On The Beach falls out of favour as shares dive 16pc
SHARES in On The Beach dived after revenue and profits came in below forecasts.
The travel website, which specialises in trips to short-haul destinations, reported a 19pc increase in revenue to £45.3m and a 9pc increase in profit to £10.8m in the six months to March 31.
The FTSE 250-listed firm took a £1.1m hit from the collapse of Monarch Airlines, which reduced bookings and pushed up flight prices. It also announced fresh investment for its loss-making international division.
Chief executive Simon Cooper said: ‘Given the resilient and flexible nature of our business model, the board remains confident in delivering a full-year result in line with management’s expectations, taking into account the impact of flight capacity constraints as a result of the Monarch failure and the accelerated investment to support international growth.’
Shares fell yesterday by 16.2pc, or 105p, to 545p.
One look at the Capita share price – a fall of 35.8pc – and you might think it has had one of the most disastrous days ever.
However, that was down to a repricing of shares after it handed existing investors three shares for two they already held. As a result, anyone who held the stock was no worse off, but it helped the firm as part of a £701m rights issue to get it back on track.
The FTSE 100 ended the day agonisingly close to a record high, rising 0.5pc, or 38.45 points, to 7700.97. It hit that record peak of 7792.56 in mid-January.
Avast is gearing up for a £2.4bn float in what will be London’s biggest ever technology listing.
The Prague-based cyber-security software company will list next week at 250p a share.
It plans to use the cash from the float to pay down its debts and to grow its business. It is the world’s largest supplier of consumer antivirus software for computers and smartphones, protecting 435m users. Avast tried to float in New York in 2012 but ditched the idea due to tough market conditions.
Shares in Coca-Cola HBC fizzed after it posted better-thanexpected quarterly sales growth.
The company, the largest bottlers for Coca-Cola, said revenues rose 4.5pc in the first quarter.
It bottles and distributes CocaCola in 28 countries, mainly in southern and eastern Europe but also in Ireland and Nigeria.
Zoran Bogdanovic, the firm’s chief executive, said: ‘With strong commercial plans in place and anticipated gradual economic recovery in Russia and Nigeria, we expect our revenue growth to accelerate.’ Shares ticked up 3pc, or 74p, to 2540p.
Analysts at Berenberg downgraded asset manager Schroders from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’, believing that the amount of money under its management would grow slower than it has done. It cut the price target from 3640p to 3510p.
The German investment bank added: ‘This is a very different investment proposition from the assets under management-driven growth story of recent years.’ Shares rose 0.2pc, or 5p, to 3422p.
XP Power snapped up US-based power supply designer Glassman High Voltage for £31.8m.
AIM-listed XP Power, which makes power components for the electronics industry, said there was no overlap between the two companies’ product lines, although they share some customers. Shares edged down 0.3pc, or 10p, to 3470p. Five-a-side football operator
Goals Soccer Centres scored an own goal with investors after a dip in sales due to the Beast from the East. Sales fell 1.9pc, or by £500,000, in the first 18 weeks of this year as amateur footballers declined to brave the snow. Shares slid 5.9pc, or 5.25p, to 83.5p.