FTSE 100 movers: Ocado surges; Vodafone in the red

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 7,425.52 in afternoon trade on Tuesday. Online supermarket Ocado surged to the top of the index as it held annual guidance after swinging to a core profit in its first half and said its retail earnings would be "marginally positive" for the full year.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said: "There are two ways of looking at Ocado's results. The business has generated a small EBITDA profit versus market forecasts of a loss. Sales are up across all of its divisions and clients are busy opening new fulfilment centres or reaping the benefits of Ocado's system through improved operational performance. Ocado even believes it could win contracts outside of the grocery sector for its technology.

"However, a bear would point to ongoing pre-tax losses for the group, continued slow pace in signing up new partners, and pedestrian gains in the total number of active customers for its UK retail operations.

"That life isn't getting any worse for the company is enough to satisfy the market. Although what matters to most investors is whether Ocado remains a takeover target. Rumours that Amazon wanted to buy the business breathed new life into the share price in recent weeks but the retail giant has remained quiet on the speculation.

"Amazon is already a master at robotic-led warehouses so one has to wonder why it would need to buy Ocado. Yes, it wants to be bigger in the food sector - but it could just become a technology customer rather than buy Ocado outright if it wanted to take advantage of the systems."

Housebuilders Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments and Berkeley were also on the rise. Citi pointed out in a research note that data published on Monday by Rightmove showed UK house prices held steady in July despite concerns that deteriorating buyer affordability could drive sellers to temper expectations.

On the downside, Vodafone lost ground as it said it will receive an additional €500m in proceeds as part of the co-control partnership for Vantage Towers.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 674.40p 16.08% Persimmon (PSN) 1,098.50p 4.92% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 108.70p 4.42% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 424.40p 3.92% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,811.50p 2.61% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,105.00p 2.17% SEGRO (SGRO) 748.20p 2.02% Mondi (MNDI) 1,301.50p 2.00% Land Securities Group (LAND) 617.60p 1.75% Kingfisher (KGF) 236.60p 1.68%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Vodafone Group (VOD) 70.72p -1.63% BT Group (BT.A) 121.00p -1.63% Airtel Africa (AAF) 103.00p -1.44% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 153.10p -0.97% Compass Group (CPG) 2,107.00p -0.80% Centrica (CNA) 122.75p -0.77% SSE (SSE) 1,765.00p -0.76% Rentokil Initial (RTO) 618.60p -0.74% Haleon (HLN) 314.40p -0.73% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,173.50p -0.72%