London pre-open: Greece throws spanner in the works

1st Nov 2011 07:47

The decision by George Papandreou, the Greek Prime Minister, to hold a referendum on the details of the Greek bailout tortuously negotiated by Eurozone leaders, has sent markets into reverse.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down 95 points from yesterday's close of 5,544. Security solutions firm G4S has abandoned its controversial takeover of Danish business ISS, after it failed to gain support for the deal from its major shareholders. The proposed rights issue that was going to partly fund the acquisition has also been dropped. Insurance giant Legal & General achieved worldwide sales of £1,338m in the third quarter of 2011, down slightly from the £1,347m in the corresponding period of last year. Net cash generation in the quarter rose 15% to £631m from £549, the year before. Cigarettes maker Imperial Tobacco saw full-year profit before tax rise to £2,153m from £2,118m the year before, some way below the £2,440m expected by the market. Revenue rose to £29.22bn from £28.17bn last year. A final divided of 67.0p has been proposed, making the total pay out for the year 12.8% higher than last year's, at 95.1p. --jh