Asos of India plummets 51pc as it asks for £50m
Investors have cold shouldered online fashion retailer Koovs’ plans for expansion.
the so-called ‘Asos of India’ wants to tap up investors for a further £50m to speed up its growth plans.
selling Western fashion to Asian audiences, Koovs has established itself as one of India’s most popular budget fashion brands.
However, in a trading update, it warned sales are likely to be lower when it reports its full-year results later this year. the firm said a ‘significant’ proportion of the money will be used for marketing so it can boost its brand.
But investors did not react well after discovering Koovs has £3.5m spare cash against monthly expenses of £750,000. to ease investors’ concerns, Koovs rushed out a gushing broker note from Hardman & Co, which it had paid for, saying: ‘Koovs’ success will come on the back of the growing Indian economy breeding millions of online shoppers. Having spent a few days with Koovs in Delhi, we believe all the ingredients are in place; only the pace is uncertain.’
shares still dropped by a whopping 51.4pc, or 5.4p, to 5.1p.
Markets were twitchy amid friction between the Government and the eU over what to do about the border with Ireland after Brexit. the stand- off hit the pound, which fell against the euro. the FTSE 100 also ended the day down, falling 0.78pc, or 56.27 points, to 7175.64. Currency concerns weighed on
Rentokil Initial, whose shares had a day to forget. the Ftse 100 pest control specialist reported an 11.3pc rise in revenue to £2.4bn and a 22.8pc rise in profits to £ 294.6m. But investors were spooked by a warning buried in its results announcement that its profits could be dented by the strengthening pound.
the full-year estimated negative impact of currency movements could be in the region of £10m to £15m. shares plunged 9.2pc, or 26.5p, to 263.1p.
on the Ftse 250, a bullish outlook for 2018 pushed Howden
Joinery shares up 8.2pc, or 36.2p, to 480.3p. Kitchen makers usually thrive when the property market is booming, so it was surprising to see the firm post decent results.
sales were up 7.4pc, although pre-tax profits were down 2.4pc to £232.2m. the firm predicted the strong sales it achieved at the end of 2017 would continue into 2018.
However, experts urged caution. russ Mould, of stockbroker AJ Bell, said: ‘While the company has a good track record of managing costs in more difficult times, the direction of its share price will be heavily influenced by investors’ view of the UK property market and UK economic strength. Just look at the fact that builders’ merchant travis Perkins, estate agent Foxtons and housebuilder taylor Wimpey all saw their share prices weaken on Wednesday as the market reacted negatively to all things related to the property sector.’
At the other end of the Ftse 250, toby van der Meer, the new boss of insurer Hastings, had a baptism of fire. Despite the insurer increasing its market share, revenue and profits last year, investors were disturbed by warnings of slower premium growth as a result of ‘intense’ competition. Its shares dived 12pc, or 37.6p, to 275p.
Civil engineer Costain gave investors something to cheer about after recommending a 10pc increase in the dividend, on the back of solid results.
the road and railway designer increased pre-tax profit by 26pc and revenue by 7pc.
It has recommended a final dividend of 9.25p per share, raising the total for the year by 10pc to 14p a share. At closing, its shares were up 3.3pc, or 14.5p, to 457p.