London pre-open: Indecisive start

29th Jul 2010 07:33

Despite the barrage of results from FTSE 100 companies this morning London cannot make its mind up which direction to go in. City traders expect the blue-chip index to open barely changed.Royal Dutch Shell has trumped forecasts by almost doubling earnings in the second quarter, in stark contrast to loss-making rival BP, and has exceeded targets set last year for costs and staff cuts. Earnings on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis came in at $4.5bn, up from $2.3bn a year ago. Analysts had expected somewhere around the $4bn mark.Defence firm BAE Systems continues to expect revenue growth in 2010 despite the threat of cutbacks in government spending. The company saw sales grow 9% in the first half of 2010 to £10,643m from £9,747m the year before. On a like-for-like (LFL) basis, sales increased by 7%. Underlying earnings before interest, tax and amortisation improved 14% to £1,114m from £978m a year earlier.Pay TV and internet service provider British Sky Broadcasting posted slightly better than expected full-year figures but warned that the economic outlook remains uncertain. Underlying operating profits were up by 10% in the 12 months ended 30 June to £855m, while revenue rose to £5,912m from £5,359m. Cobham subsidiary Cobham Analytic Solutions has been selected as a prime contractor to provide infrastructure and deployment support services to the US Missile Defense Agency.