London pre-open: Weak open predicted

19th Aug 2009 07:37

Sellers are set to win out early Wednesday despite last night's strong performance on Wall Street.Futures prices indicate London's FTSE 100 will lose about 27 points at the start of trade.Former Bank of Ireland governor Richard Burrows is to be the new chairman of Lucky Strike maker British American Tobacco when Jan du Plessis steps down from the position on 1 November. Burrows, who stood down as governor of Bank of Ireland last month following a turbulent period which saw the bank relying on state funding to weather the credit crunch , will join BAT initially as a non-executive director on 1 September. There are reports that Blackstone is in exclusive talks with British Land to take a 50% stake in Broadgate, the landmark £2.5bn office development in the heart of the City of London.Venture Production saw half-year profits slip 7% to £105.2m despite a 14% hike in revenue to £274.7m as lower realised prices and higher costs weighed. A slump in demand for commodities and weaker prices also sent profits plunging at ENRC, down 63% to $751m in the first half of 2009. The dividend is cut in half.More than 95% of Rexam's recent rights issue has been taken up, the packaging group has announced.Aviation and distribution group John Menzies posted a decline in half year pre-tax profit but says full year results are expected to be ahead of forecasts. "The global economic situation remains challenging: however, both operating divisions are performing well and I look forward to the full year outturn being ahead of current market expectations," the company said. For the half year ended 30 June 2009 profit before tax fell to £7.4m from £11.3m the year before. Revenue fell to £821.3m from £826.5m before.Oil explorer JKX Oil & Gas has begun commercial gas production from the Hajdúnánás field in north east Hungary. The field has come on-stream at an initial rate of 3.5 MMcfd from the Hajdúnánás -1 well, following its initial discovery in August 2008. The Hajdúnánás -2 well is scheduled to come on-stream within one month and both combined are expected to increase production to approximately 8.5 MMcfd.