. The group said the 1.8% in quarterly like for like sales was due to the planned exit from its low margin frozen business.SSE Renewables, the renewable energy development division of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has secured a £400m loan facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help finance the development of renewable energy schemes in the UK and Ireland. The EIB funding takes the total funding which SSE has secured since July 2008 to almost £3.8bn.