London open: Cautious start for blue chips

3rd Mar 2010 08:44

A weak end to trading in the US last night has pulled London back from yesterday's six-week high. Some big names going ex-dividend have added to the early weakness.Standard Chartered defiantly said it will pay its executives bonuses after another record year in 2009, with income and profits slightly above market forecasts. "We pay for good performance and we do not reward failure," chairman John Peace said. Profit before tax rose 13% to $5.15bn and was up 18% on a constant currency basis. CEO Peter Sands added that 2010 has started well for both its retail and wholesale divisions. ITV remains cautious despite returning to profit last year and keeping adjusted profit steady, as a marked bounce-back in advertising spend in early 2010 is flattered by weak comparatives. Pre-tax profit was £25m against a £2.7bn loss in 2008 on revenue down 7% to £1.87bn. Profit before tax and exceptionals dipped 4% to £108m. TV ad revenue dropped 9% to £1.29bn, but that was ahead of the total market which fell 11% and the first quarter of 2010 is estimated to be up 7%. Early forecasts for April indicate an increase of 15-20%, but the group warns of tougher comparatives later in the year.There's speculation that Prudential, which has lost a fifth of its stock market value in just two days following its surprise $35.5bn bid for AIG's Asian business, could beceom a takeover target. Rail and bus group Arriva saw profits fall by 19% in 2009 as it weathered the recession and dealt with the effects of a heavy increase in fuel costs. Profit before tax fell to £121.7m from £150m the year before on revenue that grew to £3,147.8m from £3,042.2m. Management said that it was disappointed in the revenue growth of its CrossCountry train operations. It needed around 10% passenger revenue growth to maintain the profitability of the UK Train division and only got 2.6%.India-focused miner Vedanta has published the final terms of the $805m convertible bond offering it announced on Tuesday. The bonds, due for redemption in 2017, will carry a coupon of 4%. The company intends to use the funds raised by the bond issue to refinance debt redemptions and for general working capital purposes.Support services company Carillion confidently expects to enhance earnings again in 2010 after beating market expectations in 2009 despite challenging market conditions. Lender International Personal Finance has taken a battering after its full year figures. The dividend was held but profits were boosted by £10m from a pricing policy that will reverse in the current year due to increased early settlement rebates on the introduction of the EU Consumer Credit Directive in 2010. Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said full year pre-tax losses widened but said the first two months of the year had started strongly and it was well positioned to increase profitability as markets recover.Frankie & Benny's eateries owner The Restaurant Group said like-for-like (LFL) sales returned to growth in the latter stages of 2009. 'The current year has started well - after nine weeks, revenues are 6% ahead of last year and like-for-like sales are up 1%,' said chief executive Andrew Page, in a statement accompanying 2009 results.