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Retail and oil shares push FTSE 100 higher despite lockdown
StockMarketWire.com
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The FTSE 100 was boosted this morning by an increase in retail and oil shares, despite England facing a third national lockdown.
UK retailer Next's full-year profit before tax is expected to be £342m after accounting for better sales in November and December and anticipated losses from store closures in January, according to its trading update.
Its 52-week before tax would have been £370m, but a non-recurring profit of +£12m from a 53rd week, along with an additional property provision of -£40m, mean that total full year profit before tax is forecast to be £342m. Previous guidance given in October said full-year profits would be £365m.
Next's share price rose 7.41% to £74.32 per share.
Morrisons' group like-for-like sales excluding fuel improved by 7.3% so far in its four quarter, driven by sales over Christmas and New Year.
So far in the fourth quarter of its financial year, online sales have tripled across all channels.
Its share price is up 0.17% to 181.40p per share.
Sales, marketing, and support services group DCC said it had completed the acquisition of United Propane Gas, 'materially' expanding its presence in the US LPG market.
UPG was DCC LPG's largest acquisition since initially entering the US market in April 2018 and followed the bolt-on acquisitions of NES in September 2020 and Pacific Coast Energy in April 2019, the company said.
DCC's share price is up 2.9% to £54.80 per share.
Construction group Belfour Beatty said it expected to complete its previously announced initial £50 million buyback programme by the time it releases 2020 full-year results on 10 March 2021.
Its share price rose 0.29% to 272.00p per share.
Infrastructure company John Laing said it had agreed to acquire a 21.15% interest in the Pacifico 2 road public-private partnership project in Colombia from Construcciones El Condor for COP151 billion, or approximately £32 million.
The project, part of the Colombian government's Fourth Generation road building PPP programme, was aimed at 'improving road connectivity and safety across the country as well as supporting regional economic growth,' the company said.
John Laing's share price rose 0.12% to 336.80p per share.
Infrastructure solutions company Costain said it expected to report full-year results in line with expectations as it continued to operate productively with effective safety measures in place across all contracts amid the ongoing pandemic.
The year-end order book stood at £4.2 billion, unchanged year-on-year with about £1,020 million secured for 2021, up from the £940 million that was secured for 2020 at end of 2019, the company said.
Costain's share price is down 1.17% to 56.73p per share.
Outsourcing business Equiniti said it had appointed Paul Lynam as chief executive starting 1 April 2021.
Lynam, who would be suceeding Guy Wakeley, had been in the role since 2014, had been CEO of Secure Trust Bank since 2010, the company said.
Equiniti's share price is up 1.08% to 112.60p per share.
Mondi has agreed to acquire 90.38% of the outstanding shares in Olmuksan International Paper Ambalaj Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S for €66 million.
Olmuksan is a leading and well-established corrugated packaging player in Turkey, listed on the Istanbul stock exchange.
The implied enterprise value on a 100% basis would amount to around €88 million.
Mondi's share price is up 0.31% to £17.57 per share.
Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
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