Check out our new Timeline feature to give you the latest updates on all the stocks you follow. Clickhere to set up your Timeline.

Less Ads, More Data, More Tools Register for FREE
Sponsored Content
Don't want ads? Click here
Sponsored Content
Don't want ads? Click here

Pin to quick picksWood Group (J) Share News (WG.)

Share Price Information for Wood Group (J) (WG.)

London Stock Exchange
Share Price is delayed by 15 minutes
Get Live Data
Share Price: 68.40
Bid: 68.40
Ask: 68.50
Change: -2.55 (-3.59%)
Spread: 0.10 (0.146%)
Open: 69.65
High: 72.30
Low: 67.90
Prev. Close: 70.95
WG. Live PriceLast checked at -

Watchlists are a member only feature

Login to your account

Timelines are a member only feature

Login to your account

Alerts are a premium feature

Login to your account

LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE 100 snaps seven day losing streak

Tue, 22nd Aug 2023 16:56

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were higher at the close on Tuesday as markets celebrated better-than-expected public sector borrowing figures in the UK, and hoped that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt may have enough firepower in government coffers to enact some pre-election tax cuts.

The FTSE 100 index closed up 12.94 points, or 0.2% at 7,270.76 on Tuesday, ending its seven day losing streak.

The FTSE 250 ended up 125.27 points, or 0.7%, at 18,024.26. The AIM All-Share closed up 2.97 points, or 0.4%, at 732.18.

The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.2% at 724.99, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.5% at 15,813.73, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.2% at 12,691.03.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, reached GBP4.3 billion in July. This was GBP3.4 billion more than in July 2022. However, it was below the consensus of around GBP5.0 billion, as well as the Office for Budget Responsibility's GBP6.0 billion forecast.

"The chancellor has responded to today's figures with textbook precision, urging continued caution, fiscal responsibility and no detours from the current conservative course. But privately he must be letting out a rather large sigh of relief that these numbers at least give him a bit of wiggle room to consider crowd-pleasing tax cuts before the next election," AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson said.

In London, there were broad-based gains in the FTSE 100 on Tuesday with Fresnillo, RS Group and Unite Group among the top blue-chip performers. The stocks closed up 5.6%, 3.5% and 2.6%, respectively.

JD Sports, Ocado and Melrose Industries were among the index's worst-performers, meanwhile, finishing 6.2%, 2.1%, and 1.4% lower, respectively.

In the FTSE 250, John Wood Group closed 4.7% higher on Tuesday as it reported a slightly narrowed pretax loss in the first half of 2023, amid higher revenue and gross profit.

The engineering and consulting business reported a pretax loss from continuing operations of USD26.0 million for the six months that ended June 30, narrowed from USD30.5 million a year before.

Revenue rose by 17% to USD2.99 billion from USD2.56 billion, lifting gross profit by 22% to USD345.5 million from USD283.6 million.

"After a bid from private equity firm Apollo collapsed earlier this year Wood Group has been under pressure to deliver, and these results go some way towards doing that as it pulls the rabbit of slightly improved full year guidance out of its hat," Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell commented.

For 2023, John Wood expects revenue to be around USD6 billion, up from USD5.44 billion the previous year.

Crest Nicholson was among the FTSE 250's worst-performing stocks again on Tuesday, closing 2.5% lower after losing 8.2% on Monday.

The housebuilder lowered its profit guidance on Monday after warning that conditions in the housing market worsened over the course of the summer. It added that it does not expect conditions to improve before its financial year-end on October 31.

The company now expects to achieve annual adjusted pretax profit of GBP50.0 million, which would represent a 64% decline from the GBP137.8 million achieved in the prior year. It had previously expected a profit outcome of GBP73.7 million, the company said in June, which would have been in line with published consensus at the time.

Elsewhere in London, Cake Box added 2.7% as it reported its sales momentum has increased in recent weeks, while input cost inflation has eased.

The chain of fresh cream cake shops said like-for-like sales were up 6.8% in the first 17 weeks of the financial year that began on April 1. This represents a pick-up from 5.4% growth in the first 11 weeks.

On AIM, Plexus surged 40% after it announced that the value of a major contract from March has increased by 60%.

The engineering services provider said its wellhead equipment and sealing technology supply contract is now worth around GBP8 million, up from around GBP5 million.

In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris finished 0.6% higher, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt closed up 0.7%.

Stocks in New York were mixed at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.4%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq was upbeat ahead of the release of quarterly results from chip maker Nvidia.

"A very high bar is being set for the chipmaker and the disappointment could be amplified if it falls short of heightened expectations," said AJ Bell's Mould.

Nvidia was down 1.8% at USD461.42 in New York at the time of the London equities close but had rallied to an all-time high of USD481.87 earlier in the day.

The dollar was mixed as traders looked ahead to Jackson Hole, the Kansas City Federal Reserve's annual symposium, attended by top central bankers from around the world.

The pound was quoted at USD1.2734 at the London equities close on Tuesday, virtually unchanged from USD1.2732 at the close on Monday. The euro stood at USD1.0851, down from USD1.0887. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 145.79, lower compared to JPY146.31 late Monday.

Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades, warned that any downside for the dollar will be "limited", as trading for the currency will likely remain within a "relatively tight" price range before Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday.

Powell is expected to speak on Friday at the Jackson Hole meeting, which begins the day prior. Analysts at Brown Brothers Harriman expect a "hawkish tone" to emerge from the symposium, with Powell predicted to underscore the central bank's commitment to meeting its 2% inflation target.

