The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) is pausing for breath at the start of the week, dropping just 6 points to 6,715 by midday, after making a 99-point gain last week to 6,721 — its third winning week in a row, and its highest finish since May.
A few positive updates helped support the index today, though the miners are slipping back again after a decent run over the past few weeks.
But which shares are outstripping the FTSE? Here are three set to beat it today:
Aggreko
It was third-quarter update time for temporary power and temperature control specialist Aggreko, and things are looking fine. Trading during the quarter is said to be in line with expectations, with underlying revenues and margins “slightly ahead” of a year ago — excluding the one-off affects of the Olympics.
Around the world, revenues were mixed — Americas up 6%; Asia, Pacific and Australia down 17%; Europe, Middle East and Africa up 8%. Net debt dropped by £83m in the period, taking it down £216m from a year previously, to £469m.
These unexciting but unproblematic results were enough to give the shares a welcome boost, of 53p (3.5%) to 1,570p, though the price is still down 25% over the past 12 months.
Randgold Resources Limited
A bullish update from Randgold Resources Limited (LSE: RRS) (NASDAQ: GOLD.US) on the prospects for gold in Côte d’Ivoire sent the firm’s shares up 105p (2.3%) to 4,744p this morning. Chief executive Mark Bristow told a media briefing that “Côte d’Ivoire has the potential to become one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s key exploration destinations if its government and mining companies join in a long term commitment to the development of a sustainable mining industry in the country“.
Mr Bristow said that the underexplored country had some of the best infrastructure in the region, and that the prospects for gold and other metals could be good if a suitable development approach is taken. Randgold owns and operates the country’s largest gold mine.
G4S
G4S shares perked up 2.6p (1%) to 261p after the security firm thumbed its nose at a “highly opportunistic” offer to buy its cash solutions business for £1.55m. The offer, from Charterhouse Capital Partners, was made on 22 October, and it didn’t take the G4S board long before it “firmly rejected” the offer, which it said fundamentally undervalued the business.
G4S also said that the cash solutions division is of strategic importance to the company and is part of the core business in which it plans to continue to invest.
G4S shares have picked up from their summer slump, and are now effectively flat over the past 12 months.
