There's plenty of corporate news for the City to chew through this morning while we wait for the Bank of England's decision on interest rates and quantitative easing at noon.
Mining group Vedanta Resources first, which was upbeat despite posting a 41% drop in EBITDA earnings for the six months to 30 September. Chairman Anil Agarwal said there are "early signs of economic recovery globally":
We have seen some recovery in metals prices and the fundamentals remain highly attractive. We expect that the economic and industrial growth in India will help underpin the demand for our products.
Vedanta, which is India's largest copper mining firm, has been heavily criticised in recent months for the impact its mining operations in India is having on local tribes. It claimed this morning that its "sustainable development efforts have positively impacted 427 villages that include 2.5 million people."
Elsewhere, consumer goods giant Unilever has beaten forecasts with volume growth of 3.6%, with all regions and product categories seeing increased sales.
Cable & Wireless has announced that it is splitting into two businesses, by demerging its overseas operations. It also revised down its earnings forecasts, but promised a 12% rise in its interim dividend.
Man Group has beaten its own expectations with pretax profits of $302m for the last six months - 8% higher than it predicted in September. That is still a hefty fall on the $622m it made the previous year.
Insurance firm Old Mutual has seen sales slide 4% in the last three months - better than analysts had expected.
ITV has reported an 11% drop in revenue for the first nine months of the year. It is more upbeat about the rest of 2009, where it expects to match last year's performance. Chief operating operator John Cresswell said the broadcaster was delivering a "strong operational performance":
All our channels are performing strongly on-screen and ITV1 is extending its lead over BBC1 in peak time viewing. Both ITV Studios and itv.com are delivering revenue growth. We are meeting our cost savings targets and continue to strengthen our balance sheet.
And property firm Grainger has launched a £250m rights issue.
