London pre-open: Nervous opening expected
London is set to open nervously with a couple of cash calls and some mixed trading statements for investors to mull. Traders suggest Footsie will shed 5 points in early dealings.
A sharp drop in sales has slashed almost half a billion pounds off the forward order book of Barratt Developments, the housebuilder revealed. The group's forward order book currently stands at about £1.56bn versus £2.1bn a year ago following a 7.6% slide in housebuilding revenues during the 19 weeks to 11 May to £825m.
Mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley is to raise approximately £300m, net of expenses, in a 16 for 25 rights issue at 82p. This represents a 36% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price and a 48% discount to the closing price last night. The 2008 interim dividend, due in October 2008, is to be paid in shares with a new target for underlying dividend cover of between 2.0 to 2.5 times underlying earnings.
Rail and bus group First Group is to raise up to £260m with the issue of 43.7m shares, 10% of the shares currently in issue. The final price has yet to set. Adjusted operating profit for the year to March was up nearly 40% at £360m. " Although it is early in the new financial year, the Group continues to trade well and the outlook remains positive," it said. The new cash will pay off part of the debt raised to buy Laidlaw last year.
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Land Securities swung to a full-year pre-tax loss but said it is well positioned for the current market. The real estate giant reported a pre-tax loss, which includes the revaluation deficit on its investment properties, of £888.8m in the year ended 31 March from a profit of £1.98bn the previous year. Revenue came to £379.1m compared with £392.2 last time, while basic net asset value per share fell 10.3% to 2067p. The group's investment portfolio valuation is down 8.8%.
Contract caterer Compass beat broker forecasts with a 29% rise in first-half profit to £289m in the six months to March 31. " Balance sheet efficiency remains a priority and looking forward, we are confident about the second half of the year and the future potential for the business. With this as the background, we are increasing the interim dividend by 11% and will buy back a further £400m shares of our over the next 18 months," it said.
Software group LogicaCMG's first quarter revenue rose 3.6% on a pro forma basis to £856m (2007: £826m), with March impacted by the effect of an earlier Easter. For the first four months of 2008, revenue was up 6.0% on a pro forma constant currency basis. UK revenue was stable in the first quarter, with positive momentum into the second quarter of 2008. "Overall market activity levels appear resilient and underpin our confidence in our 2008 guidance," it said.
