BBA Aviation shares plummet on slowing US demand for jets

BBA AVIATION crashlanded at the bottom of the FTSE 250 leaderboard yesterday after admitting that its growth has been hit by Wall Street’s high-fliers taking to the skies less often.

Demand for business aircraft was recovering from its post-financial crisis slump but has taken another dip in 2018 despite buoyant GDP growth in the US.

Industry data indicate that the US business and general aviation market contracted 0.1pc in June, the aircraft services business said.

The FTSE 250 company now expects only “modest” instead of “good” growth this year on the “softer than expected” US market, BBA’S most important.

Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo warned that earnings estimates could be put under pressure if the key market for BBA continues to underperform. Suffering its sharpest daily nosedive in nearly a decade, BBA Aviation skidded 40p to 310p, an 11.4pc slump.

Elsewhere, Rightmove extended its losing streak to a fifth day after Berenberg warned that rival Onthemarket could soon be snapping at the heels of the online property portal.

Last week, Rightmove revealed its profits jumped 12pc in the first half of 2018 despite the downturn in the housing market. But Berenberg believes that newly listed Onthemarket could still impact its rival if Rightmove is forced to up marketing spend to defend its dominance or agents leave. Rightmove inched down 81p to £47.90. Shopping centre owner

Hammerson slipped back 9p to 512.8p after Jefferies analyst Mike Prew criticised its strategy rethink as “plain vanilla” in a downgrade to “underperform”.

The FTSE 250 company announced last week that it is planning to sell £1.1bn of properties to focus on more premium outlets.

Mr Prew argued that it was “nonsensical to broadcast what is for sale before it is sold” and even more so to splash out on a £300m share buyback to please unruly investors.

City analysts pinned an unexpected jump in deaths in the UK for aiding funeral provider Dignity’s turnaround efforts as its shares rallied 39p to £10.51.

However, Peel Hunt warned that the death rate “is now returning to normal” and is likely to drop 2pc in the second half of the year.

Power generator rental giant Aggreko surged 68.8p to 812p after its pre-tax profits beat City estimates.

Finally, a rally in global stocks was halted by fears that the US will attempt to force Beijing back to the negotiating table by hitting $200bn (£153bn) of Chinese imports with even higher tariffs. Weighed down by a slew of disappointing updates from Next, Direct Line and Rio Tinto, the

FTSE 100 underperformed its subdued rivals, sliding 95.85 points to 7,652.91.