The FTSE 100 opens up by over 1% as the general election produces a hung Parliament. The resulting drop in sterling is a boost for bluechip stocks which derive a large part of their revenue from overseas.
Any corporate announcements are likely to get limited attention today but there are a few significant developments.
Energy giant Centrica (CNA) enjoys a share price lift of 2.36% to 203.5p on news that it is selling its stake in a Canadian joint venture, the CQ Energy Canada Partnership. It is being sold to a consortium comprising of MIE Holdings, the Can-China Global Resource Fund and Mercuria for a total consideration of £413m in cash.
Another energy company SSE (SSE) sees its share price rise by almost 2% to £15.21 after announcing the timetable for the payment of its final dividend. The dividend of 63.9p refers to the year ending March 31 2017.
Pubs company Fuller, Smith & Turner (FSTA) is down 1.2% to £10.62 as a cautious outlook overshadows a pretty solid set of full year numbers with revenue up 12% year-on-year to £392m.
Copper miner Kaz Minerals’ (KAZ) share price is up 3.76% to 519p as it announces an increase to its pre-export finance loan facility. The company says that the increase to $600m reflects strong support from the market during syndication.
Windar Photonics (WPHO:AIM), a technology company involved kit for in energy generating wind turbine, sees its share price slide by 10.3% to 65p. The company has released its final results for the year ending 31 December 2016 revealing a pre-tax loss of €3.3m, against a loss of €3.9m a year previously, and saying it was pleased with the progress already made in 2017.
Genus (GNS), down 1.92% to 1842p, is facing new patent infringement litigation in the US. It says Inguran, XY and Cytonome/ST, (collectively ST) had filed patent infringement proceedings against ABS Global, Genus and Premium Genetics (UK) in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
