UK Indexes Slide; JD Sports Fashion Sales Up 2.5%

Arthi Gupta
07 Jan, 2011
New York City

The UK indexes slid after weaker job markets in Europe and the U.S. CSC revised terms for Trafford Centre acquisition. British Land sold superstore to Aviva Investors for

[R]4:00 PM London – The UK indexes slid after weaker job markets in Europe and the U.S. CSC revised terms for Trafford Centre acquisition. British Land sold superstore to Aviva Investors for £36 million. easyJet said load factor rose in December.[/R]

In London, FTSE 100 Index declined 14.40 or 0.24% to 6,004.91 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.5507. For the week, the FTSE 100 Index fell 0.17%.

UK Car Sales Up

The UK car registrations increased 1.8% in 2010, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and sales are expected to decline 5% in 2011 to 1.93 million units as difficult market conditions continue, the report showed on Friday.

CSC Revises Terms for Trafford Centre Acquisition

Capital Shopping Centres Group plc announced on Friday revised terms for its proposed acquisition of Trafford Centre from Peel Group. Capital Shopping said it identified its own potential net asset value as 625 pence per share, which is much higher than 425 pence per share indicative takeover offer by Simon Property Group, Inc.

CSC''s revised offer for Trafford Centre would now involve a higher price of 400 pence per share rather than the 368 pence per share originally agreed.

British Land Sells Sainsbury Superstore

The British Land Company plc Friday said that it sold Sainsbury''s superstore in Macclesfield to Aviva Investors for their Lime Property Fund for £36 million, representing a net initial yield of 4.4%.

The 73,500 square foot superstore is leased to Sainsbury''s for 28.5 years at a passing rent of £22.90 per square foot with annual RPI linked increases capped at 4% pa with a minimum increase of 2% pa.

Gainers & Losers

British American Tobacco plc fell 0.49% to $76.95 after its shares were downgraded to “hold” from “buy” by Citigroup.

easyJet PLC surged 3.27% to 469.90 pence after the low-cost airline reported a 7.6% rise in earned seats flown for December 2010 to 3.65 million from 3.39 million in December 2009 and load factor for the month rose 0.4% to 85.8% from 85.4% last year.

Fiberweb Plc soared 3.09% to 100.00 pence after the nonwovens fabrics producer, in a trading update ahead of its preliminary results for the year ending December 31, said it expects profit for the full year to slightly exceed market expectations, with like-for-like sales about 10% ahead of the previous year.

Grafton Group plc edged higher 0.36% to €3.32 said in its trading update for the year ended December that group turnover was around €2.00 billion, up from €1.98 billion in 2009.

Sales in the second half rose 3% to €1.02 billion, from €0.99 billion in the comparable period last year. The company noted that extreme weather in late November and December impacted negatively on sales.

JD Sports Fashion PLC gained 2.25% to 885.00 pence after the athletic clothing and footwear retailer said that like-for-like sales for the five week Christmas trading period ended January 1, 2011 rose 2.5% and the Group''s cumulative like-for-like sales for the 48 week period to January 1 rose 3.1%.

Marshalls PLC increased 1.24% to 102.00 pence after the construction materials company said revenue for the year ended December 31, 2010 grew 4% to £323 million from £312 million last year.

Robert Walters PLC climbed 2.45% to 335.00 pence after the specialist professional recruitment consultancies reported 42% increase in group net fee income to £40.6 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010.

Xyratex Ltd. surged 4.01% to $17.12 after the data storage solutions provider reported fourth quarter revenues surged 63.3% to $396.78 million, from $242.97 million in the year-ago period. Net income for the quarter soared to $32.26 million or $1.02 per share, from $1.56 million or 5 cents per share in the year-ago period.