Intertek Group Share News (ITRK)

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 26 points lower than yesterday's close of 6,723.46, weighed down by activist investor Carl Icahn who was reported as saying that a "big drop" could be around the corner, sparking concerns over the recent run on equity markets which on Monday saw US indices reach milestone intraday records.It will be a relatively quiet day on the macro-economic front, with investors already looking ahead to tomorrow when the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting will be released. Today will see the release of ZEW's German economic sentiment index for November, which is expected to climb to 54 from 52.8 last month. A reading above 50 signals expansion. The report will come a day after Bundesbank said Europe's biggest economy is growing solidly and its upturn will likely be consolidated in the coming months. While Germany achieved growth of 0.7% in the second quarter, preliminary data shows it expanded by just 0.3% between July and September as exports weighed."There's a good chance that the economic upturn in Germany will be further cemented in the coming months," the central bank said in its November monthly report.Residential construction and private consumption, boosted by robust labour market and strong wage increase, have helped lift the economy despite weak exports.Back in the UK, and on the company front, tour operator TUI Travel is selling most of its stake in the airline consortium that part-owns the UK's air traffic control service to a university pension scheme for £38m. TUI said it had agreed to sell the majority of its interest in the Airline Group, which owns 41.9% of UK NATS Holdings (NATS), to Britain's Universities Superannuation Scheme. Products testing company Interek Group has agreed to buy Architectural Testing, Inc (ATI), a building products testing and certification firm in North America. Intertek will purchase ATI from private equity group Wafra Partners and the management shareholders for $95m.FTSE 100-listed global technology business Smiths Group said overall trading in the three months to November has been in line with expectations as improvements in Detection, John Crane and Flex-Tek more than offset some weakness in Medical and Interconnect. Expectations for the year remain broadly in line with expectations, although foreign exchange translation is expected to be a headwind at current rates, it cautioned, and sales to government-funded customers remain a risk. Investment in its television productions paid off for ITV in the third quarter, with the Downton Abbey and I'm a Celebrity broadcaster seeing revenues rising and audience share swelling. Furthermore, 17% growth in online, pay and interactive TV helped the group lift revenues 6% to £1.66bn for the nine months to the end of September, broadly in line with forecasts.AMEC, the industrial engineering and project management group, has maintained its guidance for the full year, saying that trading has been in line with expectations with order intake and forward visibility strong in the third quarter. "AMEC has continued to perform in line with expectations, with strong performances in the UK North Sea and US renewable markets. Our record order book reinforces our confidence as we look forward to 2014," said Chief Executive Samir Brikho.NR