London open: Whitbread leads the rise

6th Sep 2011 08:29

The Footsie opened moderately higher in early trading, helped by strong gains by coffee shop, restaurant and hotel owner Whitbread.Whitbread was the high riser on the blue chip index, gaining over 5%, after it was able to accelerate revenue growth during the first half, posting a 12.9% improvement in sales in the second quarter, up from a 9.2% increase in the first three months of the year.Other retailers fell lower early on, with M&S, Kingfisher and Morrison falling into the red. Reinforced polymer technology Fenner jumped after it revealed that numbers for the year ended 31 August are likely to be ahead of market expectations, due to strong growth in both the Conveyor Belting and Advanced Engineering Products divisions.Brewing and pubs group Greene King opened higher as it saw like-for-like (LFL) year-on-year sales growth in its retail business in the 18 weeks to 4 September, despite going up against tough comparatives that were boosted by last year's World Cup.Recycled packaging and office products provider DS Smith rose after it said trading since 30 April 2011 has been good after a strong contribution from its French acquisition Otor, a maker of corrugated packaging.There was no FIFA World Cup this year so online betting exchange Betfair was feeling reasonably pleased with a 7% decline in core revenues in the three months to the end of July, and even more chuffed with a pick-up in revenue in August. Investors were also happy, with shares rising by over 3.4%.Budget airline easyJet opened up lower despite a 6.5% like-for-like increase in passenger numbers in August. However, the load factor fell by 0.1 percentage point to 92.2%.Irish mining firm Kenmare Resources has achieved 'Technical Completion' at the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in Mozambique, a major milestone towards releasing its loan guarantees for the project. Shares were higher.Own label goods maker McBride was in the red after it saw profits fall by a half in the year to end of June as rising costs and a tough retail environment took their toll.BCFTSE 100 - RisersWhitbread (WTB) 1,542.00p +5.83%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 22.13p +1.61%Barclays (BARC) 156.60p +1.59%Carnival (CCL) 1,857.00p +1.48%3i Group (III) 200.60p +1.42%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,007.00p +1.41%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 31.05p +1.31%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 484.60p +1.27%Wolseley (WOS) 1,534.00p +1.25%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,975.00p +1.07%FTSE 100 - FallersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 299.00p -1.12%Kingfisher (KGF) 225.40p -0.70%Serco Group (SRP) 491.40p -0.67%National Grid (NG.) 606.00p -0.49%ARM Holdings (ARM) 531.00p -0.47%ITV (ITV) 54.50p -0.46%Capita Group (CPI) 695.50p -0.43%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,912.00p -0.42%ICAP (IAP) 461.30p -0.35%Reed Elsevier (REL) 487.40p -0.35%