London pre-open: Flat start expected

28th Sep 2009 07:39

London's blue-chip equities are set to start the week hesitantly lower with traders predicting the FTSE 100 will open down by about 6 points at 5,076.Builders’ supplies specialist Wolseley racked up losses of more than £750m last year after a raft of one-off charges. Pre-tax losses came in at £766m in the year to July, against a profit of £399m, as the company took write-downs of £595m and restructuring costs of a further £464m. Profit before tax, exceptional items and amortisation and impairment of acquired intangibles reduced by 54% to £293m (2008: £631m), slightly above market forecasts. Drugs company AstraZeneca has won another round in its long-running fight against generic competition to bipolar treatment Seroquel after a US appeal court upheld its infringement claim against Sandoz and Teva Pharmaceutical over Seroquel tablets. A US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed the Summary Judgment decision of No Inequitable Conduct in patent litigation involving Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) tablets, an Astra statement said.Autonomy, the provider of infrastructure software for large companies, has entered into a multi-million dollar licence agreement with US drugs giant Pfizer, which will use Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer software.Kesa Electricals, owner of the Comet consumer electronics and white goods store, has appointed Dominic Platt, currently group financial controller at Cable & Wireless, as its new finance director. Platt will join the company as an executive director of the Board in early January 2010.The business to business arm of online gaming group 888 Holdings has signed an exclusive agreement with Tsogo Sun Gaming Group (TSG), one of the largest hotel and entertainment groups in South Africa. 888’s Dragonfish unit will provide total gaming services for TSG’s initial foray into online gaming through a joint venture to be set up in South Africa.