London’s FTSE 100 trades 3.9 points lower at 7,350.2 early on, investors remaining skittish amid ongoing tensions in the Pacific and the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.
In corporate news, troubled housebuilder Bovis Homes (BVS) improves 5.4% to £11.09 despite first half results showing a 31% drop in profit before tax to £42.7m, impacted by the need to tackle various legacy issues.
There’s optimism as new CEO Greg Fitzgerald, a seasoned sector player, says operational issues are ‘very fixable’, his new strategy will set Bovis on the path to sustainable, profitable growth’ and flags a pick-up in sales during the traditionally quieter summer months of July and August.
Respiratory disease-focused Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) rises 9.7% to 84.5p after reporting positive phase III results for its Duaklir treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, conducted by partner AstraZeneca (AZN).
Heading in the opposite direction is Capita (CPI), the outsourcer off almost 5% to 612p after restating its revenues and profits for 2016 following a move to IFRS 15 reporting that affects the value of contracts with customers. The shift means revenue will more evenly spread over the life of contracts, which entails lower profits or losses recognised earlier, and means a big revision to 2016 results.
Insurer Direct Line (DLG) gains 3% to 383p on reports of another change to the Ogden discount rate for compensation payments, which will now be in a range between 0 and 1%, having previously been slashed from 2.5% to -0.75%.
Tobacco titan Imperial Brands (IMB) puffs 2.9% higher to £33.03 after raking in £230.8m by selling down its stake in Madrid-listed Logista with proceeds earmarked for share buy-backs and debt reduction. The share price has been weak following the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) plans to lower nicotine levels in cigarettes to non-addictive levels.
Zoopla, uSwitch and PrimeLocation brands owner ZPG (ZPG) zips 5% higher to 372p as investors cheer the acquisition of financial services comparison website money.co.uk.
High-flying video games creator Frontier Developments (FDEV:AIM) sparks up 4.5% to £11.70 as preliminary results confirm a highly successful year, forecast-beating growth in earnings driven by the launch of Planet Coaster. Development of Jurassic World Evolution, Frontier’s third franchise, is well underway and a further two titles are in the early planning stages. FinnCap raises its price target from 968p to £13.32.
Carclo (CAR), which makes moulded plastic components for medical and electronic products, slumps 8.5% to 142p on news of a weaker-than-expected first half performance from its technical plastics division as some key new programmes were pushed back into the second half. Its results for the year ending in March remain on track, though, thanks to an outperformance from the LED technologies division.
