London pre-open: Recapitalisation pledge boosts equities

The leaders of France and Germany have announced that they are ready to recapitalise Europe's troubled banks and have reached agreement on a "long-lasting, complete package" to counter the bloc's debt crisis. The news is set to be welcomed by the UK stock market, though not, perhaps, as enthusiastically as might be expected, with City traders predicting the top-share index will open around 50 points firmer. Recruitment firm Michael Page saw a year-on-year increase in third quarter gross profit of 26.5% at £142.7m, despite growth in the UK coming to a virtual standstill. "As expected, our gross profit growth rates, whilst strong, have slowed as markets have become more challenging," said Steve Ingham, the group's chief executive officer, who admitted that markets have weakened. Sir Adrian Montague will retire as chairman of the board at the end of 2011, to be succeeded by Robin Buchanan, currently an independent non-executive director.High-tech rubber products provider Avon Rubber has not finished adding up the numbers yet for the year to end-September, but expects the profit before tax number will be towards the upper end of current market expectations, after both of its divisions finished the year with a flourish.YouGov, the online market research firm, saw adjusted profit before tax in the year to July 31st rise 43% to £5.8m from £4.0m. Revenue surged 26.9% to £56.1m from £44.2m last year, helped by strong performance from recent US acquisitions.--jh