London pre-open: More woe for retailers

7th Apr 2011 07:36

The market looks set to crawl higher at the outset with City traders predicting the top share index will open six or seven points higher despite further evidence from results this morning of hard times on the high street.In the first quarter of 2011 international recruitment firm Hays saw like-for-like (LFL) growth in net fees in every region except the UK & Ireland, where spending cuts in the public sector are starting to bite. For the group as a whole, fees were up 16% on a year earlier on a LFL basis. "Overall, 21 countries grew net fees by more than 20%," revealed Alistair Cox, chief executive of Hays.Bicycle and car part retailer Halfords predicted a continuing tough trading environment as it posted a sharp fall in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 1 April. Like-for-like sales from the company's retail outlets were down by 6.8% from the same period the previous year, resulting in a 5.5% fall over the full year. Carpetright has become the latest British retailer to warn on profits. The flooring and carpet retailer says it now expects pre-tax profits for the year to 30 April to be in line with those achieved in 2009, when trading was hit hard by the economic crisis. It had previously said that profits for the current year would be below 2010 but ahead of 2009.Anglo-Swedish drugs leviathan AstraZeneca has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its thyroid cancer treatment Vandetanib.---jh