Drug developer Indivior (INDV) has warned that it faces the loss of up to 80% of its market share ‘in a matter of months’ after losing a court ruling in the US over its Anti-opioid treatment Suboxone.
Suboxone is used as a substitute to get drug addicts off harmful opiods, such as heroin. The company has been fighting a bitter battle for months against generic competitor drugs being made available. But the US court decision has now forced the company to take defensive measures, with cost cutting and cash preservation on the agenda.
Investors are understandably spooked by the news, sparking a 16%-plus collapse in Indivior’s share price to 94.96p, valuing the FTSE 250 business that was spun-out of Reckitt Benckiser (RB.), at less than £700m.
Overall markets are on the front foot in early trade on Tuesday, bolstered by soaring profits at oil giant BP (BP.). At around 9am the FTSE 100 index is trading up b7y close on 50 points, or about 0.7%, at 7,083.64.
Mid cap FTSE 250 companies are also higher, that index roughly 60 points to the good at 18,910.83.
BP PROFITS AND DIVIDENDS UP
Investors will be particularly happy to see annual profits surge at BP, which more than doubled in 2018. The company reported underlying replacement cost profit of $12.7bn (approximately £9.7bn) last year, which compares to the $6.2bn chalked-up in 2017.
The dividend also gets a decent bump up, BP announcing a $0.1025 per share payout for the fourth quarter, up 2.5% from a year earlier.
That sees BP storm to the top of the FTSE 100 leader board in early deals, its shares rallying more than 3.5% to 538.7p.
Going the other way is grocery distribution technology firm Ocado (OCDO). Its shares head the FTSE 100 loser board after posting widening losses despite higher revenue.
The firm, which recently linked with a grocery deal with Marks & Spencer (MKS), saw pre-tax losses hit £44.4m for the year to 2 December 2018. That soars from the equivalent £9.8m in the previous year. However, sales surged 12% to £1.6bn.
Shares in Ocado have rallied nearly 300% over the last 15 months or so as the business sealed several grocery technology partnerships across the UK and Europe. But the stock declines 9p today to 983.6p, valuing the business at about £6.9bn.
INVESTORS FAIL TO MARVEL AT DCC
Irish distribution group DCC (DCC) said third quarter operating profit to 31 December was ‘significantly ahead’ of last year, although that’s what market watchers had expected.
The operating profit grew strongly across its Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Healthcare, Technology and Retail & Oil divisions, which all delivered robust performances.
But investors take the news in their stride with shares in the FTSE 100 company barely budging, off a modest 15p to £63.85, implying a modest 0.2% fall.
Troubled Carpetright (CPR) continues to fight a rear-guard action against falling UK sales, with those trends continuing over the past quarter, even if the declines have not been as steep as before.
Carpetright remains on track to achieve the £19m of annualised cash savings announced as part of its restructuring plans. But there is no getting away from the staggering scale of the company’s recent collapse, with the stock - off 1.4% today at 21p - worth just a quarter of their value from a year ago, while the shares have crashed from highs of over 600p over the last three years.
