FTSE 100 Movers: Vedanta leads the way lower on debt worries

25th Nov 2011 13:06

Miners are responsible for much of the loss on the top-share index, as copper prices head lower. Vedanta was the biggest faller, on news that the firm is coming under pressure to deal with its level of debt. Deutsche Bank has sparked the worries after it cut its target price on the stock from £21 to £16.7 and made a statement saying: "We believe the key question for investors is whether Vedanta will breach covenants and whether the subsidiaries can service the parent level debt. In our view this depends increasingly on a robust oil price, as Cairn India [which Vedanta is buying] will need to provide the majority of dividends to service parent level interest payments." As reported in the Guardian, he also said: "We estimate commodity prices will need to fall by another 15% and stay at these levels for 2013 before Vedanta is likely to breach covenants. Much of this risk is priced in already in our view."Contract caterer Compass was on the up after agreeing to acquire Supercare Services Group, a South African cleaning company.Supercare, which has 4,000 contracts in the Business & Industry, Healthcare and Education sectors, generated revenue of about £63.6m for the year to 28 February 2011 and had gross assets of around £12m equivalent. Severn Trent, best known as a water utility but also a supplier of water and waste water treatment solutions, is short of support. Profits came in towards the bottom end of expectation. Interim profit before tax tumbled 35.4% to £65.3m from £101.1m the year before, but with exceptional items and losses on financial instruments stripped out, profits were more or less flat, at £155.0m, versus £168.0m last year. FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 18.31p +1.89%Admiral Group (ADM) 868.00p +1.58%National Grid (NG.) 629.50p +1.53%Compass Group (CPG) 552.50p +1.28%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 723.50p +1.12%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 310.80p +0.91%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,339.00p +0.75%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 674.00p +0.75%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,086.00p +0.74%Unilever (ULVR) 1,991.00p +0.71%FTSE 100 - FallersVedanta Resources (VED) 912.00p -4.50%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,004.00p -2.90%Cairn Energy (CNE) 260.40p -2.73%Schroders (SDR) 1,180.00p -2.56%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,485.00p -2.50%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 788.00p -2.41%Man Group (EMG) 122.90p -2.31%ARM Holdings (ARM) 547.50p -2.23%Essar Energy (ESSR) 208.70p -2.16%Lonmin (LMI) 947.00p -2.12%NR