London afternoon: Shares off top after US housing starts shock

19th May 2009 14:15

Alarming US housing starts data looks set to put the kybosh on the prospect of a firm start on Wall Street and has had a knock-on effect in London, where share prices are coming off the top. Marks & Spencer remains the day's biggest blue-chip faller after it saw a sharp drop in pre-tax profits to £706.2m from £1.13bn. In a widely anticipated move M&S said it will rebase its dividend payment to 15p a share from the current 22.5p. Sector peer Next slides in sympathy.Heavy one-off charges, principally in Spain and Turkey, slashed mobile phone network provider Vodafone's annual profit, though the underlying numbers met forecasts. Group revenue for the year to March rose 15.6% to £41bn, and on a pro forma basis by 1.3%.The best performing blue-chip is inter-dealer broker ICAP, which announced record revenue and profit for last year, helped by successful acquisitions. Revenue in the year to 31 March 2009 rose 23% to £1,601m from £1,304m the year before, while pre-tax profit rose 2% to £281m from £275m.Package tour giant TUI Travel saw operating losses widen at the interim stage, due to the weakness of sterling and the timing of Easter this year. The company said that current trading has continued to improve, with cumulative bookings for the summer season in line with expectations.Dairy Crest, the firm behind Cathedral cheese and Country Life butter, falls after saying it will cut future dividends by 25% to preserve cash. Adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to March 31 fell to £79.5m from £86m even as revenues climbed to £1.65bn from £1.57bn.Tate & Lyle, which has appointed Javed Ahmed from Reckitt Benckiser as its new chief executive, is a strong riser. He will take over from current incumbent Iain Ferguson on 15 November.The share price of ceramics firm Cookson is on the boil after Citigroup raised its price target from 210p to 300p.Property company Great Portland announced details of its widely anticipated rights issue. The company is seeking to raise £166m net by way of an 8 for 11 rights issue at 133p per share. The company will use the cash to take advantage of depressed property values.SSL, the company behind Durex condoms and Scholl footcare products, posted a sharp rise in pre-tax profits as the global downturn failed to damp demand for its wares.High-end fashion group Burberry revealed a 12% decline in full year profit after a particularly tough second half. Adjusted profit before tax fell to £175m for the year ended 31 March 2009 from £200m the same time a year earlier. Total revenue was up 21% at £1.2bn. The full year dividend has been maintained at 12p.Plastics group Victrrex and instrumentation and controls group Spectris both blamed weak demand from the automotive and electronics sectors for disappointing trading performances.Victrex said revenue fell 31% to £47.4m at the interim stage, or by 24% at constant exchange rates, while gross profit before tax slumped 62% to £10.2m, with unfavourable exchange rates depressing profits by £8.4m.Shares in Spectris tumbled after the company said its full-year profits would be at the lower end of market expectations.On the stockbroking front, Collins Stewart drops back after saying revenues in the first four months of the year have been in line with the corresponding period of last year, while Evolution Group advances after saying it is seeing very strong growth in its fixed income business. Home maintenance specialist Homeserve posted a 13% hike in full year profit and said it would be offloading its UK Emergency Services division unit to focus on its three core businesses.Meanwhile, Currys and PC World owner DSG International has exited Hungary after selling the nine stores it operates there for a grand total of €1.Xchanging, the business processing outsourcing company, said 2009 revenues are running slightly below expectations. The effects of the recession have been particularly noticeable in the banking sector, and also in the insurance claims business in the US. Office provider Regus reported a 16% rise in revenues during the four months to April 30 as it increased its international presence, but said that yields remain under pressure amid tough conditions.Property fund manager Capital & Regional said it is continuing to progress with negotiations on its banking facility, which are expected to be concluded by the time of its interim results. As part of its discussions with the bank, it is looking to widen the asset cover test to include other assets and seeking to amend other facility terms to provide sufficient headroom.Shares in Delcam dropped after the group said its current trading performance has declined against budget, particularly for software sales. The group now expects pre-tax profits for the year to 31 December 2009 to be in the region of £1.2m.