LONDON MARKET OPEN: Smurfit Kappa lifts packaging firms; Barratt rises

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Wednesday with packaging companies and housebuilders among the best FTSE 100 performers after strong results from Smurfit Kappa and Barratt Developments.

The FTSE 100 index was up 35.34 points, or 0.5%, at 7,602.41 early Wednesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 220.02 points, or 1.0%, at 22,007.48. The AIM All-Share index was up 5.95 points, 0.5%, at 1,088.43.

The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.6% at 754.95. The Cboe 250 was up 1.1% at 19,640.43, and the Cboe Small Companies was 0.6% higher at 15,398.05.

In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 stock index in Paris was up 1.1% and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 0.9% higher.

In the FTSE 100, Smurfit Kappa was up 2.5% after the Irish corrugated packaging company reported a strong performance for 2021 and raised its dividend.

For 2021, revenue was up 18% to EUR10.11 billion from EUR8.53 billion in 2020 and pretax profit was EUR913 million, up 22% from EUR748 million.

The Dublin-based firm declared a final dividend of 96.1 cents, up 10% from 87.4 cents in 2020.

Packaging peers Mondi and DS Smith were up 3.8% and 3.5% respectively in a positive read-across.

Admiral rose 2.8% after HSBC upgraded the insurer to 'buy' from 'hold'.

Barratt Developments was up 2.5%. The housebuilder said it delivered an excellent first half performance, driven by a strong rebound in construction activity in the UK.

For the six months to December 31, revenue was GBP2.25 billion, up from GBP2.49 billion at the same time in 2020 and pretax profit edged higher to GBP432.6 million from GBP430.2 million.

In addition, Barratt declared an interim dividend of 11.2 pence, up from 7.5p.

Total completions were down to 8,067 homes from 9,077 - reflecting the "unusually high" completions in the prior period.

The UK's largest housebuilder by volume said it is on track to deliver total home completions of 18,000 to 18,250 in financial 2022, an increase of 250 homes on previous guidance and in excess of the total home completions delivered in financial 2019.

Barratt rivals Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley were up 1.3%, 1.5% and 1.0% respectively in a positive read-across.

Conversely, Rightmove was down 1.0% after JPMorgan cut the property portal to 'underweight' from 'neutral'.

On AIM, boohoo Group was down 2.5%. Barclays downgraded the online fashion retailer to 'underweight' from 'equal weight'.

In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 1.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 1.9%. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 closed up 1.0%.

The dollar was lower across the board. The pound was quoted at USD1.3570 early Wednesday, up from USD1.3551 at the London equities close Tuesday.

The euro was priced at USD1.1425, rising from USD1.1413. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was trading at JPY115.35, lower from JPY115.60 in London on Tuesday.

Brent oil was quoted at USD90.90 a barrel Wednesday morning, up from USD90.28 late Tuesday. Gold stood at USD1,827.38 an ounce, firm against USD1,825.73.

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

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