Currently, markets see an 85% chance of the Fed holding rates steady at its next meeting in September, according to the CME Fed Watch Tool. For the November meeting, markets see just a 57% chance of rates remaining unchanged.

These predictions may change should Powell come across as particularly hawkish or surprisingly dovish on Friday, however.

Brent oil was quoted at USD84.25 a barrel at the London equities close on Tuesday, down from USD84.98 late Monday. Gold was quoted at USD1,897.80 an ounce, sharply higher against USD1,888.81 at the close on Monday.

In Wednesday's UK corporate calendar, there are half-year results from construction and engineering firm Costain.

The economic calendar has a slew of PMI prints, with the EU, UK and the US all reporting flash figures from 0900 BST.

By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

More News
31 Jan 2025 16:54

LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Stocks green as US PCE index meets forecasts

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London closed mostly higher on Friday, after FTSE 100 leader Smiths Group pleased investors by announcing spin-offs and an increase to its buyback programme.

Read more
20 Jan 2025 15:40

London close: Stocks mixed as Trump reenters the Oval Office

(Sharecast News) - London stocks ended Monday with a mixed performance as investors assessed the latest UK house price data and monitored Donald Trump's inauguration as the 47th president of the United States.

Read more
20 Jan 2025 09:02

LONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks open mixed, Sanderson Design plummets

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed but with gains for the FTSE 100 on Monday, while in Europe, Destatis reported that German producer prices unexpectedly declined in December.

Read more
20 Jan 2025 08:39

IN BRIEF: John Wood wins "significant" contract with Esso Australia

John Wood Group PLC - Aberdeen, Scotland-based oilfield and engineering services provider - Awarded "significant" new contract by Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd to provide maintenance of onshore and offshore assets in Gippsland Basin in Victoria state. John Wood says the "long-term" contract starts this month and will create 250 jobs in Victoria. It doesn't provide the monetary value of the contract, nor its exact term.

Read more
20 Jan 2025 07:03

Wood Group wins maintenance contract with Esso Australia

(Sharecast News) - Wood Group on Monday said it had won a contract to provide long-term maintenance for Esso's onshore and offshore assets in Australia's Gippsland Basin.

Read more
2 Jan 2025 11:40

Wood Group offloads EthosEnergy stake for $138m

(Sharecast News) - John Wood Group announced on Thursday that it has completed the sale of its 51% stake in EthosEnergy Group to private equity firm One Equity Partners for a final net cash consideration of $138m.

Read more
2 Jan 2025 09:39

IN BRIEF: John Wood completes Ethos Energy sale for USD138 million

John Wood Group PLC - Aberdeen, Scotland-based oilfield and engineering services provider - Completes the sale of its stake in its joint venture focused on rotating equipment, Ethos Energy Group Ltd, to One Equity Partners LP for USD138 million in cash. Says the USD42 million of prior planned loan notes were replaced by an additional cash consideration at completion. Wood owned 51% of EthosEnergy with Siemens Energy AG and says it contributed USD34 million of adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2023.

Read more
19 Dec 2024 10:18

John Wood wins OMV Petrom contract for sustainable aviation fuel

(Alliance News) - John Wood Group PLC on Thursday said it has won a "significant" contract with OMV Petrom for a sustainable aviation fuel production project in Europe.

Read more
19 Dec 2024 08:05

LONDON BRIEFING: Stocks down as rate calls uncomfortably digested

(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 was firmly in the red on Thursday, following a 'hawkish' speech from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell alongside the expected quarter-point rate cut.

Read more
19 Dec 2024 07:02

Wood Group wins contract to work on eco fuel refinery in Romania

(Sharecast News) - John Wood Group on Thursday said it had won a contract by OMV Petrom for a major project to boost production of sustainable fuel in Southeast Europe.

Read more
9 Dec 2024 11:24

EnergyPathways chooses John Wood subsidiary as engineering partner

(Alliance News) - EnergyPathways PLC on Monday said it has agreed a strategic engineering partnership with Wood Group UK Ltd, a subsidiary of FTSE 250-listed John Wood Group PLC.

Read more
5 Dec 2024 14:40

London close: Stocks mixed as oil prices rise

(Sharecast News) - London stocks closed mixed on Thursday as investors digested a new report on the UK construction sector and monitored political developments in France, while Frasers Group weighed heavily on sentiment after the retailer slashed its profit outlook.

Read more
5 Dec 2024 12:24

LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Stocks flat while profit warning hurts Frasers

(Alliance News) - London's blue-chips were struggling for direction around midday on Thursday, underperforming European peers, as a profit warning from retailer Frasers sparked alarm.

Read more
5 Dec 2024 09:03

IN BRIEF: John Wood Group shares rise as signs three contracts with BP

John Wood Group PLC - Aberdeen, Scotland-based oilfield and engineering services provider - Signs three "major agreements" with oil major BP PLC for engineering and project delivery services. Does not give any financial details of the contracts but says they consist of one new three-year deal and three-year extensions of two others. They cover a new master services agreement for engineering, procurement and construction management services and the extension of contracts for conceptual engineering and front end engineering and design services.

Read more
5 Dec 2024 07:25

Wood Group secures three engineering, project delivery agreements with BP

(Sharecast News) - Wood Group said on Thursday that it has secured three "major" agreements with BP to provide engineering and project delivery services for their capital projects worldwide.

Read more

Track Your Investments

Register for FREE

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

Quickpicks are a member only feature

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.