London pre-open: Losses on the cards

13th Jul 2009 07:37

Investors remain nervous following further losses on Wall Street Friday and as the US earnings season starts to hot up.Futures prices indicate an early deficit of about 14 points for the FTSE 100.Oil and gas firm Venture Production today rejected last Friday's 845p-a-share hostile cash bid from energy group Centrica. Bosses say the £1.3bn offer "substantially undervalues" the business. The unsolicited bid, made after Friday's close, came as the British Gas-owner bought private equity group 3i's entire 5.4% stake in Venture. Resolution has confirmed it is considering a possible offer for Friends Provident. An approach to the Friends board "was not considered to be acceptable". Resolution said it received "constructive feedback" from Friends and its advisers and is considering its response. Any offer would be primarily a share exchange offer, but with a partial cash element. A slump in the UK and Ireland sent revenues tumbling by 8% in the three months to June at credit checker Experian. Sales in Britain and Ireland crashed by 22%, with falls also recorded in North America (2%), Latim America (9%), and emerging markets (8%). The picture was better stripping out the impact of currencies. Defence firm Cobham has announced its third contract win of the month with a deal to provide wireless network nodes for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The cost plus fixed fee contract is worth $14.8m. Cobham will design, develop and demonstrate low-cost wireless network nodes which support adaptation by means of distributed network processing, with the emphasis on the "low-cost" element of the description. Sausages and pork products supplier Cranswick has made a positive start to its new financial year, with first quarter sales up across most parts of the business. Sales in the first quarter, excluding recently disposed of and acquired businesses, rose 11% to £167m from the first quarter of last year. Growth has been particularly strong in the sausages and bacon parts of the business, while growth was also seen in continental and charcuterie products, fresh pork and cooked meats. Utility support services provider Spice has bought ComGroup Australia, a company which designs and distributes Simoco branded mobile radio handsets and systems to utilities and government. Spice is initially paying £6.9m for the acquisition, representing a multiple of 3.1 times the operating profit of the business in the year to end-June 2008.