London pre-open: Footsie to back off

21st Oct 2010 07:36

A small dip is expected in London this morning, replicating performances across Asia where traders mulled a decline in Chinese growth during the third quarter.The FTSE 100 is seen about 10 points lower in early deals. China said annual GDP slowed to 9.6% in the third quarter from 10.3% in the second quarter. Economists had predicted 9.5%.Over here, defence giant BAE expects to see a reduction in growth in 2010 due to the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) that was announced on Tuesday, it said today. While it can help the government to achieve efficiency targets, the company expects the SDSR to have a "modest impact" on its UK business, resulting in a reduction in earnings of about 1p a share.Colt Group, the business communications and IT managed services firm, grew third quarter earnings by 5% despite a 2% dip in revenue and is spending up to €40m on simplifying its business. It's expected the idea will increase efficiencies to about €35m in a full year, with 35% to be invested in new customer facing roles, providing recurring annual cost savings of around €20m. Colt is "on track to deliver improved profitability for the second half of the year".Car dealer Inchcape expects results for 2010 to be ahead of expectations after a better than expected performance in the third quarter. Revenues in the nine months to September 30 were up by 7.6% from the same period the previous year, the company said.