Monday’s Master Investor Market Report

• The FTSE 100 fell 50.10 points to 6,535.68.
• The FTSE 250 tumbled 170.18 points to 17,443.28.
• The FTSE All Share decreased by 28.49 points to 3,573.98.
• The FTSE AIM All Share finished 5.82 points lower at 758.15.
  

Greece voted to reject the latest EU proposal on Sunday, despite the offer having already expired as the country went to the polls. This is a victory for the Syriza government, but Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has resigned on the grounds that his continued presence would negatively affect future negotiations. Markets have interpreted the vote as meaning that Greece will leave the eurozone.

Rolls Royce (RR.) shares dropped by 54p to 802.5p after the manufacturer issued a profit warning for the current financial year this morning. The new guidance is around £75 million lower than previously and the lower end of the range is now £300 million below last year’s result. The change has been blamed on weakening overseas markets for marine products. Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Keith Bowman wrote that “despite management changes and a still sizeable order book, current consensus analyst opinion of a hold is likely to come under further downward pressure“.

Goldman Sachs has boosted its target price on Royal Mail (RMG) to 610p and reiterated its “buy” stance on the stock. Analysts from the bank expect improved profitability and wrote that “ongoing improvement in the company’s efficiency levels, a return to growth in parcel revenues, which we forecast only from 2016/17 onwards, and the successful execution of real estate disposals will be the key drivers of share price performance, in our view“. Royal Mail shares climbed 5.5p to 510.5p.

LiteBulb (LBB) shares dropped 32.4% to 24.5p as management cut full year forecasts and announced that its CEO and Sales Director had resigned as part of a strategic shift. The firm has been hit by delays on a number of new projects and as a result revenue growth will not meet expectations. There have also been difficulties in bringing down costs on existing lines. FinnCap cut its target price from 75p to 40p.

Engineering outfit Velocys (VLS) saw its shares fell by 17.39% to 95p after it suspended its Chief Executive Roy Lipski amidst allegations of misconduct. The company said that the decision was not tantamount to disciplinary action and that no fraud or financial impropriety was believed to have taken place. Management insisted that trading is in line with expectations.

Avanti Communications (AVN) has said that revenues for the year ended 30th June are over $80 million (£51.43 million) and up by more than 50% in constant currency terms. Trading remained in line with management expectations and the group closed the period with cash reserves of $120 million (£77 million). Shares in the company climbed 13p to 208p.

Monday’s news today

Final results for Solid State (SOLI), Omega Diagnostics (ODX) and Sepura (SEPU) will be released tomorrow.

UK manufacturing data will also be published.

Quote of the day

“A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.”
– Robert Frost