The Morning News Update with Burberry, Halfords and Panmure Gordon

FTSE 100

Petrofac (PFC) – has received an award notification for Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC) gathering centre 29 (GC29) which is located approximately 70 km north of Kuwait City in the north of the country. Valued at approximately US$700 million, the project will be completed over a period of approximately three years.

Barratt Developments (BDEV) – Profit before tax for FY14 is expected to be ahead of the top end of analysts’ estimates at c. £390 million, driven by increased completion volumes, a greater proportion of completions from more recently acquired higher margin land, underlying house price inflation, and on-going efficiency gains. 

Burberry (BRBY) – At £370 million, retail sales in the first quarter, which is historically the smallest for retail, increased by 17% underlying and 9% at reported FX.

FTSE 250

FirstGroup (FGP) – Trading is in line with management’s expectations and transformation programmes, as set out at the investor day in January 2014.

Halfords (HFD) – total revenues up by 7.9% in the 12 weeks to 27th June.

Hays (HAS) – In the fourth quarter ended 30 June 2014 net fees were flat on a headline basis and increased 7% on a like-for-like basis against the prior year. Expects full year operating profit to be around £140 million, reiterating the upgrade to guidance given at the Q3 Interim Management Statement.

Small Caps

Aureus Mining (AUE) – announces additional results from 30 holes of the phase four drilling programme at the Ndablama gold project.

Telit Communications (TCM) – expects that revenues for the six months ended 30th June 2014 will be approximately $138 million, which represents a year on year growth of 27.2%.

Restore (RST) – Trading in the first six months of 2014 was in line with expectations.

Panmure Gordon (PMR) – revenues for the six months ended 30 June 2014 will show significant growth over the same period of 2013, driven by improved performance and increased investment across all of Panmure Gordon’s business lines. Profit before tax from continuing operations is expected to be approximately £1.8 million.

Swallowfield (SWL) – anticipates a return to full year profitability in line with market expectations.