London’s FTSE 100 trades 19 points higher at 7,062 early on, investors relieved after Britain and the European Union agreed to a transition period to avoid a ‘cliff edge’ Brexit next year.
On a busy day of corporate news, online grocer Ocado (OCDO) cheapens 3% to 555.4p after delivering a softer first quarter trading update with retail sales growing 11.7% in the 13 weeks to 4 March. CEO Tim Steiner says winter storms in the final week of the quarter crimped sales, while investors are also unimpressed by the news Ocado’s average order value dropped by 0.4% to £110.45 in the quarter.
Newcastle-headquartered housebuilder Bellway (BWY) improves 70p or 2.3% to £31.20 on half year results showing growth in sales, profits and the dividend, hiked 28% to 48p. Bellway also issues a positive current trading statement, flagging forward orders 7.7% ahead at more than £1.52bn. For the full year, the company expects that volume will grow by around 600 homes, enabling Bellway’s housing output to exceed 10,000 new homes per annum for the first time in its history.
Engineer Fenner (FENR), a world leader in reinforced polymer technology, rockets 25% higher to 614p after recommending a £1.2bn takeover from Michelin. The 610p per share offer from the French tyre maker represents a 30.7% premium to Friday’s closing price.
Bank note printer De La Rue (DLAR) dives 8.3% to 552p on a profit warning combined with news of the resignation of Chief Financial Officer Jitesh Sodha.
Buy-to-let mortgages play Charter Court Financial Services (CCFS) clips ahead 5% to 324p on impressive maiden full year results, having floated on the Main Market last September. CEO Ian Lonergan reports 41% loan book growth to £5.4bn for 2017 and insists his charge has ‘enjoyed a strong start to 2018’.
North Sea-focused oil group EnQuest (ENQ) advances 6.3% to 33.1p after posting better than expected full year profits and reporting a strong production performance across its portfolio in the first two months of 2018.
Agricultural supplies-to-retail group Wynnstay (WYN:AIM) cultivates a 2.5% gain to 415p on a positive AGM trading update which highlights improving demand for most of its products and suggests the recent downgrades cycle has come to an end.
Trading in the first four months of the new financial year has been ‘encouraging’, with the UK farming industry better positioned following an improvement in output prices after two years of deflation.
