LONDON — After ending yesterday above the 6,300 level, the FTSE 100 is treading water today, up just 10 points, or 0.15%, as of 8:15 a.m. EST. There appears to be some caution ahead of the meeting of the G20 in Moscow, and today’s news that U.K. retail sales unexpectedly fell in January doesn’t help.
Still, there are some companies enjoying better fortune. Here are three constituents of the various indexes rising today.
Anglo American plc (ADR) (PINK:AAUKY)
News that Anglo American has lifted its full-year dividend by 15% to $0.85 per share sent the shares up 1.4% in early trading. The rest of the results all showed the expected falls, blamed on falling commodities prices. Revenue declined 10% to $33 billion, with underlying operating profit down 44% to $6 billion. Underlying earnings per share dropped by 55% to $2.26, which is in line with expectations. And to illustrate the human cost of mining, the firm told us that 13 employees lost their lives in work-related incidents.
With such a bad year out of the way, what’s the future looking like? Forecasts for 2013 are pretty flat, with an 18% rise in earnings penciled in for 2014 — but anything based on future commodities prices is really just guesswork right now.
BG
BG Group shares have risen 0.8% to 1,149 pence on the news that chief financial officer Fabio Barbosa, who has been on a medical leave of absence since September, is to step down from the post and take over the role of chairman for BG South America.
In the short term, Barbosa’s position will be taken by acting CFO Den Jones while a search for a permanent replacement takes place. BG’s poor production expectations have led to a run on the shares, and there isn’t really much of an upturn in earnings expected until 2014. But hopefully today’s news will help settle some uncertainty.
Daisy
Shares in Daisy Group perked up 1.2% on the news that the business telecom services provider has been contracted by Oakley Capital Private Equity to manage the 2e2 Data Centre business owned by the 2e2 Group that is currently in administration. Chief executive Matthew Riley said, “This appointment provides 2e2 customers with the opportunity to work with a long-term partner with proven expertise in the growing data and hosting market.”
Daisy is forecast to make a pre-tax profit for the year to March, with the current consensus putting its shares on a forward P/E of around eight.
The article 3 Shares Set to Beat the FTSE 100 Today originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alan Oscroft.
Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
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