London pre-open: Footsie to surrender Tuesday's gains

9th Sep 2009 07:40

A softer start is foreseen for London with traders expecting the FTSE 100 to open down by around 13 points at 4,934 despite some generally favourable news flow on the corporate front this morning.Sportswear retailer Sports Direct said trading levels since July have been ahead of last year and expects underlying EBITDA for the current financial year to exceed £150m. Group revenue for the 13 weeks to 26 July 2009 rose 10% to £375m while gross profit improved to £157m from £150m. Dave Forsey, chief executive of the company, said the directors are ‘very comfortable with our expectation of reducing net debt to below £400m’. Oil and gas explorer BG Group said the test results on its 30% owned Guara discovery in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil were ‘excellent’. The discovery is estimated to contain recoverable volumes of 1.1bn to 2.0bn barrels of oil equivalent. Test data suggests that a permanent production well would be capable of producing initial rates of up to 50 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.London and south-east focused housebuilder based Berkeley reports the recent steadying in the housing market has continued with cancellation rates at normal levels and forward sales maintained above £600m in the first four months of its current financial year. Berkeley added it does not expect any land write-downs and had net cash in excess of £300m at 31 August. Strong overseas growth helped contracts for difference specialist IG Group lift revenue by 28% in its first quarter to £68m from £53m. Excluding the impact of FXOnline Japan KK, organic revenue growth was 17%, IG added, while the charge for doubtful debts in the period was less than 1% of revenue.Stephen Kelly, chief executive of legacy software specialist Micro Focus is to step down for personal reasons. The firm said a search for a successor will commence immediately, adding that Kelly will work with the board and the broader management team to ensure a smooth and well managed transition of his responsibilities.