London pre-open: Footsie to regain losses

16th Oct 2009 07:44

Footsie is expected to win back losses from yesterday, helped by an improvement on Wall Street later last night.The consortium stalking National Express has dropped its interest in making a bid for the bus and train group, which is now considering a sizeable rights issue to help repair its balance sheet. A put up or shut up order from the Takeover Panel had meant the consortium - consisting of private equity group CVC Capital Partners and National Express's largest shareholder the Cosmen family - had until 5pm today to decide whether to press on with its £765m offerAdmiral remains on track to meet 2009 profit forecasts with a "fine" third quarter at its car insurance business helping turnover grow 22% to £294m. "I'm pleased to report that not much has changed in three months," said boss Henry Engelhardt in a short trading update. "Our successful business continues to grow and prosper."Fixed income fund manager BlueBay lifted funds under management by 28% over the past three months driven by strong demand for investment grade bonds. Estimated assets under management at end September amounted to $31.1bn, a $6.8bn increase since June. NetGreeting cards retailer Clinton Cards saw sales fall in the year to August 2, but saw an improvement in the second half of the period that continued into the new financial year. Pre-tax profit rose to £24.1m from £22m the previous year, but this included a £13.5m exceptional profit arising from the acquisition of rival cards retailer Birthdays from administrators on 25 June.