FTSE 100 movers: Pearson picks up pre-update, GKN trips over profit warning
London's blue chip stocks were leaning to the downside on Friday amid a sterling recovery, though mining stocks were doing their best to lift the mood.
Pearson was top of the pile as the week drew to a close, with the educational publisher pepped up ahead of its third-quarter trading update on 17 October as the shares continue to recover from last month's nine-year low.
Barclays expects to see a 7.5% fall for North American higher education textbooks and down 6.0% for the year. "We believe consensus is towards the bottom end of management’s +1% to -7% FY range," the bank said, feeling while Pearson’s shares do not currently look cheap on 2020 forecasts, stronger Q3 growth could give the market "more faith in a better outcome for growth and savings".
Recently Exane BNP Paribas upgraded Pearson to 'outperform' with a 700p target price as it also expects the update to show improving trends in the college publishing market. "More disciplined bookstore ordering coupled with the publishers’ push against counterfeit textbooks may have helped,” analysts wrote, likewise recommending a play on short-term momentum over long-term growth.
Mining heavyweights, led by Rio Tinto, Glencore, Anglo American and BHP Billiton, were among the stronger performers thanks to the latest Chinese trade numbers revealing a stronger pick-up in imports than was anticipated, rising by 19.5% on the year versus a consensus of 16.5% and up from 14.4%. Export growth accelerated from a 6.9% year-on-year clip in August to 9.0% for September, ahead of the 10.9% consensus.
"Today’s figures suggest that not only has strong foreign demand continued to prop up manufacturing activity in China but domestic demand remains resilient too," said Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics.
Bottom of the pile was engineer GKN after it warned full-year profits before tax will be only slightly higher on the prior year's as a result of two significant "commercially sensitive" external claims, together with continuing headwinds at its North American aerospace arm that are expected to drag on the group's trading margin.
Experian was lower after receiving a letters from the attorneys general of 36 US states and the District of Columbia asking the credit checking company not to charge any credit freeze-related fees. With more than 140m Americans hit by the massive cyber attack at rival Equifax, the letters requested Experian join other consumer reporting agencies in offering consumers a free credit freeze. Recovering from an initial read-across tumble, shares in Experian have risen since the Equifax breach emerged.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,533.79 -0.30%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,242.79 -0.04%
techMARK (TASX) 3,548.21 -0.45%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Pearson (PSON) 639.00p 2.73%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,656.50p 2.11%
Glencore (GLEN) 375.60p 2.08%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,468.50p 1.73%
Kingfisher (KGF) 309.00p 1.68%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,395.50p 1.45%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,482.00p 1.16%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 678.00p 0.97%
G4S (GFS) 281.20p 0.86%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,436.00p 0.82%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
GKN (GKN) 319.10p -9.55%
Experian (EXPN) 1,528.00p -2.30%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 741.40p -2.25%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,273.00p -1.90%
Centrica (CNA) 175.90p -1.73%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,913.00p -1.65%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,300.00p -1.59%
Barclays (BARC) 190.25p -1.45%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,111.00p -1.26%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 453.90p -1.26%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Aldermore Group (ALD) 302.90p 18.32%
Provident Financial (PFG) 886.00p 12.29%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 376.10p 6.48%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 286.10p 4.42%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 394.30p 4.06%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 341.60p 3.30%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 190.10p 3.26%
Man Group (EMG) 185.80p 3.22%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 286.70p 2.91%
Capita (CPI) 571.00p 2.79%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 203.10p -6.83%
Renewi (RWI) 99.10p -5.08%
Senior (SNR) 282.20p -2.96%
IWG (IWG) 324.00p -2.53%
Cobham (COB) 143.60p -2.31%
UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCM) 87.05p -1.97%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 634.50p -1.93%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 695.50p -1.90%
WH Smith (SMWH) 2,036.00p -1.64%
Just Eat (JE.) 737.00p -1.60%