London pre-open: Bleak opening in prospect

25th Jan 2010 07:38

Though London finished off its lows at the close on Friday the subsequent shake-out on Wall Street and the weakness of Asian markets overnight appears to have put paid to any hopes of a bright opening, with the FTSE 100 expected to open around 50 points lower. Wolseley says finance chief Steve Webster is leaving the building materials firm at the end of March and will be replaced by John Martin from UK private equity firm Alchemy Partners. Webster, who oversaw last year’s £1bn fundraising and sale of US building supply arm Stock Building Supply for £175m, takes a bow after 15 years at the company.Hornby's sales were 'encouraging' in the weeks up the Christmas and period immediately after, with the model train and racing car group adding it has also largely sorted out the supply issues that have dogged it recently.Trading in the final quarter of 2009 at engineering data and IT systems provider Aveva was ‘satisfactory’, leaving the company on track to meet full year targets. Though the marine market has remained becalmed, the oil, gas and power markets have been resilient the world over, benefiting from continuing projects and demand from new economies.Underwriter Hiscox reports its catastrophe losses have remained ‘particularly benign’ since November with no significant losses in the US and European claims greatly improved. The cold weather sparked a small amount of small amount of activity, it added.Engineering conglomerate Lupus Capital said 2009 results are likely to be in line or marginally ahead of market expectations. Total sales for the year are expected to fall 9%, or 17% on a constant currency basis, to £241.6m from £266.6m the year before. ‘The group remains cautious as we enter 2010, as trading conditions are not expected to improve rapidly and, despite encouraging recent trading, our end markets remain fragile,’ the company said.Anyone holding out hope of a rival bid to the Kraft offer for Cadbury from Ferrero will be disappointed, as the Italian confectionery company confirmed it has no intention of making a bid for the Creme Egg maker.