Related Companies

• Home Retail Group
• BG Group
• Bodycote International
• British Sky Broadcasting Group
• Standard Life

Related Indices

• FTSE All-Share
• FTSE 350
• FTSE 100
• FTSEurofirst 300
• FTSE 250

Related Sectors

• General Retailers
• Oil & Gas Producers
• Industrial Engineering
• Media
• Life Insurance

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Date: Wednesday 30 Apr 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - London's blue chip index is tipped to shed about 10 points in early dealings as some big names report.

Retail group Home Retail raised underlying annual profits by 15% to £433m but cautioned that the it faces a weaker consumer spending outlook this year. Sales rose by 2.3% in total to £5.99bn with like-for-like sales up 0.7% at Argos and down 4.1% at Homebase.

BG's first quarter net profit rose to £767m from £432m driven by strong oil and gas prices and higher production and just ahead of forecasts. The group also confirmed it had made a $12bn approach to Origin of Australia, the country's second-biggest electricity and gas retailer.

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB met forecasts in the third quarter with nine-month adjusted operating profit of £521m, down 6%, and revenues of £3.71bn, up 10%. The group added 56,000 net new customers with churn at 10.5%.

Standard Life saw life and pensions sales rise by 8% in the first quarter to £4.48bn with the UK chipping in £3.52bn, up 6%. Savings and investment sales rose by 43%. Pension sales were 2% lower than a strong prior year comparator and individual SIPP sales fell by 14% after last year's exceptional boost.

Bodycote, the engineering firm, said organic sales growth is running at about 6% in the year to date, with operating margins and cash flow in line with management expectations.

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