London pre-open: Early strength expected

3rd Dec 2009 07:35

London looks set for a push higher in early deals as metal prices continue to rise and with US futures pointing to a stronger start on Wall Street later.Indications are that the FTSE 100 will add about 30 points this morning, adding to yesterday's 15-point gain.In company news, Xstrata has approved a US$542m (£325m) investment to extend the life of its Ernest Henry Mining (EHM) copper-gold mine near Cloncurry in north-west Queensland, Australia, to at least 2024. The money will be spent on the transformation of open pit mining to a major underground mine. Feasibility studies have led to a revised ore reserve estimate of 72 million tonnes, up 600% on previous estimates. Alistair Darling is heading for a potentially disastrous showdown with Royal Bank of Scotland over plans to pay £1.5bn in bonuses to its staff, according to the Independent. It says the chancellor is to be granted the right to veto bonus payments at the bank, which will soon be 84% owned by the taxpayer, but has been warned that doing so could leave RBS's board with no choice but to resign en masse, Anglo-Swedish drugs giant AstraZeneca is to licence TC-5214, the treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) developed by biopharmaceutical company Targacept. The pair will work together on the global development and commercialisation of TC-5214, a late stage product which recently completed a phase IIb clinical trial. Astra will stump up an initial $200m upon effectiveness and up to $540m in additional payments if certain milestones are achieved.DIY group Kingfisher reported a 2.4% rise in third quarter sales thanks to a strong performance by its B&Q brand in the UK and Poland. Sales in the 13 weeks ended 31 October came to £2.69bn, up 5.6% on a reported basis and 2.4% in constant currencies. Like-for-like sales have increased by 0.8%, while retail profit jumped by 23.4% to £277m.Engineering conglomerate Halma reported slightly lower half year profits but said order intake was lightly ahead of revenue. Pre-tax profit from continuing operations was down 2% at £38.1m in the 27 weeks to 3 October from £39m after incurring £1.7m of restructuring costs. Statutory pre-tax profit was down 1% at 35.4m. Analysts expected the sensors company to post pre-tax profits of between £33.6m and £38.7m. Train and bus operator Go Ahead has exchanged contracts to sell its airport ground handling and cargo operations to focus on its rail and bus activities. It is selling ground handling and cargo operations at Heathrow and Manchester Airport to Middle Eastern travel group Dnata for £15m. Most airport operations outside Heathrow are being sold to global aviation Servisair for a 'nominal' consideration.