London pre-open: Footsie set for retreat

14th May 2010 07:33

London's top stocks are expected to retreat after gains in the previous session, with traders forecasting a 20 point drop for Footsie.Building supplies group Wolseley more than doubled trading profit during the third quarter and predicts full-year profit will beat forecasts of £374m. Operating profit before exceptional items and the amortisation and impairment of acquired intangibles rose to £101m from £48m in the three months to 30 April.Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has appointed Kevin Beeston as non-executive chairman to succeed Norman Askew. Beeston, who recently left service company Serco after 25 years with the company and 8 years as its chairman, will take on the role with effect from 1 July.Intertek saw organic revenue for the first four months of the year increase by 3% at constant exchange rates, but warned that some of its markets remain challenging. Bad weather and customers winning more hit gaming group Ladbrokes in the four months to April. Group net revenue was down 6% over the period with betting shop net revenue down by 11%. Operating profit rose by 3%, nonetheless, though this excludes its high roller customers, where operating profits fell sharply from £25m to £8.9m. eGaming revenue fell 2%, though profits jumped 41%.Improving activity levels and order book at Renishaw has put the precision tool maker on course to top last year's annual revenue figure and for profits to be "significantly" higher than expectations. Chiefs said the positive trend in order intake reported at January's interim results continued during the third quarter, lifting the order book to £24.1m by the end of April from £9.7m at the start of the financial year.