Argos lifts FTSE
A bullish set of half-year results buoyed Argos owner Home Retail Group today, providing a lift to other firms in the retail sector.
Home Retail was up almost 4%, or 14p to 401p, after it said pre-tax profits rose by an expectation-beating 40% as a strong performance at Argos offset weaker trading at Homebase.
The FTSE 100 Index swung into positive territory by mid-morning – up 18.1 points at 6532.1 – following an uplift in sentiment helped by a strong finish on Wall Street overnight.
Elsewhere in the retail sector, B&Q owner Kingfisher gained 3.5p to 169.8p, Marks & Spencer was ahead 10p at 625.5p and Next advanced 35p to 2090p. However, there was no such benefit for Currys owner DSG International which slipped 1.1p to 119.3p.
But it was Carphone Warehouse that made the biggest gains – up almost 5%, or 15p to 345.25p – after it announced plans to launch its own mobile phone service using the Vodafone network.
Analysts said this was a positive sign that the relationship between the two firms was far from broken following Vodafone’s decision to give the contract to sell its subscriptions to Phones4u last year. Vodafone was 0.8p higher at 178.4p.
A disappointing trading statement saw miner Kazakhmys top the Footsie fallers’ board. The group lost 3%, or 45p to 1440p, after it revealed that copper production had fallen by 5% in the three months to the end of September following a flood at one of its mines and production problems in Kazakhstan. Sector peer Vedanta Resources fell 20p to 2130p.
Insurer Friends Provident was ahead 3.3p at 176.4p after it pledged to return £1 billion to shareholders next year following a successful merger with Resolution. Prudential also lifted 11p to 755.5p.
A broker upgrade from Credit Suisse lifted pharmaceutical firm Shire 22p to 1192p following a recent strong performance.
