Deepest sympathies for Card Factory as it slumps

INVESTORS punished Card

Factory after it wrote home with a warning on profits.

Shares plunged more than 10pc after it lowered its earnings forecasts to between £89m and £91m – down from a previous £93.5m.

Bosses blamed extreme weather and tough conditions on the High Street, but pointed to strong sales on Father’s Day.

That failed to lift the gloom on the trading floor, however, with investors wiping £73m off the company’s value.

Retailers have taken a hit in recent months as a cold snap in the winter and a sweltering heatwave kept shoppers away from the High Street.

Karen Hubbard, Card Factory’s chief executive, said: ‘We continue to experience a weak consumer environment.’ In its update to the market, Card Factory also revealed a 0.2pc drop in like-for-like sales over the six months to July 31.

Total group sales growth slowed to 3.2pc, down from 6.1pc a year earlier. Getting Personal, its personalised gifts arm, suffered an 8.5pc fall in sales, which it blamed on growing competition.

Hubbard said the fourth quarter, which includes the Christmas holiday period, would be critical.

It is on target to open about 50 shops this year. Shares fell 10.8pc, or 22.7p, to 188.1p.

Extreme weather was blamed for a drop in profits at Savills as well. Chief executive Jeremy Helsby said it was also because of investments being made by the firm, but pointed to rising political and economic uncertainty as the UK continued fractious Brexit talks with EU negotiators.

The property services firm said earnings fell 18pc to £26.7m in the six months to June 30, with sales edging up 2pc to £727.8m.

That was despite dips in the Asia Pacific region and North America. In the UK, the average value of London properties sold by Savills rose 16pc to £3.2m.

But the firm added: ‘Ongoing political and economic uncertainty created by the negotiations to leave the EU make it difficult to predict market volumes for the rest of the year.’ It sent shares 4pc, or 34.5p, lower to 829.5p.

Capita, the outsourcer in the midst of a turnaround, fared better with a boost from analysts at Jefferies, who upgraded it from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ on the back of its promising software division.

Shares have sagged since a half-year update last week, when it said it scrapped the dividend and cut its full-year profit forecast. But the upbeat endorsement helped lift them 5.6pc, or 7.2p, to 135.5p.

While analysts were cautious on the future of UK outsourcing overall, cutting Capita’s target price from 200p to 180p, they said the group’s software arm could help it stand out thanks to its rosy revenue forecasts and cash flow. Fellow FTSE 250 firm Spire

Healthcare Group fell 7.4pc, or 12.7p, to 160p as concerns dragged on about its future prospects.

It runs 38 private hospitals and is grappling with lower referrals from the NHS. Spire has warned its earnings this year are set to take a hit.

Analysts at German bank Berenberg added to its woes, issuing a note that downgraded it from ‘buy’ to ‘sell’. They wrote: ‘Operations have clearly taken a marked turn for the worse.’ Meanwhile, steady gains for the

FTSE 100 this week were abruptly brought to a halt.

The index’s drop was partly due to several blue-chip firms shutting up shop before they paid dividends, with BT, Shell, Astrazeneca and Rio Tinto among them.

Investors were also rattled by growing global tensions, and the index fell 0.45pc, or 34.88 points, to 7741.77.