The FTSE 100 holds firm at 7,342 after some weakening earlier this week. A slight rise today in the big mining stocks offsets a decline in insurers, so the net effect is no change in the headline index of the biggest companies on the UK stock market.
Among the corporate announcements, engineering conglomerate Smiths Group (SMIN) releases pleasing half year results. Revenues are in line with market expectations and profits up by 8%. Its balance sheet has been bolstered by business disposals while its acquisition of Morpho Detection is in its final stages. Its shares rise by 4.5% to £16.26.
Security group Digital Barriers (DGB:AIM) sees its share price sink by nearly 20%. The firm warns of a £10m revenue shortfall in the current financial year due to delays in finalising expected contracts.
Acacia Mining (ACA) is losing $1m sales a day due to the Tanzania Government’s export ban on unprocessed ore. The gold producer says efforts to get the ban lifted have not worked yet.
TGI Friday’s owner Electra Private Equity (ELTA) is to pay £1bn worth of special dividends after building up a big cash pile. That’s about half the value of the whole business.
F&C Private Equity (FPEO) is up by almost 6% after saying it had also built up a large cash pile which will help it make new investments.
Greeting card manufacturer IG Design (IGR:AIM) rises by 9.7% to 290.16p as it says full-year results will beat market expectation.
Approximately one fifth of student property builder Watkin Jones (WJG:AIM) has been sold after the company’s chief executive and finance director offloaded a large chunk of their shares. The announcement doesn’t say who bought the shares, merely commenting that broker Peel Hunt acted as a bookrunner to place the stock with other investors.
