London midday: Budget casts shadow over Footsie

22nd Jun 2010 12:04

Footsie is lower ahead of today's emergency Budget with markets uneasy given the tough rhetoric beforehand from chancellor George Osborne.The sentiment boost enjoyed yesterday following the announcement that China is to stop pegging its currency to the US dollar has worn off, as can be seen by the weakness of miners such as Fresnillo and Kazahhmys, which give back some of yesterday's gains. Costa Coffee owner Whitbread is giving the Footsie a small caffeine rush after a trading update. Premier Inn and Costa Coffee were the star performers for the hotel and restaurant chain group as it posted a record 7.6% like for like sales rise. For the 13 weeks to 3 June 2010 total sales were up 13.5%. Premier Inn put in a strong performance with sales up 14.1% during the quarter and like for like rising 10.5%. British Airways is another blue-chip on the rise. The company has taken a major step towards restructuring its huge pension liabilities after the trustees of its two pensions funds agreed a recovery plan that avoids their closure to members. It should move the merger with Iberia even closer.Electronic sensors firm Halma produced record results for the seventh year in a row and topped analyst forecasts with an increase in adjusted profit of 9%. Profit before tax from continuing operations jumped to £86.2m in the 12 months ended 3 April, up from £79.1m in 2009, trumping expectations of about £82m.Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl said overall trading is in line with full year expectations with revenue growth of 2%. Operating margin has improved in the six months ending 30 June compared to the same period in 2009 as a result of increases in the UK & Ireland and the Rest of the World.Shares in cigarette vending machine maker Molins went up in smoke after it issued a profit warning. Molins' shares skidded 16% after it warned its full year performance was now lower than previously thought as orders were delayed or cancelled and as it counted rising costs at its Packaging Machinery division.Youth fashion outfit SuperGroup has terminated an agreement with sole trader 888 Clothing whereby 888 sells on eBay SuperGroup garments classified as seconds, and setting up its own in-house eBay offering. Business process outsourcing specialist Xchanging has signed a letter of intent with SIA-SSB, the European leader in financial and payment systems services, to form an Enterprise Partnership.Chemring, the UK military decoy flares and mine detection firm, increased underlying profit in the first half by 7% and has named the successor to chairman Ken Scobie who retires in October after 13 years.