FTSE weakens, pub group down
Leisure stocks were dragging the London market lower today after pubs and hotels group Whitbread warned consumers were tightening their belts.
Disappointment at its full-year results made Whitbread the heaviest top flight faller and also weighed on rivals InterContinental Hotels and Enterprise Inns.
This contributed to the FTSE 100 Index weakening 22.2 points to 4842.7 by mid-morning, despite a boost from a positive update by oil giant BP.
Progress across the Atlantic failed to help London. The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved nearly 85 points higher last night, helped by a small retreat in the price of oil.
In London, Whitbread retreated 5% or 43.5p drop to 874.5p. InterContinental Hotels was the third-heaviest Footsie faller, off 15p to 627p, and Enterprise Inns weakened 13.5p to 760p.
Imperial Tobacco was also in the red despite lifting half-year profits by 10%. Shares fell 16p to 1463p after the group reported a stronger-than-expected decline in the UK cigarette market in the autumn.
Only a handful of stocks managed to make it into positive territory, including BP, which said its surplus for the first three months of this year hit $5.49bn (€4.2bn), 29% higher than the same period a year earlier.
This helped insulate oil stocks from a fall in the price of crude oil and BP lifted nearly 1% or 5p to 544p, while rival Shell remained unchanged at 478p.
The cost of a barrel of US light crude oil fell by 39 cents to just above $54 a barrel today, slipping back from yesterday’s high levels.
Elsewhere, Eurotunnel lost more ground after announcing a 7% fall in its shuttle revenues last year.
The shares fell 5% or 0.75p to 14p.
Floor coverings group Carpetright managed to climb 3% or 27p to 915p despite reporting a further deterioration in sales. Analysts said the figures were poor but were in line with what the rest of the sector was experiencing.
