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FTSE 100 movers: Home Retail boosted by figures

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Date: Wednesday 30 Apr 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Home Retail surged to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard as full year profits came in higher than expected despite a tough time for Homebase.

Argos made record profits, but things were tougher at Homebase where like-for-like sales slipped 4.1%. Overall, revenue in the 52 weeks to 1 March 2008 rose to £5.98bn from £5.85bn (pro-forma) a year earlier. Revenue from Argos rose to £4.32bn from £4.16bn, with like-for-like sales up 0.7%, but sales at Homebase dipped to £1.57bn from £1.59bn. Pre-tax profit rose to £426m from £321.2m a year earlier.

Citigroup has upgraded its recommendation on insurer Admiral to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ after the insurer said it was on course for another record year yesterday.

While still foreseeing problems for the company – such as increased competition for its Confused.com website – the 20% drop in its share price since Citi downgraded it to ‘hold’ in March has been overdone, the broker said. Admiral’s optimism points to 2008 profits of around £194m, compared with £182m in 2007, Citi said.

BG is off after it revealed an approach to Australia’s Origin Energy with a $12bn offer. The news overshadowed a forecast busting 78% hike in first quarter earnings. The company confirmed press speculation of an unsolicited offer for Australia’s second-biggest electricity and gas retailer, with a proposed A$14.70 per share cash purchase.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Home Retail Group (HOME) 262.25p +8.03%
Admiral Group (ADM) 860.00p +4.81%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 554.50p +2.59%
WPP Group (WPP) 620.00p +2.48%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 377.00p +2.31%
John Wood Group (WG.) 433.50p +1.82%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 644.00p +1.74%
TUI Travel (TT.) 237.25p +1.71%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,217.00p -5.66%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,561.00p -5.28%
BG Group (BG.) 1,240.00p -5.20%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,196.00p -4.09%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 512.50p -3.12%
HBOS (HBOS) 472.00p -3.03%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,864.00p -2.43%
Wolseley (WOS) 511.00p -2.39%

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