FTSE 100 movers: IMI climbs on upbeat report

16th Nov 2012 15:27

Engineering giant IMI gained after saying that second-half trading has been in line with expectations so far in spite of some expected weakness in the Fluid Power division. Serco rose strongly after it delivered the anticipated pick-up in performance in the second half and said it is on track to meet full-year expectations. Cruise operator Carnival climbed after announcing that its shareholders are in for an additional payout of 50 US cents per share in December, in a move to return excess cash back to investors. Carnival will pay a special dividend of $0.50 per share on December 28th, as well as the previously announced regular quarterly payout of $0.25 per share already scheduled for December 14th. Meanwhile, industrial turnaround specialist Melrose plummeted today after saying some of its businesses have seen a slow-down in business in recent weeks. The overall weekly rate of order intake in the second half of the year has been 8% lower than the first half, but Melrose said it is too early to tell how this will affect 2013, and in any case the order intake rate is varying on a business by business basis. Pennon Group saw its shares take a hit after Nomura cut its target price from 730p to 710p, UBS reduced its target price from 740p to 680p, and JP Morgan Cazenove lowered its target price from 780p to 670p. None of them changed their rating. Credit Suisse also reduced its target price from 690p to 650p and upgraded from underperform to neutral. Deutsche Bank moved its target price from 720p to 650p, and retained its hold recommendation. On the whole, resources groups were also firmly out of favour, including EVRAZ, Fresnillo, ENRC and Shell. Banking peers RBS and Lloyds were registering losses. A Public Accounts Committee report said today that while the government would look to make a profit for taxpayers on the sale of its stake in the two banks, this may not happen "for many years". It also said that there is a risk that the £66bn invested in RBS and Lloyds "may never be recovered". FTSE 100 - RisersIMI (IMI) 960.00p +1.91%Serco Group (SRP) 550.50p +1.10%Carnival (CCL) 2,457.00p +1.07%Compass Group (CPG) 693.00p +0.80%Croda International (CRDA) 2,291.00p +0.57%Babcock International Group (BAB) 962.00p +0.52%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,526.00p +0.46%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,389.00p +0.22%Next (NXT) 3,557.00p +0.20%WPP (WPP) 805.00p +0.19%FTSE 100 - FallersMelrose (MRO) 208.60p -11.61%Pennon Group (PNN) 598.50p -4.77%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 261.60p -4.66%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 44.05p -3.60%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,886.00p -3.18%Evraz (EVR) 218.70p -3.02%BT Group (BT.A) 219.30p -2.62%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,199.00p -2.44%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,026.50p -2.36%Whitbread (WTB) 2,316.00p -2.32%NR