LONDON Market Open Report

1st December 2009

London open: Footsie bounds ahead

Date: Tuesday 01 Dec 2009

London’s top stocks have opened strongly as concern over the situation in Dubai eases a little.

Miners and banks are leading the rally following a strong performance by both groups on on Wall Street overnight.

Royal Bank of Scotland is among the best performers this morning. It has been affected by the Dubai speculation, but now the talk is that it is Lloyds that is most exposed. Lloyds is lower this morning.

ENRC leads the miners higher but heavyweights Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Xstrata are all going well as the dollar theme returns to the fore again.

Separately, Xstrata has agreed to sell its 19.9% stake in Australian gold and copper miner Indophil Resources to Zijin Mining Group. Chinese mining company Zijin is using the Xstrata stake as a launch-pad for a bid for Indophil. It paid AU$1.28 per share for Xstrata’s stake.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom has asked for views before deciding whether to reflect the cost of BT's growing pension scheme deficit in charges to rivals that use its network. To date, Ofcom has used BT's reported pension costs, excluding deficit repair payments, when determining regulated prices.

Travel operator TUI saw profits rise in the year to September 30 despite flat revenues and reduced demand in the tough economic climate as it managed to raise ticket prices and keep its planes full.

Pub group and brewer Greene King shrugged off the worst of the downturn over the last six months with sales and underlying profits rising modestly thanks to a strong performance from its Scottish arm Belhaven. Revenue to 18 October rose by 4.3% to £464.5m. Operating profit was 3.3% lower than last year at £103.3m, but underlying profits rose by 2.8% at £62.4m.

Irn Bru maker AG Barr warned that economic conditions continue to be challenging but said it is trading in line with expectations and remains confident of delivering its plans for the full year. Revenue for the quarter ended 31 October increased by 21.4% compared to the same period last year. Like for like sales increased by 10.8%.

Interserve has won a £200m facilities management (FM) contract with HSBC and is commencing service delivery today. In a three-year agreement, which has a potential two-year extension, Interserve will deliver facilities services at over 1,600 retail and 120 office sites across the UK, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Bus and train group Go Ahead Group has completed the acquisition of Plymouth CityBus from Plymouth City Council. The council ratified the takeover, first announced on November 23. The enterprise value of the transaction is £20m and gives Go-Ahead 100% control of Plymouth CityBus.