FTSE 100 movers: Wm Morrison wows brokers

21st Jul 2009 11:50

Supermarket Wm Morrison is making all of the running today after a bullish trading update. Full year results are expected to beat previous forecasts due to continuing customer growth and cost cutting measures. Morrisons, benefitting from its fresh food "Market Street" ranges and its focus on price cuts and promotions, said the strong start to the year has been maintained through the second quarter. Brokers have ramped up their forecasts. Merrill Lynch is a buyer and is predicting pre-tax profit of £750m for the year to 31 January, 2010. Cazenove, meanwhile, has ramped up its profit forecast by a tenth to £729m and Charles Stanley expects to lift its forecasts also by 10% to £740m. Fashion retailer Next rushed out its interim management statement Tuesday morning to spread the good news about better than expected trading. "The warmer weather drove sales of summer clothing, and management estimate that the weather boost was between 2% and 3%. Management were also much happier with the design and fashion content of the current season. The group entered the summer sale with 19% less stock than last year and initial clearance rates have been encouraging," noted Singer Capital Markets, which is a buyer of the stock.FTSE 100 - RisersMorrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 275.75p +8.88%Hammerson (HMSO) 325.00p +4.50%Prudential (PRU) 425.00p +3.79%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 41.10p +3.29%Aviva (AV.) 338.00p +3.13%3i Group (III) 254.50p +3.04%Xstrata (XTA) 718.50p +2.98%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 74.10p +2.90%FTSE 100 - FallersKingfisher (KGF) 200.25p -3.26%Next (NXT) 1,609.00p -2.13%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 679.00p -1.45%Man Group (EMG) 282.25p -1.22%Friends Provident Group (FP.) 72.34p -1.22%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,125.00p -1.06%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 326.75p -0.98%BG Group (BG.) 1,047.00p -0.76%