London open: Whitbread loses its froth

13th Dec 2011 08:47

London has opened on the front foot, which comes as a relief after yesterday's bashing, but the top-share index's modest advance is largely due to the strength of miners, which more than outweighs the weakness of banks.Results from Costa Coffee show owner Whitbread have left a sour taste, with evidence that sales growth is running out of steam. For the group as a whole, third quarter sales at outlets which have been open longer than a year rose just 2.4% year-on-year compared to 3.3% growth in the first half.Speaking on a conference call, chief executive Andy Harrison said: "I would say this is a reflection of the general economic climate, but I would say that's pretty impressive growth in total sales." While Whitbread was the big blue-chip loser in early trading, oilfield services firm Petrofac was top of the tree. The company expects to deliver like-for-like (LFL) net profit growth in 2011 of at least 20%, the company said. On the basis of awards announced in the year to date, the order backlog is expected to be in the region of $10.6bn at 31 December 2011, down from $11.7bn at the end of 2010. International distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl said revenue growth for the full financial year is expected to be more than 6% at constant exchange rates, comprising organic revenue growth of around 3.5%, with the remainder coming from acquisitions. There has also been an improvement in the group operating margin.Struggling travel firm Thomas Cook has sold Hotels Y Clubs De Vacaciones (HCV) to Grupo Iberostar for €72.2m. HCV is a holding company that, together with another shareholder, owns five Spanish hotels and one golf club as well as operating a second golf club in Spain.Bus and train operator Go-Ahead said trading in the last six months has been robust and its now expects to deliver operating profit slightly ahead of previous company expectations, primarily at its rail unit, for the full year to 30 June 2012.Berendsen, the textile services firm, says it is trading 'in line with expectations' as earnings from its Nordic region compensate for weaker revenues from the UK.Homeserve, the troubled emergency repair company, is to outsource its complaints handling following a mis-selling scandal. The company also announced a new "affinity agreement" with Sembcorp Bournemouth Water (SBW). SBW serves 200,000 residents while also having 10,000 of its own home emergency policy holders.Flooring specialist Carpetright saw a 3.9% drop in revenue in the half year to 29 October, contributing to a significant fall in underlying profit before tax. However, the shares surged higher as the pre-tax profit of £1.4m was ahead of many brokers' expectations. Printing technologies firm Domino Printing Sciences reported its best ever full year results following a strong global performance and the introduction of new products. Underlying pre-tax profits hit a record £59.5m, up 9% from the year before.Builders' merchant Travis Perkins said like-for-like (LFL) turnover per trading day in the first 11 months of 2011 was 2.8% higher than in the corresponding period of last year, despite consumers' reluctance to splash out on new kitchens and bathrooms. At its Wickes outlets, LFL delivered-sales in the eight weeks to the end of November were down 6.8%, with kitchen and bathroom sales proving a drag, reflecting continued poor and weakening consumer confidence for major purchases.On the macro front, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) house price balance for the month of November has improved moderately, to -17 from -24 the month before. That is the highest level since July 2010.FTSE 100 - RisersPetrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,406.00p +2.40%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 899.00p +2.16%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 648.00p +2.13%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,687.00p +2.00%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,180.00p +1.96%Lonmin (LMI) 993.50p +1.90%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,775.00p +1.80%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,083.00p +1.69%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,173.00p +1.47%Anglo American (AAL) 2,380.00p +1.41%FTSE 100 - FallersWhitbread (WTB) 1,505.00p -4.51%Barclays (BARC) 177.65p -2.09%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,085.00p -1.81%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 20.20p -1.75%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 24.11p -1.27%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,202.00p -1.23%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,407.00p -0.88%BG Group (BG.) 1,313.00p -0.87%Kingfisher (KGF) 246.40p -0.69%Glencore International (GLEN) 384.90p -0.67%FTSE 250 - RisersDomino Printing Sciences (DNO) 480.70p +10.13%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 477.00p +9.15%Carpetright (CPR) 408.50p +3.31%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 15.77p +3.27%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,267.00p +2.84%FTSE 250 - FallersTravis Perkins (TPK) 801.50p -1.60%Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 364.00p -1.52%BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.75 -1.51%Home Retail Group (HOME) 86.20p -1.37%BH Macro Ltd. USD Shares (BHMU) 19.56 -1.21%Bodycote (BOY) 250.50p -1.11%Bellway (BWY) 727.00p -1.09%--jh