London pre-open: Investors waiting patiently for central bank decisions

5th Jul 2012 07:34

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up one point from yesterday's close of 5,684 as investors await direction from both the Bank of England (BofE) and the European Central Bank (ECB). The BofE is expected to extend its quantitative easing programme by £50bn to £375bn, while the ECB is widely forecast to lower its interest rate of one per cent. Mining group Xstrata has adjourned the extraordinary general meeting at which shareholders were to vote on the recommended merger with Glencore International until a later date. The company said that the delay is due to the proposed changes to the management retention awards announced last month. The firm said on June 27th that, after a backlash from angry investors, it would pay management their retention awards in shares instead of cash and they will be subject to their future performances.Global engineering firm GKN said it had agreed to buy Volvo's aero engine division and would turn to institutional investors to raise money to help pay for it. The company plans to pay AB Volvo around £633m for Volvo Aero, which designs, engineers and manufactures components for aircraft engine turbines. To help fund the deal GKN aims to place £140m of new shares with institutional investors, with the rest of the money coming from new debt facilities.Water group Pennon has acquired waste collection and recycling business JWT Holdings in an effort to expand its waste management activities, particularly in the collection, recycling and energy recovery sectors. JWT, based in Atherton, Greater Manchester, was bought from John William Thomasson for a total consideration of £7.6m (£6.58m cash plus acquired net debt). It employs 45 staff and handles around 70,000 tonnes of material a year.