Sector movers: Investors gobble up food stocks

4th Aug 2010 15:22

Rising wheat prices have given companies that use the commodity plenty of food for thought lately, but Premier Foods, the maker of Hovis bread, is in demand today after first half results. The stock is leading the food producers sector higher.Pre-tax losses for continuing operations widened to £54.4m in the half year ended 26 June from a loss of £30m a year earlier. Total sales fell to £1.18m from £1.24m before.Branded sales for the six month period fell to £771m from £774m in 2009.Commenting on the results, chief executive officer, Robert Schofield said, 'We are controlling costs tightly and have made good progress in strengthening our cash flow and reducing debt.' The retail sector is lower, including fashion group Next, which has noticed a 'cooling' in consumers' demand in recent months, but still expects profits this year to rise by between 6-11%, in line with its previous forecasts.'There has been a noticeable cooling in retail demand in recent months, the mood amongst consumers is best characterised as cautious. We believe that consumer spending will be more restrained in the second half than in the first, as spending cuts and tax rises begin to take effect,' the high street giant said.Carpetright is also suffering. Sales fell during the first quarter, forcing the carpet and flooring retailer to take another close look at costs and spending.Like for like sales in the UK and Ireland dropped 3.4% in the 13 weeks ended 31 July compared with a 1.4% increase this time last year. The decline accelerated to 4.2% in the rest of Europe from 3.1% last time.Top performing sectors so far todayConstruction & Materials 3,372.56 +1.99%Alternative Energy 4,527.13 +1.72%Food Producers & Processors 4,868.19 +1.72%Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 19,261.19 +1.22%Mobile Telecommunications 3,463.16 +1.11%Bottom performing sectors so far todayGeneral Retailers 1,598.01 -3.13%Household Goods & Home Construction 5,970.79 -1.37%Chemicals 5,791.35 -1.10%Real Estate Investment Trusts 1,803.80 -0.92%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 8,678.49 -0.82%