London pre-open: Small gains ahead

11th Aug 2009 07:35

London's top stocks look set to open marginally higher with traders expecting Footsie to add 5 points in early trading.Clive Cowdery's insurance investment vehicle Resolution will be catapulted into the FTSE 100 index after life insurer Friends Provident accepted a new £1.86bn bid on Tuesday. Friends shareholders will get 0.9 Resolution shares for every Friends share held and may elect to receive 79.4p in cash for each of the first 2,500 shares.Power generator International Power reported a rise in profit in the six month period, thanks to improved contributions from Australia and Asia. Profit from operations rose to £555m in the six months ended 30 June compared with £495m last time, up 12% or 2% at constant currency.Hotel group Intercontinental held its interim dividend despite a tough first half that saw revenues tumble and the group post a loss after one-off items. Bakery chain Greggs lifted its interim dividend to a record level as it shrugged off the impact of the recession to lift underlying half-year profits by 7.3%. Pre-tax profits came in at £16.5m for the 26 weeks to 27 June, against £23.4m last time, though stripping out one-offs the comparable figure was £15.4m. Melrose Resources said gas samples obtained from its Kaliakra No.2 well in Bulgaria confirmed that the reservoir has very good properties, with an average porosity in excess of 30% high gas productivity.In the press, the FT is reporting that Lloyds Banking's tentative plans to raise an estimated £15bn-£20bn in a rights issue to reduce its reliance on the government face a wall of scepticism in Whitehall and among investors.