The FTSE 100 is a little lower at 7,290.29 despite US indicies posting new records last night.

Defence firm Cobham (COB) slumps 18.9% to 109.8p as it warns on profits for the fifth time in little over a year. In what feels like a kitchen sinking exercise under new management.

Trading profit for 2016 is guided at £225m compared with previously trimmed guidance of £245m given in January and there are writedowns adding up to more than £750m - including £150m on its troubled Boeing US KC-46 tanker contract.

The company also says meeting 2017 expectations will be challenging.

Power station operator Drax (DRX) falls 3.4% to 366.1p as it reports full year earnings down 17% at £140m, amid challenging commodity markets. Dividends fell in line with a policy of paying out half of earnings. The results were towards the lower end of analyst expectations.

Drug maker Shire (SHP) gains 1.5% to £46.57 ahead of the publication of full year numbers at midday. These are expected to be positive.

Insurer Lancashire (LRE) is up 6.4% to 724p as full year results demonstrate its resilience despite turbulent conditions in 2016. Return on equity for the 12-month period was flat at 13.5%, which chief executive Alex Maloney described as 'an exceptional outcome'.

Back office optimisation software company EG Solutions (EGS:AIM) gains 12.2% to 60p as it reports a £692,000 contract award in the public sector, the first through its partnership with cloud services business GCI.

Home furnishings and womenswear retailer Laura Ashley (ALY) falls 8% to 17.25p as first half results reveal like-for-like sales down 3.5% and it warns pre-tax profit for the full year will fall short of expectations.

Pharma giant AstraZeneca (AZN) falls 2.7% to £45.57 as its shares trade ex-dividend.

Israeli simulation training software firm SimiGon (SIM:AIM) is down 16.1% to 17p as it warns results will be below expectations thanks to previously unrecognised costs and contract delays.

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Issue Date: 16 Feb 2017