London pre-open: Sedate progress expected

1st Dec 2011 07:44

After yesterday's wild rises, progress is set to be more sedate this morning, with traders unsure whether profit-takers will be out in force.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 28 points higher than yesterday's close of 5,505. DIY retailer Kingfisher saw year-on-year like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of 1.3% in constant currency terms in the 13 weeks to October 29th, despite stores in the UK & Ireland seeing LFL sales slide 0.7%. Retail profit of £273m was up 13.1% on a year ago on a constant currency basis, with the UK & Ireland stores seeing a 21.7% gain while the French stores saw retail profit rise 15.6%. The company said 27 of the 29 recently acquired ex-Focus DIY stores are now open and trading well.Engineering firm GKN has offloaded its Aerospace Engineering Services Business in the UK and Australia to QuEST Global Services Pte Limited and QuEST Global Engineering Limited for an undisclosed sum. The business being disposed of had sales of about £20m in the year ended 31 December 2010 and had gross assets of £8.1m as at 31 December 2010.Real ale brewer and pub chain owner Greene King saw adjusted profit before tax in the 24 weeks to October 16th rise 5.0% to £77.2m from £73.1m at the interim stage last year. Revenue rose 9.0% to £527.5m from £484.1m, with food sales up 16%. Current trading is strong, the company said, with retail like-for-like sales up 4% in the last six weeks.--jh