London midday: Stocks stay down as Ashtead seeks US primary listing

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still in the red by midday on Tuesday as sentiment took a hit after another London-listed firm announced plans to move its primary listing to the US. The FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 8,305.34.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 opened lower this morning, handing back some of yesterday's 0.6% gain. Yesterday's rally was powered by mining stocks and fuelled by China's promise of economic stimulus, including looser monetary policy and support for property prices. But as we've seen with mini-China rallies in the past, it seems the buzz is fading as investors take a step back to reassess the bigger picture.

"Equipment rental giant Ashtead is packing its bags and heading stateside, dealing another blow to UK markets. The move had been whispered about for a while, despite Ashtead previously insisting there were no such plans. It's a logical leap - most of its leadership is already US-based, and the States are its biggest market. There will still be a secondary listing in the UK, albeit with less stringent requirements than a full listing.

"As for today's results, they were a letdown, missing expectations across the board and topped off with a guidance downgrade. Sluggish commercial real estate is still a drag, but investors can find a silver lining in easier comparable quarters on the horizon and the longer-term tailwind of mega projects in the US."

Investors were digesting the latest data out of China, which showed that exports grew 6.7% in November, slowing from 12.7% growth the month before. Meanwhile, imports fell 3.9% following a 2.3% decline in October.

"This points to economic strain amid looming US tariffs under incoming President Trump, highlighting the need for stronger domestic stimulus measures," said Danske Bank.

"More clarity on this may emerge following yesterday's Politburo meeting and the upcoming CEWC meeting."

On home shores, figures from Kantar showed the cost of an average Christmas dinner for four rose 6.5% on the year in the four weeks to 1 December to £32.57, largely driven by the price of turkey and Christmas vegetable staples.

Meanwhile, wider grocery price inflation was relatively stable at 2.6%, with grocers prioritising low pricing over multibuys.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: "Sales on promotion reached 30% in November, the highest since Christmas last year. It's retailer price cuts, often accessed through loyalty cards, that are really driving this.

"While multibuy promotions have stayed flat, spending on price cut offers has grown by 14%, worth £355 million more than last year. Shoppers are grabbing the chance to spend that little bit more than usual on Christmas specials, and champagne, wine and spirits saw the biggest levels of buying on deal."

In equity markets, Ashtead tumbled 13% on the listing news and as it delivered a profit warning due to weaker local construction market dynamics in the US.

Rental revenues are now expected to grow by just 3-5% over the full year, compared with earlier guidance of a 5-8% improvement, owing solely to a downgrade in US rental growth to 2-4% from 4-7% previously.

Prudential fell following a report it is considering options for its asset manager Eastspring Investments that include selling a minority stake to help broaden the business.

NCC tanked despite the cybersecurity and software services firm delivering in-line annual results, as investors focused on the outlook statement, which pointed to a lengthening of sales cycles in recent months.

British Gas owner Centrica reversed earlier gains as it said it expects full-year profits to match analysts' estimates and beefed up its share buyback programme by £300m.

Miners Antofagasta and Glencore were among the worst performers on the FTSE 100 as copper prices declined and after the disappointing Chinese trade data.

Moonpig slid after saying it swung to a pre-tax loss in the first half as it pointed to "challenging" trading in its Experiences segment.

Severn Trent lost ground after BBC Panorama alleged the company had used an accounting trick to artificially inflate its balance sheet.

On the upside, Tesco rallied after the Kantar data showed it achieved its highest market share in the four weeks to 1 December since December 2017 at 28.1%, up from 27.4% in 2023.

Sainsbury's also rose after increasing its market share.

FirstGroup gained as it announced its entry into the London bus market after agreeing to buy the French state-owned RATP Dev Transit London, an operator with a 12% market share, for £90m.

In broker note action, British Land was upgraded to 'buy' at Goldman Sachs.

Unite Group was upgraded to 'overweight' by JPMorgan, while LondonMetric was downgraded to 'neutral' by the same outfit.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals was upgraded to 'outperform' at RBC Capital Markets.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,305.34 -0.56% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,965.19 -0.40% techMARK (TASX) 4,668.98 -1.01%

FTSE 100 - Risers

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 368.20p 1.40% Tesco (TSCO) 369.20p 1.21% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 272.80p 1.19% Spirax Group (SPX) 7,510.00p 1.01% British Land Company (BLND) 369.60p 0.87% Beazley (BEZ) 823.00p 0.80% Unite Group (UTG) 841.00p 0.72% Diploma (DPLM) 4,592.00p 0.44% GSK (GSK) 1,388.50p 0.40% Relx plc (REL) 3,691.00p 0.38%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,454.00p -13.04% Glencore (GLEN) 386.20p -2.19% Vistry Group (VTY) 694.50p -2.18% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,777.00p -2.12% Prudential (PRU) 667.60p -2.03% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 571.40p -1.89% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 102.75p -1.63% 3i Group (III) 3,627.00p -1.60% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,599.00p -1.55% WPP (WPP) 877.80p -1.55%

FTSE 250 - Risers

FirstGroup (FGP) 160.30p 4.02% Wood Group (John) (WG.) 67.15p 3.23% Close Brothers Group (CBG) 237.60p 1.28% AVI Global Trust (AGT) 243.50p 1.25% Petershill Partners (PHLL) 254.50p 1.19% Vesuvius (VSVS) 444.00p 1.02% Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 152.00p 1.00% NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,640.00p 0.99% Playtech (PTEC) 738.00p 0.96% Foresight Solar Fund Limited (FSFL) 80.20p 0.88%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

NCC Group (NCC) 136.00p -16.26% Moonpig Group (MOON) 236.00p -11.78% PureTech Health (PRTC) 166.00p -3.94% Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 221.00p -3.70% Future (FUTR) 1,051.00p -2.78% Hill and Smith (HILS) 2,045.00p -2.62% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,497.00p -2.48% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 224.50p -2.18% Me Group International (MEGP) 209.50p -2.10% Ashmore Group (ASHM) 168.50p -1.92%