FTSE 100 movers: Grocers pace gains, Meggitt hit by air travel woes
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Wednesday 18 Mar 2020
(Sharecast News) - Grocers topped gains on the top-flight index amid indications of very strong demand in its stores as Britons made preparations for the coming lockdown.
That was made patently clear by Morrisons, who reported that 5% jump in like-for-like sales for the first weeks of its new financial year on the back of "considerable stocking up" as "customers plan for the impact of Covid-19".
So much so that the company announced plans to ramp-up hiring in order to expand its online offering.
Sainsbury's also reported strong demand for its products, which led it to set limits on the purchase of certain items, especially for hygiene and personal healthcare products, with analysts pointing out the positive signal from that for the likes of Reckitt Benckiser or Unilever.
CMC Markets UK's David Madden also pointed out that Sainsbury's should "benefit greatly from the government's decision to scrap business rates for the rest of the year", noting that the grocer had spent ?500m on business rates during the previous year.
"Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Morrisons should benefit from the initiative too," the analyst said.
And so they did.
Going the other way, Meggitt slumped again, with analysts at Credit Suisse highlighting that Aftermarket activities were likely to be "temporarily halted" as airlines look to preserve cash and jet builders in turn slow production, potentially soon.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,080.58 -4.05%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 216.30p 12.66%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 199.30p 10.51%
Schroders (SDR) 2,515.00p 9.09%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,479.50p 8.71%
DCC (DCC) 4,385.00p 6.02%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,535.00p 5.90%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 936.00p 5.00%
BT Group (BT.A) 127.00p 4.79%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,950.00p 3.86%
SEGRO (SGRO) 715.20p 2.94%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Carnival (CCL) 620.00p -34.22%
Meggitt (MGGT) 238.40p -24.51%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,300.00p -23.30%
easyJet (EZJ) 503.80p -16.95%
CRH (CRH) 1,574.00p -14.78%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 293.20p -14.34%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 394.60p -12.31%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,141.80p -12.14%
SSE (SSE) 1,172.00p -11.81%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 184.35p -11.63%
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