London pre-open: Modest gains expected

7th Nov 2011 07:27

London is set to start the week stuck in neutral gear, with City sources predicting the FTSE 100 will open up 8 points from Friday's close of 5,527. Integrated oil company BP said the sale of its 60% interest in Pan-American Energy to Bridas Corporation has fallen through. As a result of Bridas Corporation's termination of the agreement, BP will now repay the deposit for the transaction of $3.53bn received at the end of 2010. This deposit had been held by BP as short-term debt and will be repaid by 14 November 2011. This repayment will not affect BP's level of gearing, which stood at 19% at the end of September. No-frills airline Ryanair has raised its full-year net profit guidance by 10% from €400m to €440m after a 20% year-on-year increase in adjusted interim pre-tax profits to €543.5m from €451.9m last year. Revenue in the six months to the end of September rose 24% to €2,712m from €2,182m last year, on the back of a 12% increase in the number of passenger journeys from 40.1m to 44.7m.Essar Energy, the India-focused integrated energy company, said during the quarter ending September 30, 2010, all plants performed well with total generation of 1,553MWh (megawatt hours), up from 1,498MWh in the corresponding period of last year. --jh