London open: Blue chips drift lower

7th Apr 2010 08:51

Blue chips have opened lower following an indecisive performance in the US last night as concerns over the financial health of Greece resurfaced.Hedge fund giant Man is one of the few strong risers alongside property giants Land Securities and Hammerson.Mobile phone giant Vodafone is to launch a customised version of Opera, the popular Internet browser, to run on low-cost handsets on 2G networks in a move aimed at developing markets. Prudential tops the list of companies going ex-dividend today.Specialist insurer and reinsurer Beazley has announced its preliminary estimate of its exposure to claims arising from the Chilean earthquake and the European windstorm Xynthia. The company expects the losses from the earthquake to be in the range of $55m to $75m, though uncertainty still surrounds the full scale of the losses.Food sales from its managed pubs continued to lead growth at pub group and brewer Marston's in the half year to April 3. The company remains on track to meet expectations for the full year.Power peripherals supplier Chloride enjoyed a satisfactory fourth quarter and expects to meet expectations for the year to March. Orders at the year-end were 16% higher than the previous year.Balfour Beatty has announced its second contract win in as many days, and this time it is for work on a terminal at Dallas Fort Worth airport. The infrastructure specialist contractor said a joint venture of which it is a member, along with Azteca Enterprises, H J Russell and CARCON Industries, has been selected to carry out preconstruction and construction services for the seven-year terminal development programme at the airport.Electrical parts distributor Electrocomponents has seen sales put on a growth spurt in February and March, which should see full year profits come in ahead of expectations. The company thinks profit before tax in the year to 31 March 2010 will be around £73m.Heritage Oil is going the other way on a mixed report from Kurdistan. Heritage Oil is to dig its Miran West-2 test well in Kurdistan deeper than originally planned after results proved much less productive than its first test well, though it says it has identified areas that could add significantly to reserves.