London pre-open: Mixed start expected

21st Sep 2011 07:21

London's top-share index is set to open more or less unchanged with investors sitting on their hands ahead of the release today of the minutes from the September meeting of the Bank of England's rate-setting committee.Significantly, news last night from the European Comission that inspectors from the 'troika' will return to Athens early next week. Also of interest, remarks by European Comission President Jose Barroso to Bloomberg that the 'Eurobond' option should not be excluded. Cigarettes maker Imperial Tobacco said trading in the year to the end of September has been in line with expectations. Tobacco net revenues are expected to be up around 2% with particularly strong performances in the Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of EU regions. Stick equivalent volumes are expected to decline around 2% from last year. Supermarket giant Tesco has announced plans to launch a Thai property fund. The Tesco Lotus Property Fund will initially comprise 15 existing shopping malls, each anchored by a Tesco Lotus hypermarket, in prime locations across Thailand, as well as freehold land and ground leases. Tesco Lotus will continue to lease all 15 hypermarkets from the fund.Frank Meysman, a Belgian national who has held executive positions in global brand companies such as Procter & Gamble, Douwe Egbert and Sara Lee, has been named as the successor to Thomas Cook chairman Michael Beckett, who is set to retire at the beginning of December.