London pre-open: Small improvement likely

22nd Sep 2010 07:37

Wall Street's move into the black last Tuesday is set to reflect well on London this morning, though gains are expected to be modest first thing.Futures prices indicate an initial 15-point rise for the FTSE 100.Imperial Tobacco is still on track to meet forecasts for the year, though growth in tobacco revenues has slowed slightly over the last six months. Tobacco net revenues are expected to be up around 3% in the year to 30 September compared with a 4% gain to £3.4bn for the six months to 31 March. Cigarette brands Davidoff and West grew volumes and Gauloises Blondes improved during the second half, but volumes remain in line with the nine-month trend of a 4.3% decline. That drop, flagged in July's trading update, was blamed on Spain, USA, Russia and Ukraine.Moir Lockhead, the veteran chief executive of FirstGroup, is to retire next March after twenty one years in charge of the bus and train group. His replacement will be his current deputy Tim O'Toole, previously the managing director of London Underground and before that president and chief executive of US rail network operator Consolidated Rail.Bid target Dana Petroleum has received the go-ahead from the Dutch authorities for its 50% owned Medway integrated oil and gas development. First production from Medway is expected in the fourth quarter of 2011. The project is initially expected to add an average of 4,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day net to Dana in 2012, with production rising further in 2013 and field life continuing through to 2020. The utility solutions arm of energy supplier Scottish and Southern Energy is to develop an embedded electricity network for Nissan Motor manufacturing UK. Adrian Pike, SSE's group managing director of Contracting, Telecoms and Utility Solutions, said embedded networks "now represent a substantial asset for SSE and there remains significant scope for further growth as we continually evolve to make sure we meet the needs of our customers." Healthcare support services firm Synergy Health has a new chairman following the retirement of Stephen Wilson after eight years in the job. Wilson's replacement is Robert Lerwill, who has been a non-executive director (NED) of the company since 2005. Lerwill is also a NED of tobacco company BAT plc and web development company Transcom Worldwide SA.Mining giant Xstrata has successfully negotiated a $4bn multi-currency revolving credit facility to replace its existing $5.5bn facility, which matures in October 2011. The facility, which is equally split into a three and five year tranche, was launched at $3bn and was significantly oversubscribed and subsequently increased to $4bn.