London pre-open: Early rise expected

11th Nov 2009 07:35

Footsie is expected to rise in early dealings, with supermarket Sainsbury's in focus after releasing its interim numbers.Sainsbury's posted a healthy rise in profits in the 28 weeks to October 3, but repeated a warning that lower food price inflation will affect growth in the second half. Pre-tax profits rose to £342m from £258m, ahead of expectations, as total sales climbed by 3.7% to £11.15bn from £10.76bn.Reed Elsevier chief executive Ian Smith has resigned as the publisher says its key professional information businesses have not escaped the downturn, while advertising and promotion markets are badly hit.Micro Focus's two recent acquisitions, Borland and Compuware, have performed much better than expected and the legacy software specialist has upped its forecasts for both interim sales and underlying profits. After a "strong close to the first half" the group now expects to report total revenues of approximately $195m, up from $135.6m, while underlying profits will also be above expectations.