FTSE 100 movers: Halma hit by downgrade; Segro gains on Goldman note
London's FTSE 100 was down 1% to 7,244.98 in afternoon trade on Monday as worries about rising US bond yields and Italy's budget spat with the EU played on investors' minds.
Halma was in the red as Shore Capital cut its stance on the safety products company to 'hold' from 'buy' on valuation grounds.
On the plus side though, ShoreCap said Halma is "a great quality company" and is in a good position considering it is well placed to benefit from recent capital investment to support growth. However,
Melrose Industries was under pressure as it announced the appointment of Liam Butterworth as the chief executive officer of the automotive division formed following its acquisition of GKN. Butterworth joins the business from Delphi Automotive.
Vodafone was under the cosh after Jefferies cut the stock to 'hold' from 'buy' saying the dividend is too generous for its operating prospects.
Vodafone "is structurally squeezed", Jefferies said, being neither a "national champion" deploying superfast fibre to customers homes, "nor pay TV leader nor remedy-taking challenger".
Jefferies said the "need to focus on debt reduction" means that even a large dividend cut "will not free up resources to invest more into projects that might enhance earnings growth organically" to deal with these structural inadequacies.
Property investment and development company Segro bucked the trend following an upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' by Goldman Sachs.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Next (NXT) 5,462.00p 2.28%
BT Group (BT.A) 235.25p 2.24%
SEGRO (SGRO) 621.20p 1.94%
Centrica (CNA) 153.30p 1.86%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 710.40p 1.63%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,839.00p 1.49%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 287.80p 1.45%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,844.00p 0.99%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,598.00p 0.79%
SSE (SSE) 1,127.50p 0.76%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Halma (HLMA) 1,375.00p -4.25%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 183.85p -4.12%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,218.00p -3.65%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 927.00p -3.46%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,612.00p -2.59%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 156.24p -2.48%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,389.00p -2.41%
NMC Health (NMC) 3,210.00p -2.31%
GVC Holdings (GVC) 901.00p -2.28%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 592.20p -2.23%