Garfunkel's chain owner Restaurant Group (RTN) is among the top FTSE All Share fallers in early trading as its chief financial officer suddenly leaves. No specific reason is given for Barry Nightingdale's departure, the likely cause of the market being spooked, sending the share price down around 2% to 358.3p.
Mike Ashley has expanded his Sports Direct (SPD) empire into the US with a $101m acquisition of Bob’s Stores and Eastern Mountain Stores. The market's response is muted, the share price up by just under 1% to 317.9p.
WS Atkins (ATK) sees its share price rise by 4.4% to £20.69 as its acquisition by SNC-Lavalin is confirmed. Each shareholder of Atkins will receive £20.8 for each share in cash according to the announcement.
The FTSE 100 opens early trading largely flat with little firm direction coming from corporate announcements. The blue-chip index, at 7,114, fails to follow a good night’s trading on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 174 points in line with the other main US indices.
Cillit Bang maker Reckitt Benkiser (RB.) sees its share price drop 1.5% to £71.66 with first quarter results seen as in line with market expectations. Even an update on the company’s acquisition of Mead Johnson, which would put it in a strong position for the consumer health market, fails to excite.
Currency specialist Record (REC) share price drops 8.5% to 43p as its fourth quarter results show the loss of several major clients. The firm says that its losing a mandate worth $1.2bn this quarter.
Investors seem to be nervous about the likely need to fresh funding for schools focused sports tracking and health technology tiddler GoTech (GOT:AIM). Half year results show a steep improvement for revenues, albeit to a miniscule £35,0000, but ongoing losses and cash burn. With just £0.485m of net cash on the books further funding looks likely to be needed to continue its early stage development, sending the share price tumbling nearly 9% to 2.62p.
