Ferrero Drops From Cadbury Bid; Game Group Falls

Mayank Mehta
12 Jan, 2010
New York City

Cadbury Plc advised shareholders to reject the offer from Kraft and Italy based Ferrero dropped out of the bidding. Tesco Plc advanced after six week sales increased 4.9%. The Game Group sales for the year declined 11% from a year ago.

[R]4:00 PM London, 11:00 AM New York – Cadbury Plc advised shareholders to reject the offer from Kraft and Italy based Ferrero dropped out of the bidding. Tesco Plc advanced after six week sales increased 4.9%. The Game Group sales for the year declined 11% from a year ago.[/R]

UK stocks edged lower after commodities weakened and investors worried about the health of the banking sector ahead of earnings. Tesco gained after UK sales increased 4.9% in six weeks adjusted for taxes and excluding gasoline sales.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 48.53 or 0.88% to 5,489.54 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.615 and edged higher to close at €1.113.

The UK trade deficit in goods and services decreased to £2.9 billion in November from revised deficit of £3.1 billion in October. The deficit on trade in goods fell to £6.8 billion in November compared to revised deficit of £7.0 billion in October.

Gainers & Losers

Cadbury plc added 0.06% to 781.50 pence after the confectionery company recommended that shareholders take no action to offer proposed by Kraft. Italy based Ferrero has dropped out of bidding for Cadbury according to a news report by Italian news agency Ansa.

Computacenter PLC the IT infrastructure services provider added 4.7% to 305.00 pence.

Debenhams plc dropped 4.1% to 74.75 pence after the department store gross transaction value (excluding the recent acquisition of Magasin du Nord) for the 18 weeks was 1.6% higher than the same period last year. Comparable sales increased 0.1% from a year ago meeting the company forecast.

Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC fell 4.2% to 472.00 pence after the drug group said that its revenue for the six months ended December 31 was about 6.5% ahead of the equivalent period last year. Overall revenue from pharmaceuticals division was about 12.6% higher than in the previous period.

Dunelm Group plc dropped 4.6% to 376.50 pence after the home furnishings retailer said that the second half comparable sales declined 2% from a year ago.

The Game Group plc fell 6.0% to 99.55 pence after the video games retailer made cautious remarks for the industry. Sales in the 49 weeks to Jan 9 declined 11% from a year ago.

Galiform Plc increased 6.7% to 83.50 pence after the joinery company said that the business continues to meet management expectations.

Howden Joinery UK sales for the year declined 3.4% to £756.4 million from £782.9 million.

Ladbrokes plc rose 0.9% to 146.40 pence after the bookmaker announced that chief executive Christopher Bell will step down as a director of the company.

Moneysupermarket.com Group Plc decreased 0.7% to 74.45 pence after the price comparison website confirmed that its performance for 2009 was in line with its expectations issued at the time of interim management update in November.

Tesco PLC advanced 2.1% to 426.70 pence and the international retailer group sales increased 7.5% at constant exchange rates and 6.9% at actual rates in the six weeks to January 9. Total international sales rose 4.1% at constant exchange rates and 2.4% at actual exchange rates.

Topps Tiles Plc increased 4.8% to 91.75 pence after the shower and tile maker said in the first 7 weeks of the new financial period UK comparable revenues increased 2.2%. Sales for the first 14 weeks of the financial year increased 3.9%, and comparable revenues increased 5.5%.

The Weir Group Plc slipped 2.2% to 780 pence after the engineering group said it expects profit from continuing operations before tax, intangibles amortization and exceptional items for the 53 weeks ending January 1 to increase to around £185 million.

Yule Catto & Co plc rose 4.5% to 173.50 pence after the specialty chemicals maker said its full-year adjusted pretax profit will be well ahead of 2008 and market estimates. Collins Stewart raised target price to 268 pence from 233 pence and reiterated its ""buy"" rating.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 22 increased, 78 declined and 2 were unchanged.

Fresnillo Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 5.11% followed by losses in Lonmin Plc of 4.22%, in Kazakhmys Plc of 3.35%, in Autonomy Corporation Plc of 3.26%, and in Xstrata Plc of 3.10%.

Land Securities Group Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 1.76% followed by increase in Wolseley Plc of 1.68%, in BT Group Plc of 1.40%, in RSA Insurance Group Plc of 1.36%, and in Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc of 1.27%.