Bovis, Fresnillo, National Express Rise in UK

Mayank Mehta
03 Sep, 2009
New York City

Miners and home builders advanced in London trading. Gold and silver mining related stocks led the gainers. Peter Hambro and Fresnillo surged. Unilever and Experian declined. Home builders Taylor Wimpey and Bovis gained on expectations of higher sales.

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – Miners and home builders advanced in London trading. Gold and silver mining related stocks led the gainers. Peter Hambro and Fresnillo surged. Unilever and Experian declined. Home builders Taylor Wimpey and Bovis gained on expectations of higher sales.[/R]

UK stocks gained in the early trading on a rise in mining and financial stocks. In the late afternoon stocks lost the momentum and closed lower on the weakness in consumer products and financials.

Home builders gained after the sales per real estate branch were higher than expected in August.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 17.97 or 0.3% to 4,799.91 and the pound closed at $1.63 and unchanged at 1.14 euros.

Unilever Plc declined 2.2% to 1,629 pence, Experian Plc decreased 3.1% to 499.30 pence and Fresnillo plc added 8.6% to 655 pence and Peter Hambro surged 9.5% to 810 pence.

Gainers & Losers

Blackrock International Land plc closed unchanged at 6.75 pence after the Irish property company reported €3.7 million loss compared to a loss of €11.8 million. Net rental income decreased to €6.9 million from €7 million.

Bovis Homes Group PLC added 1.1% to 514.50 pence after the home builder plans to sell 12.1 million shares at 50 pence each to raise £60 million.

Concurrent Technologies Plc closed unchanged at 36.00 pence after the computer products maker reported higher earnings on improving margins in the six-months ending in June.

Galliford Try plc rose 4.8% to 59.00 pence after the construction and home builder group wins £48.6 million contract.

Go-Ahead Group plc added 2.1% to 1,331.00 pence after the bus and train operator said full-year revenues rose 6.7% to £2.35 billion from £2.20 billion a year ago. Net profit for the full-year fell 89% to £6.3 million or 14.7 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £56.0 million or 127.3 pence per share a year ago.

Hays plc decreased 2.2% to 97.55 pence after the recruitment group said full-year sales fell 3.5% to £2.45 billion from £2.54 billion a year ago. Net profit for the full-year fell 44% to £105.8 million or 7.71 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £188.2 million or 13.33 pence per share a year ago. The company maintained its full-year dividend at 5.8 pence.

HMV Group plc fell 1.4% to 113.00 pence an entertainment media group said total sales for the 18 weeks ended 29 August 2009 rose 4.4% and like-for-like sales fell 1.8%. Total sales in HMV & Ireland rose 12.5% and like for like sales up 1.7%. Waterstone''s total sales fell 2.6% and like-for-like sales fell 3.4%.

KBC Advanced Technologies plc lost 4.3% to 44.00 pence an oil refinery software specialist said first-half revenues rose 11% to £27.1 million from £24.4 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 51.3% to £0.9 million or 1.58 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £1.85 million or 3.25 pence per share a year ago.

Low & Bonar plc surged 5.5% to 38.00 pence after the performance materials group named Steve Good as the group CEO.

McBride plc rallied 4.0% to 160.50 pence after the private label household and personal care products manufacturer said full-year revenues rose 13% to £792.4 million from £700.9 million a year ago. Net profit for the full-year rose 44% to £16.6 million or 9.1 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £11.5 million or 6.3 pence per share a year ago.

Playtech Limited surged 4.2% to 346.75 after the gaming software designer and licensor said first-half revenues rose 7% to €55.2 million from £51.6 million a year ago. Gross income for the first-half rose 29.8% to €66.9 million compared to gross income of €51.6 million a year ago.

Premier Farnell plc plunged 7.7% to 150.40 pence an electronic components distributor said first-half revenues fell 16% to £388.0 million from £395.1 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 42.8% to £17.4 million or 4.8 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £30.4 million or 8.3 pence per share a year ago.

Spice plc increased 0.7% to 71.00 pence after the utility support services said that the outlook for half yearly period to October is in line with the management expectations.

Stagecoach Group plc surged 11.5% to 145 pence after it said that the company is in discussion to acquire the railroad business from CVC partners if it is successful in acquiring National Express. National Express surged 13% to 465 pence after it received a final bid from Cosmen family and CVC Partners that values the company at 500 pence a share.

Taylor Wimpey plc added 6% to 48.57 pence after the National Association of Estate Agents reported sales per branch declined to eight in August from nine in July, but higher than five a year ago.

Ten Alps plc gained 15.3% to 30.00 pence after the TV production company up on BBC worldwide deal.

Wincanton plc rose 2.3% to 220.00 pence after the distribution group said it has been awarded three contracts by the retailer Marks & Spencer Group to run parts of its supply chain in a deal expected to generate £275 million of revenue over five years.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 43 increased, 58 declined and 1 were unchanged.

Experian Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 3.05% followed by losses in Thomas Cook Group Plc of 2.34%, in GlaxoSmithKline Plc of 2.24%, in Unilever Plc of 2.22%, in Barclays Plc of 2.16%.

Randgold Resources Ltd. led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 9.03% followed by increase in Fresnillo Plc of 8.62%, in Lonmin Plc of 5.95%, in Xstrata Plc of 4.94%, in Vedanta Resources Plc of 3.20%.