London open: Footsie trades sideways as BA stalls

22nd May 2009 08:34

London's top stocks have opened flat, as expected, with good gains from the miners undermined by a grim trading update from British Airways. The airline said it will focus on cutting capacity and keeping a lid on costs after weak economic conditions and high fuel costs sent the airline tumbling into the red in the year to March 31. It posted a pre-tax loss of £401m, compared with a profit of £922m over the previous year. Revenue climbed to £8.99bn from £8.76bn.Miners are going well after a volatile few days. Rio Tinto is up on reports in Australia that there may be changes to the deal with Chinalco to appease both regulators and major shareholders. ENRC, Vedanta and Xstrata are also going well.Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed Standard Life chief executive Sir Sandy Crombie as its Senior Independent Director on the board. Sir Sandy, who joins in June, is one of three non-executives RBS agreed to appoint over the next three months as part of its bail-out by the UK government.Pub group and real ale brewer Marston's reported a 21% drop in half-year pre-tax profit but said it is encouraged by the modest improvement in trading since mid-February. Profit before tax and exceptional items fell to £27.7m in the 26 weeks ended 4 April, in line with expectations, compared with £35m last time. PR firm Next Fifteen Communications said it has ceased takeover talks with Huntsworth and Chime Communications. Property firm Brixton said it is in discussions with 'a small number of parties' after receiving approaches about a possible offer for the firm.