London pre-open: Wall Street casts a shadow

4th Mar 2010 07:40

After the late sell off in New York yesterday London shares look set to open lower, with the FTSE 100 tipped to threaten a move back below 5500 after closing at 5533 last night.Corporate news flow from the big names is mostly good, however. Leisure group Whitbread has issued another upbeat trading statement, posting continuing double-digit sales growth at its coffee shop chain Costa and a move into like-for-like (LFL) sales growth at its hotel chain Premier Inn. In the three months to February 18, sales at Costa climbed by 9.5% on a LFL basis. Premier Inn LFL sales grew 1.7%.Insurer Aviva beat profit expectations in 2009 and is encouraged by signs during the fourth quarter that its customers are beginning to save again. Operating profit on an IFRS basis fell to £2.02bn in the year ended 31 December 2009 from £2.30bn in 2008, but rose 3% to £3.48bn on a market consistent embedded value (MCEV) basis.Kazakhstan based mining giant Kazakhmys said it finished 2009 in stronger shape despite the tough economic conditions endured during the year, helped by copper production that exceeded expectations. Output of copper cathode during the year totalled 320,000 tonnes, ahead of expectations of 300,000, Kazakhmys said. Prices for the red metal fell to an average of $5,024 a tonne over the year compared with $6,714 in 2008, but recovered towards the end of 2009, reaching $7,346 a tonne.Property company British Land has promoted Charles Maudsley to the role of head of the group’s £5.3bn retail business. Maudsley, currently executive director for Business Expansion will retain his old responsibilities while assuming the new position.Petrofac is proposing to hive off its UK Continental Shelf assets into a new company to be formed with Swedish oil and company Lundin Petroleum. The new company, called EnQuest, will be 45% owned by Petrofac shareholders and will be listed on the London stock exchange as well as on the NASDAQ OMS bourse in Stockholm.