LONDON (ShareCast) - London has opened lower but better than expected after the 300 point plus fall for Dow Jones overnight.

Oil groups are back in favour led by BP on the settlement of its ownership dispute at joint venture TNK-BP. Renewed talk of a bid talk for BG from ExxonMobil has also sent it higher.

Unilever is going well for a second day on the appointment of Paul Polman as its new chief executive.

British Energy is lower despite a report in the FT that Electricité de France is moving closer to a deal to buy the nuclear generator.

Pub group JD Wetherspoon's full year profits fell by 12.7% to £54.2m as the smoking ban and slowdown in consumer spending bit hard. Total sales increased by 2.1% to £907.5m, though on a like-for-like basis they fell 1.1%.
"In the five weeks to 31 August 2008, like-for-like sales increased by 1.1% and total sales by 5.5%, making this August our busiest ever," Wetherspoon added.

Music and entertainment retailer HMV Group's like-for-like sales rose by 1.3% in the 18 weeks to 30 August, in line with forecasts but markedly slower than the 10.1% seen in the previous quarter.

Carr's Milling has upped its full year forecast after very strong second half trading across all divisions and geographies with its largest division Agriculture especially good. Carr's now expects now expects profit before tax will be no less than £12.5m (2007: £5.5m), on revenue of approximately £350m (2007: £253m). The firm has also raised £2.7m with a placing at 660p.

Bus and Train group Go-Ahead upped full year profits by 19% to £131m, after all of its 12 subsidiaries increased their contribution. The dividend for the year rises by 15.7%. "Retaining the Southern franchise is a high priority for us and we were pleased to have been shortlisted by the DfT to bid for the new franchise. We have started the new year well and trading has been in line with the board's expectations," it added.

Budget airline easyJet carried almost 24% more passengers in August than it did the year before, while passenger numbers grew by 8.8% at rival Aer Lingus last month.

Churchill Mining has confirmed reports of a huge upgrade to its reserves at the East Kutai Coal Project in Indonesia. Churchill says it now has 1.412bn tonnes of JORC compliant resource, in various categories, at the project. The new resurce estimate exceedes the initial full year 2008 target of 500m tonnes of thermal coal by 140%.

Multi-utility Telecom Plus expects results to exceed expectations "significantly" this year.

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