The FTSE 100 opens in positive territory, up 9.58 point to 7,282.72. This comes despite a heightening of tensions over trade wars between the US and China, with the latter appealing to the World Trade Organisation for permission to impose tariffs on US goods.
Energy provider SSE (SSE) drops 8.2% to £11.48 after saying that warm weather and high gas prices have negatively impacted profits. The company says its adjusted operating profit for those first five months of the financial year had been negatively affected by around £190m. It now expects adjusted operating profit for the six months to 30 September to be around half of that delivered in the same period in 2017.
Homewares retailer Dunelm (DNLM) gains 3.4% to 527.5p on release of its final year results. In the 52 weeks to 30 June, the company’s revenue increased by 9.9% and like-for-like sales are up 4.2%. The company has also improved its free cash flow position year-on-year to £52.9m compared to £14.2m in 2017.
Radiology services provider Medica (MGP) is down 3.3% to 140.2p despite releasing strong half year results. For the six months to 30 June, revenue increased by 18.2% to 18.6m while EBITDA is up 15.1% to £5.6m. It has also reduce its net debt to £2.5m from £8.5m the prior year. However, John Graham, CEO, did mention the ‘widely reported radiologist shortage in the NHS’ which may be impacting the share price.
Homebuilder Galliford Try (GFRD) gains 3.3% to £10.32 on release of its full year results. For the year ending 30 June, the company’s revenue is up 10% to £2.9bn with pre-tax profit up 145% to £143.7m. Its earnings per share improved by 128% to 121.1p although the dividend has been cut by 10% to 77p. However, the company’s net cash position is £91m higher than the prior year at £98.2m.
Self-storage company Safestore (SAFE) gains 1.4% to 541p as its third quarter trading update show a 10.6% improvement in revenue to £36.4m. The company also announced that like-for-like closing occupancy reached 77.8% in the three months to 31 July.
On the AIM market, gold miner Atalaya (ATYM:AIM) is up 1.4% to 214p as it reports significantly higher revenues of €101.5m compared to €79.1m the prior year. The company says this is due to higher volumes and copper prices. For the three months to 30 June copper production was 15% higher on a year-on-year basis.
