London pre-open: BP divi hopes to lift Footsie

1st Oct 2010 07:37

London looks set to start the final quarter of 2010 in positive mood with sentiment lifted by hints from the incoming boss of oil giant BP that the company is ready to restore dividend payments that were suspended during the Gulf of Mexico crisis.Bob Dudley, who becomes chief executive of the oil company today, said that the board would meet soon to discuss restoring payouts next year, according to newspaper reports. City traders expect the blue-chip index to open around 16 points up from last night's close.Drugs group Hikma Pharmaceuticals has moved to calm fears about the impact of a plan by US regulators to ban unapproved oral colchicine products to treat gout. The company said it will comply with any FDA regulatory requirements related to the sale of colchicine "if such a notice is served", but still predicts 20% revenue growth for its US generics business for the full year 2010 "irrespective of the timing of such notification".Having thought about it all week Cooper Controls has launched a rival bid for Mount Engineering at 82p a share, topping Redhall's 70p a share offer. Spectris, the mid-cap instrumentation and controls company, has bought American maker of rugged industrial networking components N-TRON for $51m (£32m).