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FTSE surrenders earlier gains by lunchtime as concern builds over lockdown
StockMarketWire.com
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FTSE surrenders earlier gains by lunchtime as concern builds over lockdown
The FTSE 100 was treading water by midday, surrendering earlier gains to trade broadly flat at 6,569.90.
Despite most of the UK going into lockdown retail and energy stocks helped support the index on Tuesday but this was balanced out by falls for familiar lockdown victims like office landlord British Land and Primark owner Associated British Foods.
UK retailer Next's full-year profit before tax is expected to be £342 million 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 profit would have been £370 million, but a non-recurring profit of £12 million from a 53rd week, along with an additional property provision of £40 million, mean that total full year profit before tax is forecast to be £342 million. Previous guidance given in October said full-year profits would be £365 million.
Next's share price rose 5.2% to £72.72 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 dipped 0.6% to 180.1p per share.
Softcat, the UK provider of IT infrastructure technology and services, has said in an update that trading has 'continued to be positive' since its Q1 statement in November, driven by continued strong demand from its public sector customers. It shares were up 8.8% to £15.23.
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 0.3% to £53.60 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 0.9% to 273.6p 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 1.7% to 341.6p 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 was down 0.4% to 57.2p 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 was up 0.5% to 112p 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 fell 0.7% to £17.40 per share.
Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
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