London pre-open: Moderately firmer start seen

10th Nov 2009 07:44

London is expected to open moderately firmer against a background of a busy company results scene. The FTSE 100 is expected to open up around 11 points higher at 5,246. Mobile phone network Vodafone traded in line with expectations during the first half of its fiscal year, raising revenue by over 9% and adjusted operating profit by 2.4%. It expects full-year profit to be between £11-11.8bnBarclays remains on course for a record-breaking year after third quarter profits came in close to market forecasts. For the three months to September, profits fell from £2.84bn to £1.56bn giving a nine-month total of £4.54bn (2008: £5,595m), a decrease year on year of 19% (£1,053m).Imperial Tobacco boosted full-year profit before tax by 52% thanks to the acquisition of Franco-Spanish rival Altadis. The cigarette maker has also announced the departure of its CEO. Pre-tax profit for the 12 months ended 30 September jumped to £945m from £621m in 2008 on revenue up 29% to £26.52bn, reported the firm, best known for its Lambert & Butler cigarettes.Yellow pages group Yell is raising £660m through the issue of 1.572bn new shares at 42p, much more than it originally indicated. Half of the money, £330m, will be raised through a firm placing while the remainder will come from a 1 for 1 placing and open offer.International hotels group InterContinental Hotels continued to see revenue per available room (revPAR) slide in the third quarter. RevPAR in the third quarter of 2009 fell 15.2% at constant currency rates. ‘The trading environment remains challenging. We see signs of occupancy stabilising, but rate is still under considerable pressure across the board,’ said Andrew Cosslett, chief executive of the group.