FTSE 100 movers: Brokers warm to Invensys

14th May 2009 10:59

Thomas Cook is under pressure today after larger than expected losses in the six months ended March. Pre-tax losses widened to £280.4m compared with £233.2m last time, while revenue rose 12.6% to £3,484.3m. Even so, the underlying momentum is encouraging, reckons broker KBC Peel Hunt."Stripping out the short-term impact from Mexico, current booking patterns are trending towards capacity," notes KBC analyst Nick Batram. 'Of particular note is that UK average prices are up 15% over the last three weeks, a significant improvement in Northern Europe bookings (+17% over the past three weeks) and a solid performance from Continental Europe (-3% bookings v -16% cumulative),' Batram adds.Telecoms giant BT has slashed its dividend and cut another 15,000 jobs after a £1.3bn charge sent it to a full year loss of £134m. The charge, which follows completion of contract and financial reviews at its troubled Global Services unit, resulted in a reported loss of £1.28bn for the fourth quarter versus a £494m profit a year earlier. It made a full year profit of £1.98bn last time. Charles Stanley has summed up the investment appeal of Invensys in three statements: No debt; strong cash generation; a return to dividend payments. The broker has upgraded the stock to 'accumulate' from 'reduce' after the engineering company's results on Thursday morning in which it announced a net cash position of £286m and a final dividend of 1.5p. Although the results of the Controls and Process divisions were weaker than Charles Stanley had been expecting, the 38% increase in orders should provide the business with some protection from the worst of the economic downturn, analyst Jeremy Batstone-Carr believes.FTSE 100 - RisersInvensys (ISYS) 214.50p +8.44%Fresnillo (FRES) 604.50p +6.99%TUI Travel (TT.) 256.00p +5.68%Barclays (BARC) 255.25p +5.15%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,163.00p +5.06%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 39.60p +4.21%G4S (GFS) 214.25p +3.63%WPP Group (WPP) 469.25p +3.08%FTSE 100 - FallersPetrofac Ltd (PFC) 586.00p -6.76%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 232.25p -5.69%Inmarsat (ISAT) 510.50p -4.58%BT Group (BT.A) 90.50p -4.13%Lonmin (LMI) 1,184.00p -3.27%Anglo American (AAL) 1,428.00p -2.99%Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,280.00p -2.98%Compass Group (CPG) 345.50p -2.12%