54 K1 Saturday April 30 2022 | the timesBusiness
5Jessica Newman Market report
cent, to 7,544.55. That meant that
over the week the index rose by
15.6 points, or 0.2 per cent. The
more domestically focused
FTSE 250 added 89.09 points, or
0.4 per cent, to 20,708.71, but since
Monday it has fallen back by
150.77 points, or 0.7 per cent.
Among the top risers were Aveva,
which recovered another 121p, or
5.9 per cent, to £21.75 after its sharp
drop earlier in the week. It was a
similar tale for J Sainsbury, which
clawed back 4½p, or 2 per cent, to
233¼p.
Bargain-hunters swooped on
Ocado, finally breaking its five-day
losing streak, as the shares ticked
up 13p, or 1.4 per cent, to 924p.
Johnson Matthey climbed to the
top of the mid-cap index, jumping
353½p, or 18.9 per cent, to £22.25
after the investment division of
Standard Industries, the New York-
based industrial conglomerate, built
a 5.2 per cent stake in the chemicals
group.
A revival in the fortunes of
American technology companies
breathed some life back into
London’s investors in the sector,
with Scottish Mortgage Investment
Trust, whose top holdings include
Amazon and Netflix, closing up
27¾p, or 3.1 per cent, to 914p.
Shares in China-focused funds
rose after Beijing indicated that it
would ease its campaign against
technology companies as it looks to
provide more support for the
economy. Fidelity China Special
Situations rose 11½p, or 4.8 per cent,
to 250½p, while Baillie Gifford
China Growth, which has holdings
in Alibaba and Tencent, jumped
18½p, or 6.9 per cent, to 289½p.
Pearson ticked all the boxes as its
trading update underscored
confidence in the education group
after it rejected three takeover
offers from Apollo Global. TheSmurfit Kappa offers the ideal
package for practical investors
Inflation and supply
pain at Computacenter
Computacenter joined the chorus
of companies noting the effects of
rising pay and disrupted supply
chains yesterday. In a trading
update, the IT services provider
said that adjusted profit before
tax at the end of the first half of
its financial year was likely to be
behind the same period last year,
but added: “We will still be
operating in line with the
historical seasonality of our
business, which gives us the
confidence for the full year.” In
its first-quarter trading update for
the three months to the end of
March, the FTSE 250 company
said it was facing wage inflation
and supply shortages, but added
that the strength of its balance
sheet “gives us confidence for the
future”. It is scheduled to publish
its half-year results in September.
Computacenter said that the
“substantial removal” of
lockdown measures in countries
in which it operates “has meant a
return to a more normal, and
more sustainable, post-Covid cost
base”. Shares in Computacenter
fell back by 60p, or 2.2 per cent,
to £26.78.Rotork ‘encouraged’
by growth in orders
Rotork, the industrial equipment
manufacturer, said that trading in
the first quarter of the year had
been broadly in line with its
expectations, with “encouraging”
order intake growth. The Bath-
based company said yesterday
revenue was down by mid-single-
digits against the previous year
owing to continued component
availability shortages, the
stoppage of deliveries to Russia
and reduced deliveries from a
Shanghai facility, which is in a
lockdown area but is expected to
open again shortly. Rotork
stopped deliveries to Russia at the
start of March and is suspending
its sales and services operations
in the country. The Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus region
contributed about 3 per cent to
sales in 2021. Rotork said it was
continuing to suffer higher
materials costs, adding that it was
managing this inflation through
more frequent price rises and cost
reductions. Shares in Rotork
closed down 9½p, or 3.1 per cent,
at 292¾p.Shell triples renewable
capacity in $1.6bn deal
Shell has struck a $1.6 billion deal
to buy Sprng Energy, an Indian
renewable power producer and
developer, from Actis, a private
equity group. The oil and gas
major said that Sprng’s portfolio
of wind and solar farms, with
2.1 gigawatts of plants up and
running, would triple its
operational renewables capacity,
helping it to deliver its strategy of
cutting its carbon emissions to
net zero by 2050. Wael Sawan,
Shell’s director for integrated gas
and renewables, said the deal
would “enable Shell to become a
leader across the power value
chain in a rapidly growing
market, where electrification on a
massive scale and strong demand
for renewables are driving the
energy transition”. The
announcement came as Shell
prepared to report its first-
quarter results next week.
