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Big Dippers draw SHAREtrack down

Written by Sam Fountain

Wednesday, 13 February 2008

As the UK continues on the roller-coaster ride endured by the world’s markets since the summer, the SHAREtrack100, which is sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers, is whistling along behind the Footsie, dropping 227 points since last time. The Business Weekly index remains one step behind its benchmark, hindered this week by some large losses, particularly among its biggest players. The Big Ten, the list of constituent companies with market caps over £1bn, has dropped again, becoming the Big Eight, as brewer Greene King once again falls behind, joined this time by the UK’s biggest food producer, Premier Foods. Premier recently issued a statement aiming to assuage the market, after it displayed a loss of confidence in the Herts-based firm due to concerns over mounting debts. Other casualties among the big boys were superchip maker, ARM which fell 20 per cent on a slightly weak profits report, and electronics retailer, DSG International, which shed 12 per cent after slow sales caused profits to slip. On the up-side, engineering software firm and last year’s Business of the Year, AVEVA led the way, gaining 76p, or eight per cent on a the back of contract wins. Pain pharmaceutical specialist, CeNes has hit highs not seen since 1997 on news that it’s been approached, gaining a massive 80 per cent to 55p. The identity of the suitor is not known, but the company was in licensing talks over its M6G post-operative pain remedy, which is reputedly as effective as morphine but without the side-effects. Other big climbers include mobile internet platform provider, Bango, up 63 per cent on the back of strong revenue growth, and digital TV software provider, ANT Plc up 35 per cent and PDX platform developer, Pursuit Dynamics up 16 per cent. Bluetooth pioneer, CSR fell 93p to 431p, feeling the market pressure, joined by greeting products maker, International Greetings, which lost 35 per cent of its value after issuing a second profits warning this year. Hydrogen energy innovator, ITM Power dropped  31 per cent after Citigroup slapped a sell rating on the company following its interim results, criticising a ‘scatter-gun approach.’ In the micro caps, Screen Technology slipped 22 per cent after saying that it needed funding within the next few weeks.

 

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