FTSE 100 movers: Wolseley downgrade leads market to continue falling

The FTSE 100 continued to slide on Tuesday, with the market down 15.27 (0.24%) to 6,279.89 by mid-afternoon.

Ferguson Enterprises Inc. (DI)

15,770.00p

15:45 15/11/24

-2.59%

-420.00p

Global plumbing supplier Wolseley led the fallers as the company issued its first quarter update. While first quarter revenues were up 5.3% to £3.5bn and trading profits increased 6% to £250m, UK Like-for-like revenue was 1.1% lower as repairs, maintenance and improvement markets remained weak. Trading profit in the country also fell 21% to £19m.

Anglo American came in a close second on the fallers list after Barclays said it remained cautious about the mining company. “After three years if feels like AAL is only now starting to catch up with peers and has a lot more work to do to close the gap. More urgency is required to battle against plunging commodity prices and its effect on the balance sheet, in our view.” China’s inflation data also weighed on the sector as a whole.

Rolls-Royce is also having a bad day, after Exane BNP Paribas slashed its price target on the stock to 685p from 840p to reflect an additional pullback in the civil aerospace margin and further pressure on shorter-cycle activities. Exane said Rolls, which it rates at ‘neutral’, has been the worst performer in the sector over 12 months, but the arrivals of Warren East as CEO and an activist fund on the share register have revived hopes of turnaround.

However it’s not all bad news, with Experian surging on news that it is extending its share buyback scheme, returning an additional $200 million to shareholders. Despite reporting a drop in profit after tax from $409m to $331m, the company also upped its first interim dividend of 12.5 cents per share – an increase of 2% to reflect the underlying strength of the business.

Vodafone also had some good news to celebrate. The telco’s service revenues bounced back in the second quarter as many of Europe’s telecoms markets made an encouraging return to growth on the back of surging demand for mobile data. While revenue for the first half fell 2.3% to £20.3bn, EBITDA rose 1.9% to £5.8bn thanks to better top-line trends and good cost control in Europe and Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Experian (EXPN) 1,179.00p 6.79%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 224.75p 4.80%
National Grid (NG.) 911.30p 1.71%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,140.00p 1.42%
BT Group (BT.A) 466.50p 1.30%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 1,026.00p 1.18%
ITV (ITV) 259.80p 1.17%
Pearson (PSON) 829.50p 0.97%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,526.00p 0.79%
Royal Mail (RMG) 447.40p 0.79%