London open: Weak start for blue chips

4th Dec 2009 08:45

Footsie has fallen back in early dealings after a dip in the US last night while the bank bonus row has spread to Lloyds.Shares in Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland are both under pressure. A report in the Times this morning suggested 200 Lloyds executives will get a bonus of 80% of their salary following the merger with HBOS. The story coincides with a National Audit Office report that puts the size of UK taxpayer support to the bank sector at £850bn including guarantees and insurance.Other fallers include commercial property groups afer a report by De Montfort University that some £30bn of commercial property debt was in default or in arrears in the first half of the year. Hammerson, Segro and Liberty are lower.British Airways is going well after it said yesterday long haul premium is showing signs of improvement with volumes above the levels of last year and yields improving.Housebuilder Bellway predicts sales volumes for the first six months to 31 January 2010 will be 10% better than the same time last year, with an operating margin steady at 6% to 7%. Reservations taken between 1 August and 30 November averaged 91 a week, up 51% on a year ago, while cancellation rates are back at a more normal level of around 13%.Fewer sales and lower prices sent profits at London and south-east focused housebuilder Berkeley tumbling in the latest six months. Pre-tax profits came in at £52m for the six months ended 31 October, down 35% on the £79.6m in the same period last year. Sales fell to £290m from £453m.Taylor Wimpey's chairman Norman Askew has said he will leave the board of the housebuilder by the end of December 2010. Askew, also chairman of engineer, IMI, has been chairman of Taylor Woodrow since July 2003 and continued his role when the company merged with Wimpey in July 2007.In other sectors, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of drug giant AstraZeneca's bipolar disorder treatment Seroquel in conjunction with antidepressants to treat major depressive disorder (MDD).Contractor Amec will today unveil a plan to more than double its earnings to over 100p per share by 2015. The group also confirmed 2009 guidance with an EBITA margin approaching 8% this year and 8.5% in 2010, although it expects the ongoing external environment to remain challenging.Recruiter SThree confirmed profits will tumble this year, though it says conditions have started to stabilise. Full year gross profit will be about £168m, down 23% year on year (2008: £218.9m).