London open: Ex-divs weigh

Footsie is in the red following yesterday's good gains and despite decent performance on Wall Street overnight.Former Bank of Ireland governor Richard Burrows is to be the new chairman of Lucky Strike maker British American Tobacco when Jan du Plessis steps down from the position on 1 November. Burrows stood down as governor of Bank of Ireland last month following a turbulent period which saw the bank relying on state funding to weather the credit crunch.BAT is lower though on ex-dividend issues. Other stocks weighed by ex-dividends are Scottish & Southern Energy, Thomson Reuters and Pearson.A slump in demand for commodities and weaker prices sent profits plunging at ENRC, down 63% to $751m in the first half of 2009. The dividend is also cut in half but the shares still moved ahead.There are reports that Blackstone is in exclusive talks with British Land to take a 50% stake in Broadgate, the landmark £2.5bn office development in the heart of the City of London.Venture Production saw half-year profits slip 7% to £105.2m despite a 14% hike in revenue to £274.7m as lower realised prices and higher costs weighed. More than 95% of Rexam's recent rights issue has been taken up, the packaging group has announced.Latin America-focused miner Hochschild Mining saw interim profits slide in the year as silver prices decreased by 22%. Pre-tax profit for the half-year came in at $37.6m against $69.5mAviation and distribution group John Menzies posted a decline in half year pre-tax profit and scrapped its interim dividend but says full year results are expected to be ahead of markets forecasts.Oil explorer JKX Oil & Gas has begun commercial gas production from the Hajdúnánás field in north east Hungary. Silicon wafers supplier PV Crystalox Solar is confident of a "robust" performance in the second half despite reporting a 57% slump in earnings for the first six months of 2009.Car dealer Lookers revealed a 34% decline in half year pre-tax profit but said it is well positioned to trade through a challenging car market. Lookers, which raised £80.7m in equity earlier this year, said pre-tax profit fell to £8.6m in the six months ended 30 June 2009 from £13m the year before.Camera seller Jessops has provided further evidence of tough times in the retail sector, reporting a 4.7% fall in like-for-like sales in the 12 weeks to August 16.Aerospace and engineering group Hampson said tough trading conditions have persisted as plane makers continue delaying orders, but expects to see increasing revenues at its core aerospace tooling division.