London pre-open: Stocks track gains in Asia and US

27th Mar 2012 07:35

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up 20 points from yesterday's close of 5,903, taking its lead from gains in both US and Asian stocks, which got a boost from a speech from Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Plumbers' merchant Wolseley, no longer drowning in a sea of debt, felt confident enough to ramp up its interim dividend by a third on the back of strong profits growth, though like-for-like sales growth has tapered off a tad in the last couple of months. Revenue in the six months to January 31st rose 3% to £6,841m from £6,629m a year earlier. Like-for-like (LFL) sales were up 5%.Following a very detailed pre-close trading update earlier in the month, the main full-year figures from copper mining giant Kazakhmys were widely known. Revenues in 2011 rose to $3,563m from $3,237m in 2010, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) edged up to $1,959m from $1,932m the year before. When accounting for the group's stake in fellow miner ENRC (which contributed $966m), group EBITDA reached $2,925m, up from $2,835m.Babcock International, the engineering support services company, continues to be one of the lucky companies benefitting from the financial crisis with full year expectations still on track. In its final update ahead of its full year results, the firm said the trading environment for the year had been positive and it hoped to build on its success in the coming year.