| CATEGORY: MARKET REPORT - AFTERNOON SECTOR: TRAVEL & LEISURE |
London afternoon: Equities drift lower |
|
Fri 20 Nov 2009
|
Market Movers
techMARK 1,490.02 -0.17%
FTSE 100 5,253.20 -0.28%
FTSE 250 9,142.90 -1.02%
LONDON (SHARECAST) - Around two thirds of the Footsie’s constituents are in the red today as the blue-chip index looks set to finish the week lower than it started it.
US bank Morgan Stanley has rained on the parade of package tour operators Thomas Cook and TUI Travel. The bank has cut its rating on both stocks, prompting sharp mark downs of both stocks.
Thomas Cook has been downgraded from ‘equal weight’ to ‘underweight’ and TUI cut to ‘equal weight’ from ‘overweight’. The price target of the former has been chopped to 230p from 270p, while Morgan Stanley cut its price target for TUI to 290p from 320p.
Morgan Stanley thinks both companies will suffer from higher fuel prices next year. It is also worried about cash generation levels and growing debts.
Rio Tinto is in the red after Credit Suisse cut its rating on the mining giant from ‘neutral’ to ‘underperform’.
Broker comment has, however, given a boost to Cable & Wireless (C&W). JPMorgan believes the already lavishly remunerated C&W management will be kept motivated by the company’s demerger plans.
Property groups are out of favour, with Hammerson, SEGRO, Land Securities and British Land the worst affected in the sector.
Product quality and safety tester Intertek is lower on talks to buy the business assurance division of Det Norske Veritas (DNV) with a large chunk of its own shares, despite both Seymour Pierce and Altium Securities applauding the strategic sense of the acquisition.
Internecine struggles at bus and train group National Express look set to continue, as the company’s biggest stakeholder, the Cosmen family, increased its shareholding to 18.97% with the purchase of half a million shares at 341p. The family has been vociferous in its opposition to the company’s recently announced rights issue and also criticised the National Express board for not pursuing more vigorously merger talks with rival bus and train outfit, Stagecoach.
Valve actuator and gearbox maker Rotork expects this year’s profits will be at the upper end of market forecasts. Although order intake in the third quarter was down 3.4% on the levels seen a year ago, some of the markets in which the company operates are showing signs of a rise in activity.
Fund manager Gartmore has confirmed its intention to float in London with an offer expected to be completed by mid-December. The fund manager reported that business had been good in the third quarter with £924m of net inflows, which helped push funds under management up to £21.8bn as at 30 September, up 17% since year-end 2008 and 34% since February 2009.
London-based pub group Fuller's lifted underlying first half profits by 18% as it shrugged off the recession, though it is more cautious going forward.
Weapons group Chemring has raised $280m through the issue of loan notes placed with a number of institutional investors. The blended interest rate on the issue is in the region of 5.5%, which, the group noted, is a rate more favourable than its current lending facilities.
Trading remains subdued at wireless specialist Anite with first half underlying operating profits expected to slide to £3.5m from £12.4m this time last year.
Online search marketing group Infoserve has said it will no longer be an Authorised Google AdWords Reseller from 7 January next year. In an attempt at damage limitation, the firm said it will still offer its small and medium enterprise customers a full range of online services, including organising Google AdWords campaigns as part of its overall portfolio.
|
|
| |
|
| NEX - National Express Group |
 |
| Latest Prices |
| Name |
Price |
% |
| National Express Group |
236.80p |
0.00% |
| Anite Group |
43.50p |
0.00% |
| British Land Co |
466.90p |
0.00% |
| Chemring Group |
2,934.00p |
0.00% |
| Cable & Wireless Communications |
61.00p |
0.00% |
| Fresnillo |
1,029.00p |
0.00% |
| Fuller Smith and Turner |
552.00p |
0.00% |
| Hammerson |
389.90p |
0.00% |
| Infoserve Group |
2.62p |
0.00% |
| Intertek Group |
1,602.00p |
0.00% |
| Land Securities Group |
622.00p |
0.00% |
| Rio Tinto |
3,355.00p |
0.00% |
| Rotork |
1,494.00p |
0.00% |
| Stagecoach Group |
174.50p |
0.00% |
| SEGRO |
287.20p |
0.00% |
| Thomas Cook Group |
186.80p |
0.00% |
| TUI Travel |
214.80p |
0.00% |
| |
| FTSE 100 |
5,314 |
-0.11% |
| FTSE 250 |
10,074 |
+0.54% |
| FTSE 350 |
2,806 |
-0.02% |
| FTSE All-Share |
2,744 |
0.00% |
| FTSE Small Cap |
2,784 |
+0.74% |
| FTSEurofirst 300 |
1,047 |
-0.33% |
| techMARK |
1,654 |
+0.63% |
| techMARK 100 |
1,842 |
+0.28% |
|
 |
Archived Stories |
 |
|
Front Page Stories |
|
|
