London pre-open: Budget looms

22nd Jun 2010 07:37

London's top stock look set to open around 40 points lower ahead of the coalition government's eagerly awaited emergency budget which will be revealed around lunchtime. Chancellor George Osborne has been talking tough since taking office, but now he will have to play his hand and analysts will speculate whether the decisions he makes can provide the economy with stability and move Britain forward. Osborne has been vocal about making Britain competitive by cutting corporation tax so that big businesses find it worthwhile to come to the country. But much of the focus on Tuesday will be on what taxes will be raised. On the company front, British Airways 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 new members. The airlines' New Airways Pension Scheme (NAPS) and Airways Pension Scheme (APS) have a deficit of about £2.9bn. The recovery plan maintains British Airways' annual contributions at the current level of some £330m, plus agreed annual increases in line with inflation expectations averaging 3%.Electronic sensors firm Halma has 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, largely due to the favourable impact of cost reduction and the absence of a negative transaction impact from foreign exchange which particularly affected these business areas in the first half of last year. Mitchells & Butlers announced the appointment of Tim Jones as new finance director of the pub group. Jones, who is currently holding the same position at services, maintenance and building group Interserve since 2003, will replace Jeremy Townsend.