London open: Good gains as miners rally

25th Nov 2009 08:43

Footsie has posted good gains in early dealings, despite a lower finish on Wall Street last night.Miners are again behind the rise, with an end to the brief rally by the dollar sending buyers in search of alternatives. Second liners Randgold and Kazakhmys are leading the way, but the gains are pretty much across the whole sector.Breaking up the miners' domination of the top ten risers is contract caterer Compass Group. It saw little sales growth when it declared full year results this morning, but pre-tax profit still showed a healthy rise on the back of a strong improvement in margins and currency gains.Weak car production and lower metals prices earlier this year took their toll on platinum refiner Johnson Matthey's first half, though it expects an improvement over the rest of the year.The London Stock Exchange's first half pre-tax profit was hit by increased competition, fewer floats and weaker equity trading. Profit before tax fell to £79.4m in the six month ended 30 September compared with £127m in the previous year.Water company United Utilities is to look at selling off other parts of its non-regulated business after agreeing to sell its holdings in Northern Gas Networks and Manila Water for £130m. Underlying profit before tax rose to £268.2m from £252.6m a year earlier, although reported profit before tax, which includes exceptional items, tumbled to £206.1m from £305.8m.Defence technology group QinetiQ posted a slight fall in profits in the six months to September 30 and said some orders were being delayed in the UK and US amid uncertainty over government spending. Pre-tax profits fell to £45.1m from £45.9m over the same period the previous year as revenues climbed to £806.3m from £727.4m.Design and engineering consultancy group WS Atkins reported a 13% drop in first half profit but said it is well placed to make good progress in the second half of the year. Pre-tax profit fell to £43.5m in the six month ended 30 September compared with £50m last time.Plant hire firm Speedy Hire swung to a half year loss and said it expects to broadly break-even at an adjusted profit before tax level for the second half. Losses before taxation, amortisation and exceptional items came to £4.8m in the six month ended 30 September compared with a profit of £23.8m last time. Revenue of £184.8m was down 27.9%.Soft drinks group Britvic said it was winning market share in all key categories as it posted a rise in revenues and profits. The firm, which sells Robinsons fruit juice and has the license for Pepsi in the UK said pre-tax profits in the year to September 27 climbed to £86.5m from £70.1m the previous year on revenues that rose to £978.8m from £926.5m. Recruiter Harvey Nash warned over results for the full year as demand for permanent staff has not picked up as hoped. In the third quarter, Nash saw a 23% decrease in revenues and a 72% decrease in adjusted profit before taxation.