London pre-open: Flat start for FTSE ahead of jobs data

15th Mar 2012 07:36

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down one point from yesterday's close of 5,945, as investors await data on jobless figures from the US.  Pharmaceuticals firm Shire has withdrawn its Biologics Licence Application for its enzyme replacement product REPLAGAL with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Recent interactions with the FDA have led Shire to believe that the agency will require additional controlled trials for approval of the product. No concerns over the product's safety profile were raised by the FDA. Shire has concluded that the likely additional studies would cause a significant delay, and an approval of REPLAGAL for US patients would only be possible in the distant future. Power systems developer Rolls-Royce has announced another big contract win, this time to design and equip four deepwater platform supply vessels for Hyundai. The contract is worth more than £45m to Rolls-Royce and includes options for a further two of the vessels, which are designed to supply equipment and services to deepwater oil and gas platforms.Like-for-like (LFL) sales at Home Retail Group's struggling Argos chain have taken another tumble in 2012. The group said Argos's LFL sales in the eight weeks to February 25th were down 8.5% year-on-year (YOY). The Homebase part of the business fared a little better, but still saw LFL sales down 6.5% on a YOY basis.