London open: Modest gains for blue chips

27th May 2009 08:52

Footsie has made modest gains in early dealings after a strong showing on Wall Street last night.Mexico-based silver miner Fresnillo reports a strong start to 2009, with silver production up 9% on last year and stable gold production. Tullow Oil said the Awaka-1 exploration well, located in the Butiaba region of Uganda Block 2, has been plugged and abandoned after only encountering water bearing reservoir sands. ITV is going well, possibly after regulator Ofcom yesterday allowed it to air teleshopping programmes between midnight and 6am.Recent rights issuer Great Portland Estates has terminated £190m of interest rate derivatives at a cost of £18.2m. The transaction results in a reduction in the weighted average interest rate from 5.2% to 2.9% on current net debt levels.Plant hire group Speedy Hire posted a sharp widening in losses in the year to 31 March and said trading in the new financial year is more difficult than anticipated. The firm reported pre-tax losses of £70.6m, compared with £30.5m the previous year. Plumbing supplies group BSS shrugged off tough conditions to post pre-tax profits that barely fell from the previous year despite extremely difficult conditions. Informa said 96.82% of the business publisher's shareholders have subscribed to its rights issue. Biscuits, pizzas and Christmas puddings maker Northern Foods held its dividend as sales last year rose and underlying profits came in slightly better than gloomy predictions.Retailer Topps Tiles' profits slumped barely to above break-even in the half year to March as sales continued to slide. Pre-tax profits tumbled from £15.8m to £0.6m as overall revenue decreased by 13.4% to £92.1m compared with last year's £106.3m). Like-for-like revenues fell by 18.5%.