FTSE 100 movers: Brexit fears push housebuilders even lower

The FTSE 100 was down in afternoon trading on Tuesday, after UK inflation data missed expectations and Brexit worries intensified.

Construction equipment rental firm Ashtead was among the higher flyers after hoisting its final dividend to 18.5p, taking its total dividend to 22.5p - a 48% gain on the previous year.

The company also announced a £200m share buyback programme, after reporting rental revenue growth of 16% and pre-tax profits ahead by 42% in the final quarter.

“These strong margins, together with the natural moderation of our replacement fleet expenditure, mean we are entering a phase where we anticipate both good earnings growth and significant free cash flow generation,” said Ashtead chief executive Geoff Drabble.

“We therefore have the flexibility to continue both to invest in our long-term structural growth opportunity and enhance returns to shareholders.”

Educational publisher Pearson was recovering from an afternoon in decline yesterday, after it received a ‘sell’ rating from analysts at Deutsche Bank.

In a research note, Deutsche set a price target of 770p on Pearson’s stock, which indicated a potential downside of 3.39% from its share price at the time.

Rolls-Royce was still riding the jetstream of a reiterated ‘underweight’ rating from Morgan Stanley on Monday.

Investors appeared to be focusing less on the analysts’ pointing out that there was a lack of obvious catalysts for the share price, and focusing on rhetoric that there did not appear to be risk of a further credit rating downgrade.

Analysts Jaime B Rowbotham and Joseph Ayoola said they expected Rolls Royce’s adjusted debt as a proportion of EBITD to be at around 1.3 both at the end of 2016 and 2017.

Among the fallers, investors were falling quickly from Sky as they ignored potential upsides in two recent broker notes, and continued to focus on the Bundesliga debacle.

On Monday, the subscription broadcaster had its ‘overweight’ rating reiterated by Barclays and its ‘buy’ rating reiterated by Deutsche Bank, with the two reports giving potential upsides of 18.85% and 64.8% at the time, respectively.

Sky’s stock has been on a slippery slope downwards since Friday, however, when it came to light that it had agreed to pay an 80% premium on the rights to broadcast the German Bundesliga, and still did not secure the rights to all of the matches.

And the looming fears of Brexit dragged on the housebuilders, with Berkeley Group, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments all featuring among the top fallers.

Three days ago, a group of 17 housebuilding firms - including Berkeley and Barratt - penned an open letter, warning that Brexit would put the prospect of home ownership at risk for many Britona.

They said a vote to leave would create “considerable uncertainty for Britain,” adding “investment will suffer as confidence in the economy wavers”.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,954.95 -1.49%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,279.80 -1.78%
techMARK (TASX) 2,975.39 -1.07%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ashtead Group (AHT) 999.50p 4.44%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 601.50p 0.17%
Pearson (PSON) 795.00p 0.06%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 960.50p 0.05%
Carnival (CCL) 3,334.00p -0.18%
CRH (CRH) 2,009.00p -0.20%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 210.55p -0.26%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 453.60p -0.31%
BAE Systems (BA.) 474.50p -0.38%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,047.00p -0.38%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 609.60p -4.06%
Sky (SKY) 856.00p -3.98%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,014.00p -3.40%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 403.00p -3.26%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 519.00p -3.26%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 797.20p -3.18%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 174.10p -3.12%
Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 266.30p -3.09%
St James's Place (STJ) 816.00p -2.91%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 175.80p -2.82%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Ted Baker (TED) 2,496.00p 7.35%
FirstGroup (FGP) 109.70p 6.40%
Allied Minds (ALM) 336.60p 3.19%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 965.00p 2.66%
Indivior (INDV) 214.90p 2.33%
P2P Global Investments (P2P) 855.00p 1.12%
PayPoint (PAY) 950.50p 1.01%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 853.50p 0.77%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 387.60p 0.65%
Debenhams (DEB) 69.80p 0.58%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,036.00p -16.32%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 948.50p -7.01%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 523.50p -6.52%
Essentra (ESNT) 525.00p -5.58%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 234.80p -5.40%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 95.45p -5.31%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 262.60p -5.30%
Interserve (IRV) 292.60p -5.25%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 227.90p -5.00%
Workspace Group (WKP) 814.00p -4.91%