London open: Mild gains for Footsie

13th Nov 2009 08:36

Footsie has made modest progress in early dealings despite a dip on Wall Street last night as the dollar rallied.British Airways is the top riser after it and Spanish airline Iberia outlined the terms of their merger. BA will own 55% of the enlarged company and Iberia 45%. The merger is expected to save £360m per year with jobs to go both companies' head offices in London and Madrid.Oil giant BG has confirmed the appearance of hydrocarbons at a new well in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil, called Tupi North-East on block BM-S-11. Tupi North-East is located about 265 km from Rio de Janeiro and 18 km to the north-east of the Tupi discovery well.Inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon's revenue fell 9% to £302m during the past four months. The firm blamed the drop in revenue between July and October, which rises to 15% at constant exchange rates, on tough comparatives.Can maker Rexam has appointed Graham Chipchase as its new chief executive to replace Leslie Van De Walle, who will retire at the end of the year. Chipchase has been at Rexam for some time having been director of plastic packaging since 2005 and previously finance director.Distributor Electrocomponents' profits slumped 41% during the first half as the global recession caused a sharp drop in revenue, although the sales decline is slowing. Headline profit before tax fell to £24.8m in the six months ended 30 September, down from £42.2m a year ago. Revenue was 15% lower at £447.2m, or down 8.4% on a reported basis. Bus group Go-Ahead has been selected as the preferred bidder for Plymouth CityBus. Completion is subject to final due diligence and full council approval, expected at the end of November.Scalextric and model train set group Hornby has chopped its interim dividend citing the weaker sterling/dollar exchange rate, which has hit its profit and cash generation potential. Sales in the six months to September rose by 5% to £25.5m, but profits fell to £743,000 from £1.81m as margins came under pressure.