FTSE 100 movers: Aberdeen, Sports Direct and Babcock rise strongly

1st Apr 2014 13:46

The share price of Aberdeen surged on Tuesday after the asset manager said that net outflows were just 0.2bn pounds in March, compared with 3.9bn pounds over the first two months of the year. The company also said that "significant additional cost savings" have been identified and are being implemented due to subdued conditions overall in emerging markets.Sports Direct rose sharply after Liberum Capital said that it could expand its "limited scale" in many of the 19 European markets in which it already operates. Analyst Sanjay Vidyarthi said that organic growth alone is not viable, but identified "potential [acquisition] targets which equate to over 1,000 stores across Europe and around €2bn of sales". Babcock rose after it was named preferred bidder on a 21-year contract with the London Fire Brigade. Panmure Gordon also upgraded the stock to 'buy' today.GKN was also higher after buying Williams Hybrid Power which makes flywheel-based energy storage systems for the bus, truck and tram markets.Miner BHP Billiton responded to market speculation about a potential de-merger of non-core operations, saying that a "simplification of our portfolio is a priority". Shares rose after the company did not dismiss recent reports that it is considering a $20bn spin-off of its less-profitable assets of aluminium, manganese, thermal coal and nickel.Supermarket stocks were among the fallers with Tesco in the red after Espirito Santo retained a 'sell' rating, saying that operationally the group had "not addressed its core offer on quality or pricing architecture". These "ongoing concerns will be reflected at the full-year results on April 16th", it said.Fourth-quarter trading at beverages giant SABMiller could be "challenging", according to Credit Suisse, causing the shares to fall slightly today. The bank said that company's update this month "could disappoint, particularly considering the stock's recent re-rating back to its circa 10% premium valuation versus its consumer staples peers". Weir, the mining, oil and gas engineer, edged lower after confirming media speculation that it has made an indicative all-share merger proposal to Finnish rival Metso. FTSE 100 - RisersAberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 419.80p +7.56%Sports Direct International (SPD) 891.00p +4.58%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,395.00p +3.56%Aviva (AV.) 493.80p +3.52%ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,031.00p +3.31%GKN (GKN) 401.60p +2.90%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 210.30p +2.74%easyJet (EZJ) 1,762.00p +2.74%Prudential (PRU) 1,302.50p +2.68%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,890.50p +2.52%FTSE 100 - FallersPearson (PSON) 1,040.00p -2.16%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 310.40p -1.80%Mondi (MNDI) 1,033.00p -1.53%SABMiller (SAB) 2,961.00p -1.14%Diageo (DGE) 1,840.00p -1.13%Tesco (TSCO) 292.45p -1.00%Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,050.00p -0.72%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,385.00p -0.72%Unilever (ULVR) 2,544.00p -0.66%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,582.50p -0.57%BC