London pre-open: FTSE to track US and Asian stocks lower

18th May 2012 07:31

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down 60 points from yesterday's close of 5,338, tracking US and Asian stocks lower as the ongoing crisis in Greece and renewed worries about Spain dent investor confidence across the globe. Revenue and profits at bourse operator London Stock Exchange came in ahead of expectations, with the group boasting of strong performances across all four of its business divisions. Total income for the year ended March 31st was up 21% at £814.8m from £674.9m the year before, and ahead of market expectations of £770.3m. Revenue rose 10% to £679.8m from £615.9m the year before.Pubs owner Mitchells and Butlers saw profits before tax subside slightly at the half year stage but at least the key metric of like-for-like sales (LFL) was going in the right direction. Statutory profit before tax in the 28 weeks to April 7th was down £1m at £42m. LFL sales were up 0.2% year-on-year since the last trading update, which was 11 weeks before the end of the reporting period, despite LFL "wet" sales falling 0.8%; food sales picked up the slack and rose 0.9% in the 11 weeks to April 7th.Heavy rain resulted in reduced activity for SIG, the building products distributor, in the first four months of the year, particularly affecting sales in the group's roofing business. Group sales per day at constant currency were still just under 1.0% ahead of strong prior year comparatives, although group sales in sterling fell by just under 1.0% as a result of the weakening euro. In Mainland Europe, sales per day on a constant currency basis grew by around 3.0%, with France and Benelux performing particularly well, and Germany marginally ahead of last year.