London pre-open: London cheered by newsflow

9th Jul 2010 07:40

London is set for a bright start, buoyed by another strong performance overnight on Wall Street and a rash of upbeat company announcements on this side of the pond.Housebuilder Bovis is selling homes in line with its targeted weekly sale rate and will resume dividend payments at the end of the financial year as long as things continue as they are.Steady and broad based progress is being made at engineering firm Bodycote leaving it on course to comfortably exceed the highest broker forecast for full year operating profit.Insulation materials and specialist construction products maker SIG said underlying profit before tax for the first half of 2010 will be above market expectations. Sales in sterling of around £1,291m were down some 4.0% compared to £1,345m a year earlier, and were around 3.0% lower on a constant currency basis.Growth in permanent placements, especially in Asia and Latin America, helped recruiter Michael Page lift second quarter profits by a third. Group gross profit rose to £111.5m to June up 33.1% on this time last year's £83.8m and sequentially up 14.0% on the first three months of 2010.