London open: Dull start for Footsie

12th May 2009 08:46

London's blue chips have opened lower as investors digest a string of trading statements and results.Pubs group Enterprise Inns has called time on its dividend as it seeks to pay down its debt pile. The company announced an interim pre-tax profit of £103m, in line with market expectations but down from £132m a year earlier. Holiday Inn hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group said occupancy rates started to stabilise in the first quarter but room rates came under pressure. Revenue in the first three months of 2009 ease to $342m from $448m a year earlier. Ireland-based Tullow Oil has performed strongly in 2009 to date and said the outlook for the rest of the year remains 'very positive'. The Jubilee development is on track for first oil in the second half of 2010 and the group has maintained a 100% success rate with its drilling operations in both Ghana and Uganda where the Tweneboa-1 and Giraffe-1 wells, in particular, yielded substantial new discoveries.Costs of restructuring latest acquisition Altadis pushed Imperial Tobacco into the red at the year's halfway point, though underlying earnings rose by nearly 14% with the cigarette and tobacco group boosting market share in most markets. Outsource giant Serco reports a strong start to 2009 with £1bn in new contracts and preferred bidder status on another £250m's worth. Banks are weak, led down by Barclays and Lloyds. In the US overnight, four regional banks announced plans to tap shareholders even though they were given the all-clear in their stress test.Redrow said it has restarted construction on certain developments as sales volumes look to have stabilized but cautioned that the market is likely to remain challenging into 2010.Support services group Babcock has charged forward after it reported a forecast busting full year profit, upped its dividend and predicted good growth prospects. Oil services group Wellstream fell after it warned supplier problems have reduced profitability by around £7m or £8m this year, while engineer Tomkins is being whacked by the problems besetting General Motors and Chrysler.