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Date: Wednesday 20 Aug 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - London is expected to rally slightly in early dealings despite another tough day on Wall Street. Traders have pencilled a rise of up 20 points for Footsie.

It is a very quiet day in terms of scheduled announcements. European newspaper publisher Mecom posted a £19.7m loss (£24.6m loss) in the first half of 2008 after hefty one-off costs and write-offs. On a like-for-like basis operating profits were down by 3% to £64m on flat revenues of £770m. Advertising sales slipped 2% and it expects a similar second half performance.

Building contractor Tolent's first half profit fell to £1.1m (2007: £1.53m) in tough trading conditions and after a £750,000 bad debt. Revenue rose to £85m (£76m) but the first half saw a slowing of inquiries and conversion of these inquiries into firm orders. The interim dividend is reduced to 4p from 5p.

In the papers, Barclays would consider buying a US wealth management company but is “highly unlikely” to bid for an investment bank, even with the depressed share prices of many Wall Street firms, Bob Diamond, the bank’s president, told the Financial Times.

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