London pre-open: Confident start expected

With Prime Minister Gordon Brown expected to visit the Queen today to ask her to dissolve Parliament the market has put to one side concerns about the possibility that there will be no clear winner in a general election and looks set to resume after the Easter break in confident manner.Traders expect the FTSE 100 index will open around 45 points up from its close on Thursday. Testing and inspections firm Intertek is boosting its presence in the pharmaceutical and environmental markets with the acquisition of the regulatory and safety testing businesses of Ciba Expert Services (Ciba ES) from BASF.Steve Smith, chief executive of Northgate, the vehicle hire group, is to step down from the board. Smith had been scheduled to retire on last year on 1 August.Also heading for the exit is Keith Chapman, chairman of home shopping and educational supplies group Findel.Pharmacy and GP services supplier Assura said it is no longer in takeover talks after the parties that had made the initial bid approach confirmed that they do not intend to pursue an offer.Two companies bearing bad news today are Printing.com and Endace. Specialist printing group Printing.com expects its full-year results to be 'marginally' below market forecasts after recent trading softened while networking monitoring solutions provider Endace said its full-year results will be 'materially' below earlier expectations due to contract delays.There is better news from specialist utility contractor May Gurney, which expects this year's results to meet expectations, with new orders now at record levels.