LONDON MARKET OPEN: Indivior shines after upgrading guidance

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened slightly lower on Wednesday despite calls for a marginally higher open, while Indivior led the midcaps after raising revenue guidance.

The FTSE 100 index was down 10.57 points, or 0.1%, at 7,076.98. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 27.70 points at 22,544.87. The AIM All-Share index was up 5.39 points, or 0.4%, at 1,261.45.

The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.2% at 704.50. The Cboe 250 was down 0.1% at 20,205.73, and the Cboe Small Companies was flat at 15,331.10.

In Paris, the CAC 40 was up 0.1%, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 up 0.1%.

In the FTSE 100, Ferguson was up 0.6% at 10,200 pence after Jefferies lifted its price target on the plumbing and heating products supplier to 11,560p from 10,581p and reiterated its Buy rating.

At the other end of the large-caps, British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group was the worst performer, down 1.2% on tighter travel restrictions in Europe. Fellow travel stocks Tui and easyJet were down 1.2% and 1.4% respectively.

Spain on Tuesday said it will demand a negative diagnostic test or proof of full vaccination from UK travellers, due to concerns over the Delta variant of Covid-19.

In the FTSE 250, Indivior was the standout performer, up 9.5%, after the drugmaker raised its 2021 guidance to reflect increasing business momentum.

Indivior said it expects higher annual net revenue in the range of USD705 million to USD740 million, up from the previously guided up to USD625 million, reflecting a stronger Sublocade performance. Group net revenue was USD647 million in 2020, which was down 18% from USD785 million in 2019.

Net revenue from Sublocade for 2021 is expected to be in the range of USD210 million to USD230 million, up from USD185 million to USD210 million previously guided, based on stronger demand and a large order from a new criminal justice system customer worth USD7 million.

Sublocade is Indivior's lead treatment for opioid addiction.

Workspace Group was up 1.5% after RBC Capital raised the flexible office space provider to Outperform from Sector Perform.

At the other end of the midcaps, Cairn Energy was the worst performer, down 4.5%, after Berenberg downgraded the oil and gas company to Hold from Buy.

Elsewhere, Stagecoach was up 1.2% even as the public transport company posted a fall in annual earnings and withdrawing its dividend.

For the financial year that ended May 1, pretax profit was down 39% to GBP24.7 million from GBP40.6 million the year before as revenue dropped 35% to GBP928.2 million from GBP1.42 billion. Stagecoach said that, due to continuing uncertainties caused by Covid-19, it was not proposing any dividends for the financial year.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.1% on Wednesday. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.5%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.2%.

Chinese factory activity stabilised in June, data showed Wednesday, but output was hit by supply shortages of key commodities and microchips as well as the coronavirus-induced closure of a key port that caused huge delivery delays.

The official purchasing managers' index, a key gauge of manufacturing activity in the world's second-largest economy, came in at 50.9 in June from May's 51.0, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

While the reading has been edging down for three straight months, it appears to be levelling out. It was also broadly in line with forecasts and continued to stay above the 50 point mark that separates growth from expansion.

The pound was quoted at USD1.3826 early Wednesday in London, down from USD1.3840 at the London equities close Tuesday.

The UK economy shrank in the first quarter of 2021, taking a hit from the government's lockdown restrictions, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In the three months to March, UK gross domestic product contracted 1.6% quarter-on-quarter, following growth of 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2020 from the third. The revised reading was improved slightly from a preliminary estimate of a contraction of 1.5%.

On an annual basis, the UK economy shrank by an unrevised 6.1% in the first quarter, in line with market estimates cited by FXStreet.

The euro stood at USD1.1903, marginally lower from USD1.1908. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY110.51, flat from JPY110.48.

Brent oil was quoted at USD74.90 a barrel on Wednesday morning, lower than USD75.11 at the London equities close Tuesday. Gold was priced at USD1,759.32 an ounce, little changed from USD1,760.21.

The international economic events calendar on Wednesday has eurozone inflation at 1000 BST and US ADP employment at 1315 BST.

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

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