London pre-open: Stocks to follow Wall Street lower

Last night's late rally in London is not expected to continue, with stocks set to follow Wall Street lower, as concerns about the Greek debt crisis rumble on.City traders expect the Footsie to open around 30 points lower at 5,893.Strong growth in emerging markets and the increasing popularity of smartphones helped the mobile telecommunications giant Vodafone post higher revenues and profits in the year to 31 March. Adjusted pre-tax profits rose to £11bn from £10.6bn on revenues that were up to £45.9bn from £44.5bn.Insurance giant Aviva highlighted the performance of its UK general insurance sales, which topped the billion pounds mark, as it made a solid start to the year. Net written premiums in the first quarter of 2011 were up 9% on the corresponding quarter and up 14% on the preceding quarter at £2.69bn.Debt-laden pubs group Enterprise Inns said average net income per pub remained stable in the first half of its fiscal year, despite poor weather conditions over the key Christmas trading period. Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped to £179m from £204m the year before, while profit before tax and one-off items tumbled to £61m from £91m.---jh