London pre-open: Stocks take lead from US

22nd Mar 2012 07:43

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down five points from yesterday's close of 5,892, taking its lead from stocks in the US. Stocks to watchFashion retail chain Next said the year to the end of January finished well after 2011 had presented the retail sector with 'the perfect economic storm'. Revenue rose to £3,506m from £3,454m the year before, ahead of market expectations of sales of £3.4bn. This was despite the core Retail chain - the High Street shops - seeing revenue ease 1.4% to £2,191m from £2,222m. The online and postal business, Next Directory, more than picked up the slack, growing sales by 16.4% to £1,089m from £936m the year before. The International division also had a good year, growing the top line by 13.4% to £76.3m from £67.3m the previous year. United Utilities has said that it is on track to deliver a 'good' underlying financial performance for the year ended March 31st, and is on course to meet its regulatory outperformance targets. However, the water, waste-water and telecoms firm also said that full-year revenues are expected to be 3-4% higher, slightly below allowed price rise by regulators. This reflects the "ongoing impact of customers switching to meters and lower commercial volumes in the second half of the year," the company said.Do-it-yourself retail leviathan Kingfisher has revealed details of the next phase of its 'creating the leader' strategic initiative after announcing results a smidgen above market expectations. Sales in the year to January 31st rose 3.6%, or 3.3% on a constant currency basis, to £10,831m from £10,450m the year before. Like-for-like (LFL) sales were up 1.3%. The market had been expecting turnover of £10.8bn. Adjusted pre-tax profit jumped 20.4% to £807m from £670m the year before, slightly ahead of the £801.9m the market had been expecting.