London pre-open: Stocks to pull back

3rd Feb 2011 07:37

A flat finish in the US last night and losses in Asia this morning look like knocking a dozen or so points off London's leading index early Thursday.Ongoing turmoil in Egypt overshadowed some positive earnings news and upbeat data it eh US Wednesday, leaving the Dow Jones up just 1 point by the close.Over here, Royal Dutch Shell more than quadrupled fourth quarter profits thanks to higher energy prices, an increase in production and cost-cutting. Earnings for the last three months of 2010 on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis surged to $5.7bn from $1.2bn a year ago. They grew 90% to $18.6bn for the full-year. Excluding certain items, earnings grew to $4.1bn from $2.8bn last time. "We are making good progress against our targets, and there is more to come from Shell," said chief executive Peter Voser. The dividend stays at 42 cents a share.Strong growth in broadband subscribers and a pick-up by its global services operation helped telecoms titan BT lift profits by almost a third over the past three months. Pre-tax profits in the quarter to December jumped by 30% to £531m from £408m, even though sales fell slightly to £5.04bn from £5.2bn. BT added 188,000 new broadband subscribers in the three months to take its market share to 53%. Profits from its global services division rose by 15% to £141m on an underlying business, though sales here fell by 7% to £1.98bn. The turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia threatens to reverse an improving trend at holiday group TUI Travel. The operator of brands such as Thomson and First Choice posted higher revenues in the three months to 31 December and said it has had a good start to 2011. However, the problems in North Africa could impact results for the current quarter by £25m to £30m. Holidays to Egypt from mainland European destinations such as Germany and France have been cancelled. TUI is still sending holidaymakers from the UK to Red Sea resorts.