London open: Korea and Ireland sink markets

Renewed hostilities between North and South Korea and fears that the euro-crisis will spread beyond Ireland have made for a poor start on markets across Europe.Economists are lining up up to say the bail-out proposed for Ireland won't be enough to save the eurozone, while North Korea shelling a South Korean island near the border is a major escalation in the tension between the countries.Banks and miners are bearing the brunt of the selling so far this morning. Vedanta, Kazakhmys and Antofagasta are the worst of the miners but the whole sector is weak.Standard Chartered has been knocked by the Korean situation, but Lloyds and Barclays are not faring much better due to worries over Irish exposure.Mitchells & Butlers' debt reduction programme has cut the pub group's interest bill, helping boost full-year profit by 26%. The All Bar One and Harvester owner reported profit before tax and exceptional items up to £169m for the year ended 25 September from £134m a year ago. Revenue rose 1.1% to £1.98bn.Water Group Severn Trent posted a fall in profits in the six months to 30 September despite higher revenues, after facing a number of charges. The company, which serves 8m customers across England and Wales, said pre-tax profits fell to £101.1m from £208.2m the previous year on turnover that rose to £867.9m from £852.1m.De La Rue's underlying interim profits tumbled after the well-flagged problems at one of its paper production sites. That cost it £35m and the resignation of chief executive James Hussey. The firm says demand for banknotes was also weak generally in the past six months with revenues falling from £252m to £209m. Underlying profits fell from £48m to £23.8m including the £35m charge, which was in line with previous estimates.Emergency repair service provider Homeserve posted a 32% decline in half year pre-tax profit as it issued a confident outlook for the year. The boiler repair group said statutory pre-tax profit fell to £17.8m for the six months ended 30 September 2010 from £26.0m after including exceptional revenue of £10.2m.Lower impairments and a much stronger investment portfolio were behind a sharp increase in half-year profit at mezzanine finance specialist Intermediate Capital. It posted a profit before tax of £105.1m for the six months ended 30 September compared with just £8.1m a year ago and £97.7m in the second half of the last financial year.Electrical component maker Laird is acquiring Cattron Group, which makes remote controls for cranes, agricultural machinery and other equipment, for $90m (£56.5m). The acquisition will allow Laird to expand its wireless 'machine-to-machine' offering while providing technology, product development and revenue synergies, Laird said.