London open: Results give Footsie a lift

London has opened stronger than expected after the dip on Wall Street overnight, largely due to some well received trading updates from index heavyweights on a very busy company announcement day.Barclays eked out a small increase in nine-month profit as a doubling of profit at the investment banking arm offset huge impairment charges at the Spanish business. The bank has made £4.27bn so far in 2010, up 4% on the same time last year, or 6% to £4.24bn excluding movements on own credit, gains on acquisitions and disposals and gains on debt buy-backs. Impairment charges were slashed by 31% to £4.30bn.Mobile phone giant Vodafone raised its profits forecast for the current year and vowed to get more cash out of its stakes in Verizon Wireless and SFR one way or another in a bullish half-year update. The firm now expects adjusted operating profit for the 2011 financial year will be in the range of £11.8bn to £12.2bn, up from its previous range of £11.2bn -£12bn.Marc Bolland, the new boss of Marks & Spencer, will focus mainly on the UK initially, with the aim of becoming the UK's leading multi-channel retailer by 2013/14. Bolland unveiled his strategic plan for Marks & Spencer (M&S) as an accompaniment to interim results that showed adjusted profit before tax in the 26 weeks to 2 October up 16.9% to £348.6m from £298.3m a year earlier.Primark and British Sugar owner Associated British Foods had a record year with group revenue up 10% to £10.2bn and adjusted profit before tax up 26% to £825m.Hotel giant Intercontinental Hotels grew revenue in the past three months for the first since early 2009, as recovery in the global economy fed through into demand for rooms. Revenue per room, or revpar, rose 8.1% in the three months to September, with Greater China increasing 24.4% and Europe, Middle East and Africa all growing at the fastest pace for two years.Gold miner Randgold Resources saw a 12% quarter-on-quarter increase in gold sales in the third quarter, helped by a 4% rise in the received gold price. Gold sales in the quarter ended 30 September totalled $116.3m, up from $103.4m in the preceding quarter and $103.5m in the third quarter of 2009. Profit rocketed at fund manager Schroders during the third quarter to more than twice the figure for last year thanks in part to net inflows of £5.4bn since the end of June. Legal & General has confirmed a 27% hike in worldwide sales for the first nine months of the year and says it's set to beat its full-year net cash target. Most of the numbers, including total worldwide new business of £466m in the three months to 30 September, were published last month, more than two weeks early after it sent them to analysts by mistake. BP is going well after a US presidential commission investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster found no evidence to support charges the company and its rig partners put profits ahead of safety. Yellow Pages publisher Yell posted a decline in half year profit but it still believes it can meet expectations for the full year adjusted EBITDA. In a separate statement Yell also announced Michael Pocock will become chief executive officer 1 January 2011.