London’s top stocks got off to a flying start, up around 1% in early dealings, with banks and miners leading the way.Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays have both added more than 4%, closely followed by Lloyds Banking, up just under 4%. Among the miners, Antofagasta, Xstrata and Kazakhmys are in demand.
On the corporate news front, AB Foods is on course to deliver “very good progress” on earnings for the year after its Silver Spoon sugar business and discount clothes chain Primark put in a solid performance during the third quarter. Revenue in the 16 weeks to 19 June is up 13%, aided by a 44% surge in sugar revenues and 15% increase at the retail business. It’s up 14% for the first 40 weeks of the financial year.
Man Group said sales in the quarter have remained subdued amid continued market uncertainty. Funds under management (FUM) fell in the second quarter to $38.5bn at the end of June from $39.4bn at 31 March. Man’s flagship AHL fund generated a positive return of 0.9% compared with an 11.6% drop in world stocks.
Fund manager Henderson said recurring profit for the six months ended 30 June is expected to rise to between £47m and £49m compared with £27.1m last time. This is after recognising deal costs of £3m after Henderson scrapped its planned acquisition of fund boutiques run by US asset manager RidgeWorth Capital Management.
Under pressure social housing firm Connaught is looking for a new chief executive after current boss Mark Tincknell stood down to recover from recent health issues. Finance director Stephen Hill has also decided his time is up at the company and will be leaving at the end of October this year.
Global recruitment firm Hays has returned to year on year growth for the first time in two years after making progress in most of its markets.
Sales at Robert Wiseman Dairies were up 11.6% in the first quarter thanks to acquisitions and more business from existing customers, but it tells shareholders to expect lower like-for-like growth during the rest of the year.
Engineering support services group Babcock International said its fiscal year has started well and trading has remained resilient.
Business process outsourcing specialist Xchanging has secured a number of contract renewals from customers in North America.
Fenner, the maker of industrial conveyor belts, has splashed out on an American firm that builds cutting-edge, silicone-based tools for medical device companies.FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 44.81p +4.62%
Barclays (BARC) 303.45p +4.06%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 853.00p +3.58%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 60.23p +3.51%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,509.00p +3.21%
Xstrata (XTA) 934.60p +2.77%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 778.50p +2.64%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
G4S (GFS) 266.30p -0.26%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,168.50p -0.18%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 693.50p -0.14%
Tesco (TSCO) 391.80p -0.09%
Unilever (ULVR) 1,797.00p
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