LONDON Pre-Market Report (Monday , November 9, 2009)

G4S confident after steady Q3 London open City sources predict FTSE 100 will open up 45 points from its previous close of 5,143. Stocks to watch Things have bee steady at security services firm G4S since August’s interims, with operating profit for the first nine months of 2009 up 25% at actual exchange rates and revenue up by 23%. At constant exchange rates, profit rose 12% and revenue by 9%. Mining giant Anglo American has added former Sainsbury chairman, Sir Philip Hampton, to the board in a non-executive role. Hampton has been chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) since February 2009. Surging data revenues helped satellite operator Inmarsat lift profits by nearly a third over the past three months. Revenue overall in the three months to September rose by 8.7% to $176.7m (2008: $162.5m). Profit before tax rose by 31% to $70m. Free cash flow rose 6% to $102.9m (2008: $54.0m). In the Press Kraft, the American food company, is poised to initiate a hostile takeover bid for Cadbury today at or slightly above the offer it made in September, which valued the British confectioner at Ł10.2bn, according to a person familiar with the deal. Last night Kraft was finalising plans to go directly to shareholders of Cadbury before the UK Takeover Panel’s “put up or shut up” deadline expires at 5pm, the Times reports. Three of the City’s leading stockbrokers have written to Lord Myners, the City Minister, accusing Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group of “corporate bullying” by forcing companies that owe money to the banks to use their investment banking services. In an unprecedented act of solidarity, three of the Square Mile’s fiercest rivals — Tim Linacre, chief executive of Panmure Gordon; Oliver Hemsley, chief executive of Numis; and Alex Snow, chairman of Evolution — allege that when a company holds a rights issue to reorganise its debt, the banks will continue to lend to it only if it uses their brokerage and capital markets units for the deal, the Times reports. Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s chief executive, is preparing a fresh round of cost cutting as he tries to offset falling revenue at the mobile phone operator. Vodafone’s shares have underperformed the FTSE 100 by 16 per cent this year, partly because of concern at how the UK company’s underlying revenue at most of its core European businesses is falling, the FT reports. Newspaper tips Waste disposal space is running out and the continued use of landfill is impractical – and it is getting more costly. Landfill taxes will increase to Ł56 per tonne in 2011, Ł64 in 2012 and Ł72 in 2013. One company that will benefit from the new waste disposal regime is Shanks. Although Shanks' markets are currently depressed, its future is underpinned by strong regulatory and legislative drivers. Trading on a March 2010 earnings multiple of 11.9 and yielding 3.5%, the stance is buy, says the Sunday Telegraph. Tate & Lyle beat consensus expectations in its first half results – the first for new chief executive Javed Ahmed. The shares now yield 5% and trade on a March 2010 earnings multiple of 12.3 times, falling to 11 in 2011. Until the new chief executive lays out his new strategy, which could potentially include an exit from sugar to focus on ingredients and sweeteners, the stance on the shares remains hold, says the Sunday Telegraph. US close US markets rallied after an initial negative response to higher than expected US unemployment figures. October non-farm payrolls data showed the US unemployment rate rose to 10.2% from 9.8% in September. The number of jobs lost in October was 190,000, versus expectations of 175,000 job losses. Gold futures finished at a record Friday as the jobs reports prompted economists to predict interest rates will stay near zero well into next year, sinking the dollar. Gold for November ended at $1,095.10 an ounce. Dow Jones rose 17 points at 10,023, while the S&P 500 addded 2 at 1,069. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 7 points to 2,112. A recommendation upgrade to outperform by Sanford C Bernstein helped boost General Electric. The broker reckons that the rise posed by financial services subsidiary GE Capital has reduced. The world’s biggest maker of slot machines International Game Technology shot up after forecasting beating earnings of 20 cents a share for the company’s fourth quarter.

Sector Risers

Name	Value	% Change
Banks	4,901.34	+2.1%
Chemicals	4,377.24	+1.7%
Industrial Transportation	2,003.15	+1.6%
Industrial Metals	4,336.18	+1.3%
Automobiles & Parts	2,616.30	+1.3%

Sector Fallers

Name	Value	% Change
Construction & Materials	3,357.59	-1.7%
Mobile Telecommunications	3,123.50	-1.1%
Gas, Water & Multiutilities	3,672.98	-0.9%
Health Care Equipment & Services	2,993.79	-0.8%
Oil & Gas Producers	7,917.92	-0.7%