UK Stocks Decline With Lower Commodities

Mayank Mehta
17 Nov, 2009
New York City

UK stocks edged lower after metals and energy prices edged lower. Big Yellow Group reported larger first-half profits. Burberry Group raises first-half dividend as profit meets estimates. The British Land Co sees improving trends. EasyJet plc full-year profit drops 14.4%.

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – UK stocks edged lower after metals and energy prices edged lower. Big Yellow Group reported larger first-half profits. Burberry Group raises first-half dividend as profit meets estimates. The British Land Co sees improving trends. EasyJet plc full-year profit drops 14.4%.[/R]

Stocks in London struggled as commodities prices weakened. After a steady rise in metals and energy prices, copper, gold and crude oil futures declined after cautious outlook on the U.S. economy from the Fed Chairman Bernanke.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 33.03 or 0.6% to 5,349.71 and the pound edged lower to close at $1.680 and edged higher to close at €1.13.

Gainers & Losers

888 Holdings PLC added 0.5% to 103.80 pence.

Avis Europe plc plunged 6.7% to 26.01 after the car rental firm said that trading remains in line with management expectations and that the company expects positive free cash flow for the full year.

Barratt Developments PLC fell 0.6% to 145.10 pence.

Balfour Beatty plc dropped 0.1% to 275.90 pence after the engineering contractor said that it has been awarded a £64 million electrification contract in China, which along with recent wins in Sweden and Germany, totals £188 million of international rail contracts.

Big Yellow Group PLC decreased 4.6% to 410.00 pence after the self storage company said first-half revenues fell 3% to £29.16 million from £30.08 million a year ago. Net loss for the first-half was £3.4 million or 2.71 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £54.8 million or 47.21 pence per share a year ago.

The British Land Company PLC fell 1.8% to 494.00 pence after the real estate investment trust said first-half net rental income fell 16% to £208 million from £248 million a year ago. Net loss for the first-half was £112 million or 13 pence per diluted share compared to net loss of £1.3 billion or 213 pence per share a year ago.

Burberry Group plc declined 1.5% to 590.50 pence after the luxury goods company said first-half revenues rose 6.2% to £572.4 million from £539.1 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 24% to £56.8 million or 12.9 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £74.8 million or 17.0 pence per share a year ago.

Care UK Plc closed unchanged at 355.00 pence an independent provider of health and social care said full-year revenues rose 20% to £410.0 million from £341.6 million a year ago. Net profit for the full-year was £14.1 million or 22.87 pence per diluted share compared to net loss of £2.9 million or 4.98 pence per share a year ago.

Cable & Wireless plc increased 2.7% to 142.10 pence after the telephone giant said in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, was awarded a 3G licence, it now has a 3G network providing 80% coverage across the Bailiwick, including Sark and Alderney.

Chime Communications plc closed unchanged at 207.00 pence after the marketing group Lord Bell, Chairman of Chime Communications, said our first half results for 2009 were ahead of expectations and we delivered the best pretax profit in our history. We have continued to trade strongly in the second half of 2009 and we expect full year revenue to be ahead of 2008.

easyJet plc decreased 1.6% to 385.90 pence after the low-cost airline said full-year revenues rose 12.5% to £2.7 billion from £2.4 billion a year ago. Net profit for the full-year fell 14.4% to £71.2 million or 16.6 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £83.2 million or 19.4 pence per share a year ago.

Enterprise Inns plc dropped 7.1% to 124.10 pence after the leased and tenanted pub operator said full-year revenues fell 7% to £818 million from £880 million a year ago. Net profit for the full-year fell 96.7% to £6 million or 1.2 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £183 million or 36.7 pence per share a year ago.

Heritage Oil Limited rose 0.1% to 460.60 pence after the exploration and production company Tony Buckingham, Chief Executive Officer, commented Operationally, company is about to embark on its busiest period ever with high-impact multi-well drilling programmes in Kurdistan and Uganda, providing the potential for a significant increase in oil volumes. The previous successful drilling campaign in Block 1, Uganda, has de-risked the prospects for the upcoming programme in Uganda significantly.

ICAP plc rose 2.3% to 433.60 pence an inter-dealer broker said first-half revenues rose 6% to £809 million from £764 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half rose 2% to £94 million or 14.4 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £92 million or 14.2 pence per share a year ago.

Informa plc the academic and scientific content publisher rose 1.5% to 330.40 pence.

Oxford Instruments plc fell 2.6% to 217.00 pence after the high-technology tools maker said first-half revenues were flat at £92.8 million from £92.8 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half rose 215% to £4.1 million or 8.2 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £1.3 million or 2.6 pence per share a year ago.

Pendragon PLC the car dealer rose 0.7% to 34.75 pence.

Regal Petroleum plc slipped 3.1% to 100.25 pence after the oil explorer was disciplined by the AIM Disciplinary Committee for breaches of the AIM Rules for Companies during the period 27 June 2003 and 19 May 2005.

Savills plc rose 0.03% to 330.10 pence after the estate agent said since June UK residential and Asia Pacific businesses have performed strongly but European business has continued to face challenging market conditions.

VT Group plc declined 2.9% to 571.50 pence after the support services provider said first-half revenues rose 26% to £574.1 million from £456.5 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 85.5% to £18.1 million or 10.0 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £124.4 million or 68.5 pence per share a year ago.

Wellstream Holdings PLC the oil field services provider declined 8.0% to 495.00 pence.

Xchanging plc the business processing outsourcing company fell 0.4% to 220.00 pence.