London pre-open: Flat start expected

A flat start is expected in London, despite gains on Wall Street last night.A surge in activity in the fourth quarter enabled temporary power and temperature control specialist Aggreko to nudge its full-year profit estimates higher. It now expects a pre-tax profit of around £305m for 2010, up from its estimate of £300m in October.Petrofac, the oilfield services provider, thinks net profit for 2010 will be up by a fifth, in line with expectations, while the year-end order backlog should be a new record. In a statement ahead of full-year results due on 7 March, the company said it should match the $416.3m profit forecast by analysts.Pub owner Punch saw a modest improvement in both arms of its operation over the past 16 weeks, but trading for its tenanted arm still remains very difficult. The managed business saw like for like sales growth of 2.2% in the period with drinks sales growth of 1.7% and food sales growth of 2.6%. "Our sales performance has continued to progress well, despite a 1% impact from weather-affected trading over the last 2 weeks of the reported period," Punch said.