LONDON — The FTSE 100 is up further today, gaining 0.22% to reach 6,443 as of 8:30 a.m. EST — a little behind the intraday 52-week high of 6,461 points set yesterday. A week of generally strong company results has helped boost the FTSE indexes despite a couple of disappointments this morning.
We look at three companies that are falling behind the FTSE today.
Aviva Plc (ADR) (NYSE:AV) shares crashed 11.5% to 318 pence after the insurer slashed its final dividend by 16 pence to 9 pence per share, as some investors had been fearing, echoing what RSA Insurance did a couple of weeks ago.
The “rebasing” has lowered Aviva Plc (ADR) (NYSE:AV)’s full-year dividend by 27% to 19 pence per share for a yield of 5.2% on yesterday’s closing price of 360 pence. With the next interim payout expected to be similarly lowered, the forward yield for 2013 is looking to be around 4.8%. The cut, according to the company, was done in order to retain funds for strengthening risk-provision and reducing debt.
Forecasts for this year suggest a 10% drop in earnings, but that puts the shares on a price-to-earnings ratio of nine, so could the shares be oversold at the moment? That’s for you to decide.
Inmarsat Plc (LON:ISAT)
Looking forward, chief executive Rupert Pearce told us, “Significant technical and commercial progress with our Global Xpress program means we expect to begin network deployment in 2013 as planned.”
The article 3 Shares the FTSE 100 Should Beat Today originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alan Oscroft.
Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
