London pre-open: Shares to drop

12th May 2009 07:42

London's blue chips look set to open lower with traders expecting Footsie to shed around 30 points early on.Pubs group Enterprise Inns has called time on its dividend as it seeks to pay down its debt pile. The company announced an interim pre-tax profit of £103m, in line with market expectations but down from £132m a year earlier. Holiday Inn hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group said occupancy rates started to stabilise in the first quarter but room rates came under pressure. Revenue in the first three months of 2009 ease to $342m from $448m a year earlier. Ireland-based Tullow Oil has performed strongly in 2009 to date and said the outlook for the rest of the year remains 'very positive'. The Jubilee development is on track for first oil in the second half of 2010 and the group has maintained a 100% success rate with its drilling operations in both Ghana and Uganda where the Tweneboa-1 and Giraffe-1 wells, in particular, yielded substantial new discoveries.Costs of restructuring latest acquisition Altadis pushed Imperial Tobacco into the red at the year's halfway point, though underlying earnings rose by nearly 15% with the cigarette and tobacco group boosting market share in most markets. Outsource giant Serco reports a strong start to 2009 with £1bn in new contracts and preferred bidder status on another £250m worth. Redrow said it has restarted construction on certain developments as sales volumes look to have stabilized but cautioned that the market is likely to remain challenging into 2010. Power generator International Power said its portfolio is performing in line with expectations in 2009.