London open: Markets move sideways ahead of early close

24th Dec 2009 08:36

London is winding down ahead of the Christmas break with Footsie trading sideways in very light activity.Dismal travelling conditions may have encouraged those going away for the break to leave early, especially as trading finishes at lunchtime today.News is also very thin. US private equity group Carlyle has finally admitted it is mulling a possible cash offer for waste management firm Shanks and has held preliminary discussions with its bosses. The confirmation comes more than two weeks after UK mid-cap Shanks announced it had received a 135p a share takeover approach from a private equity group. Whitbread has agreed a sale and leaseback deal with M&G Investments that will net the hotel, pub and coffee shop group £36.65m in cash. AstraZeneca's biologics unit, Medimmune, has filed a Complete Response Letter (CRL) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in respect of its Biologics Licence Application (BLA) for motavizumab.Balfour Beatty has acquired Strata Construction, a Doncaster-based company specialising in the construction of affordable housing. The company is being bought for a total cash consideration of £10.3m. Losses rose in Wm Ransom's latest half year, with the natural health products group also cautioning that the outlook for the current year remains uncertain. Sales in the half-year to September fell to £16.7m (2008: £17.2m), though were up 3% on a like for like basis.Gold mining and exploration company Central African Gold saw losses widen in the first half of 2009 as its Zimbabwean operations returned to production midway through the reporting period. The company had closed down its mines in Zimbabwe at the end of 2008 because of the 'adverse and political economic climate that prevailed'.Executive search firm Hexagon Human Capital tumbled into the red at the half-year stage and warned that it will probably miss full-year expectations. It posted a loss before tax of £1.95m for the six months ended 30 September versus a profit