London pre-open: Blue chips to inch higher

19th Nov 2010 07:36

A small improvement is predicted for UK equities first thing Friday following big gains on Wall Street overnight and a subsequent rally in Asia.All eyes will remain on Ireland and efforts to agree a bailout deal worth over €80bn.The FTSE 100 is expected to add just 5 points at the start of play, according to futures prices.In company news, Vedanta Resources has sorted out a $6bn financing agreement with a consortium of banks to cover part of the $8.5bn-9.6bn needed to acquire 51-60% of Cairn India. The company is buying 31%-40% and subsidiary Sesa Goa Ltd the remaining 20%. "The financing announced today provides the group with funding flexibility," explained chairman Anil Agarwal. "A testament to the strength of the Vedanta story," he said.Rival UK drugs group BTG has emerged as the potential bidder for stent specialist Biocompatibles, with the two groups agreeing a takeover that values the firm at £177m or 430p per share. Biocompatibles shareholders will receive 1.6733 New BTG Shares and 10p in cash for each Biocompatibles share. The offer is worth about 40% more than the price on the day Biocompatibles announced it had been approached.Regus, the serviced office specialist, increased revenue slightly during the four months to the end of October, as expected at the time of the interim results in August. Revenues at actual exchange rates rose to £336.5m from £332m a year earlier. The company still thinks now is the best time to invest in growth, with 48 of the 92 centres added so far this year completed since the start of July at a cost of almost £30m. Emerging markets accounted for 58% of them.Record orders over the past three months have kept valve and actuators group Rotork on course this year. "Order intake in the period remained strong, with the third quarter 28% higher than the prior year, a new record," the firm said. "Revenue and margins have been consistent with management expectations and the full year profit outlook remains in line with previous guidance and market consensus," it added.