London pre-open: Modest gains in store

6th Dec 2010 07:35

It looks like London could recover much of Friday's drop, though bid activity should give the mid-cap index an extra boost.The FTSE 100 could add around 16 points, according to futures prices.De La Rue has received a bid, the banknote printer confirmed Monday, thought to be from French rival Oberthur Technologies. "De La Rue plc notes the recent press speculation and confirms that it has received a highly preliminary and opportunistic approach," according to a very brief statement. Talk is the all-cash deal valued the UK company, also responsible for printing UK passports, at around £800m, a 25% premium to Friday's price tag of £641m.Engine designer Rolls-Royce has announced a clutch of contract wins for energy projects across the globe. The contract wins are worth $110m in total. Two RB211 gas turbine power generation packages have been ordered by the Total Oil Company to provide power to an oil facility in the Middle East, which will use gas fuel that would otherwise have been burned off, thereby increasing the efficiency of the operation.The European Commission has granted marketing authorisation to AstraZeneca's Brilique blood thinning drug. The drug will be in competition with Plavix, the second best selling drug in the world. It is intended to be used in preventing the blood clots that pose grave danger in the case of patients with acute coronary syndromes.Defence group Cobham is further beefing up its US surveillance division with the acquisition of RVision for $28m in cash, plus up to a further $20m. RVision specialises in electro-optical and infra-red imaging systems to protect vital installations such as military bases, border security posts, law enforcement, nuclear and chemical plants, ports and harbours and various transport applications. International engineering group IMI is teaming up with the Shanghai Automation Instrumentation Company (SAIC) to form a joint venture to serve the nuclear energy market in China. The proposed joint venture will produce control valves for critical applications for new nuclear power generation plants. The product range will complement IMI's existing nuclear capabilities offering a complete supply of control valves.