Analysts believe that profits could
hit a record high of $8.7 billion, up
from $3.2 billion in the same
period of last year. Shares in Shell
fell 12p, or 0.6 per cent, to £21.73.Company Change
Johnson Matthey American industrial conglomerate builds stake 18.9%
Aveva Continues to bounce back after Wednesday’s nosedive 5.9%
Biffa Extends gains 5.3%
Chemring Analyst raises target price 4.9%
Fidelity China Special Situations China may ease crackdown on technology companies 4.8%
Currys Souring sentiment for retailer after AO World’s results -3.5%
Vodafone Positive sentiment dries up -4.3%
Indivior Profit-taking -5.3%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals Disappointing trading statement -7.2%
Cranswick Analyst’s downgrade -7.7%The day’s biggest movers
shares rose 14¾p, or 1.9 per cent, to
785¾p after a 7 per cent rise in first-
quarter sales.
Investors were most disappointed
with Hikma Pharmaceuticals,
which fell to the bottom of the City
leaderboard. The drugs group lost
145½p, or 7.2 per cent, to close at
£18.83½ after it revealed a slow start
to its generics division amid a
challenging pricing environment
and increased competition.
Investors dumped Cranswick,
too, after Peel Hunt urged its clients
to stop buying the meat producer’s
stock because, it warned, the
company was likely to need to raiseits prices more to reflect the higher
cost of production. The shares slid
264p, or 7.7 per cent, to £31.78.
On the flip side, M&C Saatchi’s
stock settled at a four-month high
after the advertising group not only
reported better profits last year than
had been expected in the City, but
also announced the reinstatement
of its dividend this year and
outlined further profit growth. The
company, which has given
AdvancedAdvT another nine days
to hammer out a better takeover
offer for the business, said it
expected to make £31 million of
profit this year and £41 million a
year later. The promising update
sent the shares higher by 16p, or
8.9 per cent, to 195p.P
aper and packaging may
lack the glamour of the
biggest technology
companies and the
heavyweight miners, but,
in an era of increased online
shopping, it’s a sector whose star is
rising. A stellar example was
Smurfit Kappa, whose latest trading
update showed there’s never been a
better time to be in cardboard.
Despite the war in Ukraine
causing further problems in its
supply chains, Smurfit reported no
impact to robust demand for its
boxes as customers sought to get
their hands on a sufficient amount
of packaging.
As a result, revenue jumped by
33 per to just over €3 billion in the
three months to the end of March,while earnings before interest, tax
and other charges hit €514 million.
The group’s solid first quarter “sets a
strong foundation for 2022 and
beyond”, it said.
Smurfit, whose shares closed up
142p, or 4.3 per cent, at £34.13,
triggered a rally among London’s
largest packaging groups. Mondi
rose 49p, or 3.4 per cent, to £15.10,
while DS Smith, which expects to
report higher annual profits as it,
too, said sales growth and higher
prices had offset cost inflation,
picked up a further 5¼p, or 1.6 per
cent, to 331p.
Investors were as enthusiastic
about the rest of the market as they
were about its packaging groups as
another round of updates lifted the
FTSE 100 by 35.36 points, or 0.5 per Smurfit Kappa has not noticed any drop-off in demand for its packaging productsJASON ALDEN/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGESWall Street report
Disappointment in results and
forecasts from both Amazon and
Apple weighed on markets, with
the Dow Jones industrial average
tumbling 939.18 points, or 2.8 per
cent, to 32,977.21 and a 4.9 per
cent decline throughout April.