London open: Banks give Footsie a boost

Banks have helped Footsie make a bright start with reports that Barclays is considering new offers for its iShares arm boosting the whole sector.Barclays may backtrack on a deal to sell its iShares unit to CVC, the private equity group, and instead offload its entire asset management division for £6.5bn, the Times suggested this morning.The FT adds that the talks on the potential sale of BGI are the outcome of an initial auction for iShares, which Barclays agreed to sell to CVC Capital Partners, the private equity group, for $4.2bn last month. Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland are up in sympathy.Rio Tinto, the world's third-largest miner, has received clearance from an American investment body that keeps its $19.5bn (£13bn) fundraising with China's Chinalco on track. Rumours continue to circulate that it is looking at new alternatives, despite Rio insisting it is committed to the deal.Petrofac has made a strong start to the year, chairman Rodney Chase will tell shareholders at today's AGM, with the oil and gas facilities provider's backlog doubling to $8.2bn at the end of April. Chase is confident 2009 will be another year of strong growth after its biggest business, engineering and construction, bagged $5bn of new contracts in the first quarter of the year.Punters did well at the Cheltenham Festival in March, but that was bad news for bookmaker Ladbrokes which saw profits plunge 34% in the first four months of 2009. It blamed the profit slump on abnormal gross win margin in March, increased free bets and unfavourable cost phasing in eGaming against the previous year.PV Crystalox Solar, which produces silicon wafers for use in solar power generation systems, expects first half revenues to take a 10% dive from last year's half-yearly revenues. The company has seen a further decline in demand for its products since its preliminary results announcement at the end of March and has had been helping out some customers with temporary discounts.Product tester Intertek has made good start to the first four months of the year, boosted by the weakness of the pound. Total revenue for the first four months of 2009 increased by 42% at actual exchange rates.IT services company Computacenter said it expects first half profit to be well ahead of the same period the previous year after seeing strong trading in the first four months of 2009.Revenues slumped in the first four months of 2009 at radio and TV broadcaster UTV, with the Ulster-based media group also cautious over the rest of the year.Book publisher Bloomsbury has issued a mixed trading statement, with the UK and US trading well but German operations experiencing difficulties. The company said that, while UK retailers are returning more books than anticipated trading is in line with expectations. The US business is in line with budget, Bloomsbury said,Coal miner UK Coal said production since the end of the first quarter has continued broadly in line with expectations. Poor weather hit surface mine production at the start of the year, as did a relatively increased focus on stripping overburden, but this production is expected to be recovered during the year.