Engineer slides 6pc after another profit warning
A SECOND profit warning in two months has caused alarm for investors in British engineering firm Renishaw.
The company, which makes products from precision measuring tools to brain surgery implements, expects revenue to be in the range of £580m to £600m for its full year, down from estimates of £635m to £665m in January, which were revised lower in March to between £595m and £620m.
Profits in the first nine months of its financial year, from July to March, have already tumbled by 18.8pc to £84.8m compared with the same time a year ago. The FTSE 250 company did not shed any light on the reasons, other than noting ‘recent order trends’.
But back in March Renishaw blamed a slowdown in demand from Asia and large consumer electronics manufacturers.
Analysts at Peel Hunt said the fact that Renishaw has around £120.5m of spare cash, and tends to keep investing in the business even in hard times, makes it wellplaced for the long term. Investors were less convinced as shares slid 6.4pc, or 266p, to 3868p. Online estate agent Purplebricks, which recently dialled back its international expansion after disappointing performance, revealed after the stock market closed that hedge fund Toscafund has snapped up a 5.6pc stake, worth around £19m. Purplebricks ended up 6.8pc, or 7.2p, at 112.4p.
The FTSE 100 was back in the black – up 77.92 points to 7241.6 – after three days of losses, as trade tensions between the US and China showed signs of easing.
US President Donald Trump predicted talks with China would eventually be successful, and said he would let the market know ‘in about three or four weeks’ what the outcome was.
Recently, Sino-US relations have become ever-more strained, as the US slapped increased tariffs on Chinese goods it imports and President Xi Jinping retaliated.
Kenmare Resources, which owns one of the world’s largest titanium mines in Mozambique, baffled investors as it put out a hastily corrected stock market statement. The note – Statement re possible offer – suggested it had received a takeover bid from a competitor. But the actual contents of the document merely contained a run-of-the-mill notification that Fidelity International had bought more shares.
The company changed the title within eight minutes. But by that time, excited traders who had not read beyond the first line had pushed Kenmare’s shares up by as much as 8pc.
They ended 0.5pc, or 1p, up at 203p, as a spokesman clarified there was no offer on the table.
Beleaguered investment firm
Jupiter Fund Management gave its shareholders some respite, announcing the appointment of a new chief financial officer.
Wayne Mepham, currently the global head of finance at Schroders, will take over from Charlotte Jones, who is leaving to join RSA Insurance. Shares in Jupiter climbed 2.3pc, or 7.9p, to 359.2p, while Schroders was up 1.5pc, or 44p, at 3051p.
Iodine producer Iofina, which makes chemicals for the industrial and pharmaceutical sectors, plunged as it revealed it was mulling a fundraising.
Its shares had been building substantial gains over the past month. Iofina said it didn’t know of any particular reason for this, but added that it was planning to ask shareholders for at least £5m to help pay down debt. Shares fell 35.2pc, or 11.25p, to 20.75p. Tanzanian coal miner Edenville
Energy rocketed 81pc, or 0.04p, to 0.1p as it outlined plans to use the £510,000 it has recently raised to upgrade its plant, and construct roads to a new mining area.