London open: Flat start ahead of review

London has recovered from an early blip as investors get ready for tomorrow's comprehensive spending review.Banks are largely responsible for the revival with Barclays, Standard Chartered and RBS all ahead.Autonomy is flat even though chief Mike Lynch said growth prospects for the data search software giant remain good. Third quarter profits in the three months to September rose to $57.6m from $48.6m as sales climbed 10% to a record $211m. Underlying operating profits rose by 34% to $86.3m. Chip designer Arm is also lower after Apple's figures last night. The tech giant's profits rose by 70% but iPad sales missed some forecasts. Arm is a big supplier to Apple.First half underlying pre-tax profits from Premier Inn and Costa Coffee owner Whitbread were in line with market expectations but the company had a pleasant surprise on the dividend front. Group underlying profit before tax rose by 28.4% to £151.8m in the six months to 2 September from £118.2m in the corresponding period of last year. The interim dividend, which most brokers had expected to be moved up to 10p or a little above has been hiked to 11.25p.A cloud over sportswear retailer Sports Direct International has been lifted as the company indicated that no charges will be brought against it by the Serious Fraud Office.Automotive and aerospace engineer GKN expects a "solid" end to the year after sales in the third quarter jumped 21% and trading profit almost doubled. "The outlook for GKN's markets in the fourth quarter remains positive with group sales expected to be at a similar level to the third quarter," the group said Tuesday. Housebuilder Bellway bounced back into profit and upped its final dividend as the housing market stabilised though it says "buyer confidence slowly ebbed away during the summer" and sales have picked up only slightly recently.