London close: Thomas Cook leads the decline

14th Jul 2011 16:47

Stocks closed firmly in the red on a day that saw stocks moving sharply in both directions after a raft of updates.Investors had a keen appetite for shares in Premier Foods. The Hovis bread and Sharwood ready-meals maker unveiled industry veteran Mike Clarke as its new head honcho. Clarke, currently President of Kraft Foods Europe, will take over as chief executive of Premier Foods at the beginning of September.But Thomas Cook was travelling south again after Tuesday's profit warning, with the tour operator hit by the turmoil in the Arab world and economic weakness in the UK.In the FTSE 100, Associated British Foods bucked the downward trend. It said its outlook for the full year is in line with expectations as its food arm and budget clothing retail chain Primark continue to perform well. Silver producer Fresnillo shone following strong quarterly production figures, but other miners such as the copper producers Antofagasta and Kazakhmys are suffering.Sports shop chain Sports Direct International fell even after it posted a sharp rise in revenues in the year to 24 April, despite the tough economic climate. Total sales climbed to £1.6bn from £1.45bn the previous year. Underlying pre-tax profits, which do not include foreign exchange gains and losses, exceptional costs and profits or losses on sales of investments, rose to £135.5m from £102.1m, but reported pre-tax profits, which do include these, fell to £118.8m from £119.5m. The company, which operates nearly 400 stores including 79 in Europe, is not paying a dividend. Also on the high street, baby clothing and toy retailer Mothercare is under pressure after reporting continuing falls in like-for-like sales.House builder Barratt Developments was under the cosh after it confirmed its return to profitability, saying it expects to deliver a full-year profit before tax and exceptional items of around £40m, compared to a loss the year before of £33.0m. Daily Mail publisher DMGT has been on a steady downward decline after saying it is putting the price of its main newspaper up by 5p to 55p as it seeks to cope with rising newsprint prices and declines in the advertising market and circulations. Elsewhere in world of media, Centaur, the publisher and events organiser, is in demand after saying revenues are up 14% on 2010 and it expects profits at the top end of expectations. Interestingly, the firm which produces the Lawyer and Marketing Week, says digital advertising revenues (+14%) were up much more than print (+7%) perhaps giving a sense of the general trend within the publishing business. The aggregate figure for advertising sales was 7%. Sticking with companies whose names are inspired by Greek mythology Eros International, the Indian film distributor, has announced impressive results for its Murder 2 title.On its first weekend it grossed US$7.6 million worldwide, with US$7.2 million in India.Yell Group, the publisher of the Yellow Pages, has announced it wants to transform itself into a leader of what it calls the "local eMarketplace", but the shares fell sharply.Shares in specialist packaging firm API was sparkling like one of its foil wrappers after the company said trading in 2011 would be ahead of market forecasts. The firm said that the first quarter of the financial year had seen activity and profitability levels running significantly ahead of expectations with its laminates and holographics units performing particularly strongly. FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,595.00p +4.93%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 45.82p +3.21%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,081.00p +2.27%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,579.00p +2.07%Kingfisher (KGF) 258.30p +1.65%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,073.00p +1.32%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 659.00p +1.23%Rexam (REX) 378.90p +0.48%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,465.00p +0.46%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 605.00p +0.33%FTSE 100 - FallersPetrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,445.00p -3.79%Cairn Energy (CNE) 387.30p -3.44%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,241.00p -3.20%ARM Holdings (ARM) 574.50p -2.87%WPP (WPP) 717.50p -2.71%Carnival (CCL) 2,232.00p -2.62%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,269.00p -2.61%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 355.00p -2.42%Sage Group (SGE) 279.50p -2.27%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,386.00p -2.25%FTSE 250 - RisersPremier Foods (PFD) 21.66p +19.67%ITE Group (ITE) 228.60p +5.88%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 500.50p +5.59%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 112.00p +5.26%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 408.00p +3.63%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 158.20p +3.60%Petropavlovsk (POG) 823.50p +3.32%Lancashire Holdings (LRE) 679.00p +2.88%International Personal Finance (IPF) 375.20p +2.79%Pace (PIC) 113.30p +2.63%FTSE 250 - FallersThomas Cook Group (TCG) 71.30p -15.57%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 595.00p -4.95%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 105.90p -4.77%TUI Travel (TT.) 192.50p -4.70%PZ Cussons (PZC) 351.00p -4.70%Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) 421.30p -4.12%Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 312.50p -3.99%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 46.85p -3.82%William Hill (WMH) 215.90p -3.74%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 295.00p -3.47%