By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K's FTSE 100 slipped Tuesday, with
shares of Kingfisher PLC dropping after its quarterly update and
Petrofac PLC's shares extending losses after a profit warning.
The FTSE 100 was off less than 1 point at 6,728.96, with gains
among banking, industrial and telecom issues offsetting losses in
the energy, mining and utilities groups.
Later Tuesday, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is expected
to speak to the U.K. parliament's Treasury Committee about the
central bank's recent inflation report.
Shares of Kingfisher PLC fell 3.2% as the home-improvement
retailer, whose brands include B&Q and Screwfix, said
third-quarter profit and sales declined, largely because of adverse
foreign-exchange movements and a weak market in France. Total group
sales fell 3.6% to 2.82 billion pounds ($4.41 billion) during the
13 weeks to Nov. 1. Group retail profit was GBP225 million, hurt by
a GBP13 million cost from translating overseas profits into
sterling.
Petrofac Ltd. shares logged the worst loss on the FTSE 100 as
they fell 4%. That move built on Monday's 26% tumble, which came
after the oil-services firm cut its profit forecast. Credit Suisse
downgraded the company on Tuesday to neutral from outperform,
noting Petrofac's outlook for 2015 profit of $500 million is 27%
below consensus expectations.
"Although the moving parts in the guidance are relatively clear,
we feel the main sentiment driver will be the admission that
project execution has fallen well short of management's exalted
record, lowering confidence over the quality of future earnings,"
wrote Credit Suisse analyst David Thomas in a note.
Deutsche Bank downgraded Petrofac to a hold rating.
Elsewhere, Bloomberg reported Tuesday that some hedge funds were
told by a prominent London mining banker that a takeover of Rio
Tinto PLC (RIO) by Glencore PLC will take place. Shares of Rio
Tinto fell 0.4% and Glencore shed 0.2%.
Mining giant BHP Billiton was down 1.4%.
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