London open: Footsie strongly ahead

1st Jul 2009 08:50

It is all blue this morning so far with demand for miners adding to well received trading statements from Marks & Spencer and International Power.Bus and rail group National Express is the big story. It has handed back the East Coast franchise after failing to renegotiate terms. The service will now be nationalised until a new franchisee is found. National Express, which also confirmed the departuure of chief executive Richard Bowker, will not be considered ever again for a franchise said the government.Marks and Spencer's like-for-like sales fell across its major divisions in the first quarter, though total group sales were up. In the 13-weeks to June, UK like for like sales fell 1.4%, General Merchandise slipped 2.4% and Food was down 0.5%, but the figures were better than feared and the shares are up. Next is higher in sympathy. Miners are going strongly led by Vedanta, ENRC, Kazakhmys and Rio Tinto. Power generator International Power is to offload its Czech operations to Czech-Slovak investment firm J&T Group. International Power will sell its wholly owned subsidiary International Power Opatovice (IPO) plus IPO's interests in its subsidiaries Pra?ská Teplárenská (PT) and Energotrans (ET) for CZK 22.5bn (£738.3m).Legacy software group Micro Focus has upped its cash offer for Borland for a second time to see off a potential rival bidder. Micro Focus is now offering $1.50 cash for each outstanding share of Borland Software Corporation, which values it, on a fully diluted basis, at approximately $113m.Energy services provider John Wood Group said performance in the year to date remains in line with expectations. The group said although the oil price has strengthened over recent weeks, market conditions remain broadly similar to those outlined in May.AstraZeneca has received EU marketing approval for its lung cancer treatment Iressa four years after its was withdrawn from use after disappointing trial data.Brewing company SABMiller is to give a 10% stake in its South African subsidiary to agencies representing the black community in South Africa.Engineer and construction contractor Balfour Beatty said its joint venture company Gammon Construction has won a contract for the redevelopment of the Hennessy Centre in Hong Kong.