Footsie has negative start to week
Dec 4 2007 by Graeme King, The Journal
THE UK stock market started the week in negative territory as the FTSE 100 Index lost 45.9 points and ended the session at 6386.6.
In The Journal 40, Barratt Developments was in focus as unconfirmed rumours spread that a management buy-out or a takeover bid for the company might be launched. Shares in Barratt Developments rose by 3.75p and closed at 469p.
ScS Upholstery, the furniture retailer, was in the spotlight after issuing a trading statement that warned of a 9% fall in its sales order intake for the first 17 weeks of the financial year.
The company blamed the fall on rising interest rates and strong comparative figures from the corresponding period last year but admitted that this will have a “significant adverse impact” on its sales, which would be reflected in its results for the six months to 26th January 2008.
Elsewhere, Opsec Securities, the supplier of anti-counterfeiting technologies and services, announced its results for the six months to September 30. Group revenue rose by 13% to £16.3m but pre-tax profit of £875,000 was lower than the £2.8m reported in the corresponding six months of 2006 due to the anticipated reduced contribution from its joint venture 3dcd.
However, due to a tax credit arising from a deferred tax asset in the group’s UK companies being recognised, profit after tax rose to £4,126,000 from £2,210,000. Shares in Opsec Securities were unchanged at 56p.
Fergus Westwood Assistant Director Wise Speke
