Bovis Homes, easyJet and Capita

The FTSE 100 made a positive start despite mixed overnight performances on Wall Street and in Asia.

“House builder Bovis Homes has brushed off fears about the market cooling down and is on course to hit growth targets,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Bovis has seen no discernible impact on business due to the EU referendum and a possible Brexit and has seen recent sales rates improve. Buyers are continuing to benefit from good access to mortgage finance and a number of the group’s sites have sold out earlier than expected.

“Low-cost airline easyJet had a resilient first half with passenger figures up despite terror attacks in Egypt, Paris and Brussels. The biggest impact on its interim results was the fall in the value of the pound which, as anticipated, pushed the group into the red. The first half is traditionally slow for easyJet but summer demand for destinations in Spain, Portugal, the Canaries and Balearics, where it is strong, is looking robust.

“Outsourcing group Capita led the blue-chip index in early trading with investors encouraged by a bullish update ahead of today’s annual general meeting. Capita has clinched major contracts worth £458m so far this year which is considerably lower than the £1.2bn it won at this stage a year ago. But the pipeline is strong and the group is confident it will achieve organic revenue growth of at least 4% this year.”

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