GRAND NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKE KIT
SHARES in AO World were put through the wash yesterday after it admitted it would take a £2.5m hit this year.
The white goods and electricals retailer said an overhaul of its management team, following the return of founder John roberts as chief executive, will dent its bottom line.
The costs also relate to a lossmaking contract in Germany.
roberts, 48, who started the firm as a £1 pub bet, returned in January to take over from Steve Caunce, his former business partner.
roberts’ decision to abandon TV advertising and focus instead on social media is understood to have led to a string of redundancies.
The father-of-five is also preparing to launch a £2-a-week washing machine rental service.
his re-appointment after two years away came after it posted a £10.3m half-year loss.
aO World said full-year profits are likely to come in at the lower end of market forecasts, but expects to rake in £900m in sales, 13pc higher than a year earlier. Shares fell 5.7pc, or 5.5p, to 91.5p as investors digested the news.
The FTSE 100 ended virtually flat, managing to stay just above the 7400 mark, closing down 0.2pc, or 16.34 points, at 7401.94.
London’s main index had traded lower earlier in the day as a number of blue-chip stocks went ex-dividend – meaning those buying shares after that date will not be entitled to a company’s next scheduled dividend.
Big-name stocks trading ex-dividend included packaging manufacturer DS Smith (down 2.4pc, or 8.3p, to 345.5p), Lloyds Banking
Group (down 3.5pc, or 2.26p, to 62.62p) and wealth manager St
James’s Place (down 3.2pc, or 34p, to 1043p). Insurer Direct Line fell a hefty 7.6pc, or 27.7p, to 338.8p, as it went both ex-dividend and took a hit from a 37pc fall in its rival Saga, which plunged after reporting lower profits and a lessthan-rosy outlook for the coming year. Saga shares closed down 37pc, or 39.55p, at 67.25p. Shares in London’s oil majors
BP and Royal Dutch Shell fell by more than 1pc in early trading after weekly data revealed a surprise increase in the amount of oil in US stockpiles and an uptick in its production levels.
BP shares later closed down 0.1pc, or 0.7p, at 559.6p, while Shell ended flat at 2458.5p as the price of global benchmark Brent crude rose throughout the day, pushing past $70 a barrel last night.
UDG Healthcare made gains on the mid-cap FTSe 250 index after analysts at Barclays upgraded their rating on its stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘equal weight’.
The Dublin- based company, which is a contractor for the healthcare industry, rose 4.5pc, or 27p, to 622.5p after Barclays brokers said they ‘ expect earnings upgrades and view management guidance as conservative’.
The market was confident in the prospects of Motif Bio, which is trying to create new antibiotics, after it raised £2.7m through a share placing that priced its shares at 6p a pop.
Its stock rose – which doesn’t always happen after a placing – by 13.5pc, or 0.88p, to 7.38p.
Motif will use the £2.7m to keep the business going as it provides more information to the US Food & Drug administration in the next few months about its antibiotic, Iclaprim, which was developed to treat skin infections. home repairs provider Homeserve rose after it said its annual profit will be at the upper end of City expectations and significantly more than the £142m it made the year before.
The company, which offers monthly plumbing and drainage cover as well as one-off emergency call-outs, saw its shares lift 1pc, or 10p, to 1082p.