London open: Strong start for Footsie

2nd Aug 2010 08:53

Banks and miners are in favour this morning, helping Footsie make a bright start.The banks' interim results season kicks off later today with HSBC's first half figures and predictions at the weekend were for strong numbers across the sector. Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are all higher today.Miners are also going well led by silver miner Fresnillo, Kazakhmys and Antofagasta.Randgold Resources revised production guidance for its Loulo gold mine in Mali downwards following what it called a 'difficult quarter.' The miner said processing throughput was affected by a series of power outages that exacerbated the impact of downtime resulting from the bedding down of the Loulo plant expansion project.Intertek, the provider of quality checking and safety services, upped its full-year revenue forecasts as it reported a 3.3% rise in half year profits. The group now expects to achieve 2010 organic revenue growth of mid single digits with a broadly similar margin compared to 2009, and as markets recover further it anticipates to return to high single digit organic growth rates. Property group Hammerson reported a 7% rise in half year profit as its markets continued to recover from the recession over the first half of 2010, but cautioned that the outlook remains uncertain. British Land and Blackstone Group have signed leases with Swiss bank UBS to develop a new 700,000 sq ft building on the site of 4 and 6 Broadgate, in the City of London. Engineering contractor WS Atkins is buying Florida-based professional services firm PBSJ Corporation for $280m (£178m) in cash following a first quarter that went as planned. Trading in the first quarter is reported to have been in line with expectations.Business process outsourcing specialist Xchanging warned that revenue growth for the full year will be slightly lower than previously anticipated. "Our customers remain cautious and we have seen further slippage in time scales for closing deals in the second half of the year. Therefore, the completion of further large new deals in 2010 will be challenging," said the group. The raid on staff at Tullett Prebon by rival BGC in the second half of last year cost the inter-dealer broker 7% in revenue during the six months to June, but it still expects a "good" outcome for the year. First half revenue of £475.8m was down 8% from £517.9m a year ago as the broker defections in North America caused a 30% slump in fixed income revenue to £132.7m. Senior, the manufacturer of high technology components and systems, said 2010 adjusted pre-tax profit are anticipated to be comfortably ahead of market expectations. In the first half, adjusted pre-tax profit rose to £32.5m compared with £23.5m last year, while revenue was slightly higher at £287.7m from £275.9m last time.