DIY, blockbusters and engineers

Tuesday 24 November 2015

The headline index opened lower, tracking modest overnight losses on Wall Street with further weakening commodity prices.

“Do-it-yourself giant Kingfisher (LSE:KGF) suffered the sharpest fall on the FTSE100 in early trading as a downturn in the French home improvement market and currency headwinds offset encouraging trends in the UK,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Screwfix continues to be the group’s jewel in the crown with like-for-like sales up by over 13% and Kingfisher continues to make good progress in jettisoning its non-core B&Q shops.”

“Cineworld’s (LSE:CINE) fourth quarter got off to a blockbuster start with the release of the new James Bond film ‘Spectre’. The group’s total revenues for the year to date are up by nearly 12% and with the final ‘Hunger Games’ movie and a new ‘Star Wars’ film set for release, the group is set to meet its full-year forecasts.

“Engineering support services group Babcock (LSE:BAB) topped the blue-chip board after increasing its interim dividend following strong growth in revenues and underlying operating profits. Investors have increased confidence as the group’s order book remains at record levels giving it excellent visibility of future revenues.”

These articles are for information purposes only and are not a personal recommendation or advice.