London pre-open: Burberry powers on

15th Nov 2011 07:31

London is set to continue yesterday's lower trend, with City sources predicting the FTSE 100 will open down 35 points from yesterday's close of 5,519 ahead of today's inflation figures. Fashion label Burberry's adjusted profit before tax in the six months to the end of September rose 26% from a year earlier to £162m. Brokers Charles Stanley and Credit Suisse had both forecast profit of £159m. Revenue was up 29% year-on-year to £830m, with consistent double-digit percentage growth seen in retail and wholesale, in all regions and product divisions. The interim dividend has been bumped up by 40% to 7p.Cable and Wireless Worldwide, the FTSE-250 telecoms firm, saw underlying profit before tax in the six months ended September tumble to £35m from £64m the year before, on revenue that eased to £1,072m from £1,123m. However, once goodwill impairment of £436m, a deferred tax asset write down of £146m and a £42m write off of obsolete assets are taken into account, the company fell into the red, with a pre-tax loss of £443m, versus an "as reported" profit of £53m the year before. Group chief executive officer John Pluthero is to leave the business in March 2012, to be replaced by ex-Vodafone man Gavin Darby. First half underlying profit before tax of £132m for real estate investment trust British Land was 3.9% ahead of last year. The group's portfolio valuation edged up by 2.2% from a year earlier to £10.2bn at the end of September. Net asset value per share on a European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) basis rose 4.2% from a year earlier to 591p. The quarterly divi has been held at 6.5p.--jh