London pre-open: London to enjoy Wall St. tailwinds

27th May 2011 07:43

Encouraged by yesterday's strong finish on Wall Street. London's leading stocks are set to open higher, with City traders predicting the Footsie will start the day some 44 points higher at 5,925.Sales and profits were slightly ahead of expectations at electronics and maintenance products supplier Electrocomponents, on the back of strong sales growth in all geographic regions and online. Headline profit before tax in the year to 31 March was £114.0m, up from £74.4m the year before and ahead of market consensus of £113.5m. Revenue was 21.0% up to £1.18bn from £972.6m a year earlier, and ahead of market expectations of £1.17bn.  First half sales at soft drinks group Britvic jumped by a quarter after a first-time contribution from its French division. Group revenue grew by 25.3% from £505.3m to £633.1m in the six months ended 17 April.Mining giant Kazakhmys's proposed listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange will not involve the issue of any new shares. The board of Kazakhmys believes that issuing new shares at current share price levels would not create value for existing shareholders and the Hong Kong listing will, therefore, be by way of introduction.--jh