London open: Early gains for blue chips

Financials are keeping Footsie moving forward this morning. Standard Life, HSBC and Aviva are all in demand despite the 100-point fall on the Dow overnight.Reckitt Benckiser is lower again on worries over the inquiry into its sales methods for Gaviscon heartburn products. Mining giant BHP Billiton's chairman Don Argus has chosen 30 March as the date on which he will relinquish the role and quit the board. As announced in August, Argus will be succeeded by non-executive Jac Nasser who will discontinue executive management responsibilities with One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JP Morgan, but remain a director at BSkyB.Housebuilder Barratt Developments has cut half year losses and predicts a "significant" improvement in operating margin in the second half versus the first as it begins selling more houses and fewer flats. A loss before tax and exceptionals of £48.5m for the last six months of 2009 was much less than the £80.6m deficit reported a year ago, as was the loss after exceptionals of £178.4m versus £594.5m in 2008. It has already secured 77% of forward sales for the full year and is targeting full year completions of around 11,500 units at 8-10% more than last year due to the change in mix. Heavy restructuring costs sent profits lower at public-sector focused software group Logica last year, though the underlying numbers beat forecasts. Sales were flat and the group expects little revenue growth in the current 12 months.Wickes owner Travis Perkins gave a gloomy assessment of the mindset of consumers as sales and underlying profits fell last year with revenues also down in the current year. "We are concerned in particular about weak consumer spending trends in 2010 as inflation rises and the cushion of falling mortgage costs annualises out. We expect the home improvement market to contract further in 2010," chief executive Geoff Cooper said. Blacks Leisure has postponed today's EGM to vote on its £20.3m fund raising to give it more time to come to a settlement with 28.5% shareholder Sports Direct, which stated on Monday it would vote against the plan. "There can be no guarantee that these discussions will reach a successful conclusion," it added.Contractor and housebuilder Kier delivered profits in line with expectations as it continued to focus on winning work 'at the right price.' Profit before tax virtually halved to £16.7m in the six months to 31 December 2009 from £31.6m in 2008. However, that was after taking an exceptional charge of £13.8m, compared to a one-off credit of £6.3m in 2008. Fund manager Henderson swung into the black last year after a loss-making 2008 and increased assets under management (AUM) by 17% following the acquisition of rival New Star in April for £94.2m. St James Place's funds under management soared by 31% in 2009 to hit a new record as rising stock markets sparked a surge of new money into the wealth manager. Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com posted a 26% decline in full year EBITDA but added it was confident in its prospects for the full year. Trading improved significantly in February after a slow start in January.