JJB Sports (LSE: JJB) crashes on poor trading, and Centamin (LSE: CEY) slumps on rumour.
The FTSE 100 (UKX) had a relatively good week last week, but has started this week a little uncertainly, losing 29 points to 5,633 for a half percent fall in early trading. The jitters were led by commodities-based companies like the big miners -- Xstrata (LSE: XTA) lost around 2%, with the others not far behind -- as we head towards an interim reporting season that many fear will be full of uncertainty.
But one thing that is certain is that whatever the FTSE is doing overall, individual companies are going their own ways. Today, we look at three members of the FTSE indices that are having a very tough time...
JJB Sports
When you see JJB Sports (LSE: JJB) is in the news, you just expect it to be bad, don't you? The shares fell 2.85p (29%) to 7p this morning, after the sports fashion retailer told us like-for-like sales fell 8% for the 22 weeks to 1 July, and that net debt stood at £15.4m.
Chairman Mike McTighe is also to be replaced by newcomer Robert J. Corliss, who will take the role of deputy chairman until succeeding his new boss on 1 September.
The fall has undone most of the recovery that has come from the firm's attempted turnaround since January, and survival must surely be in the balance again.
Centamin
Shares in Centamin (LSE: CEY) slumped by 11p (15%) to 62.6p in early trading, after media in Egypt reported that an unnamed government source had said that the gold miner has breached its concession agreement.
Centamin, for its part, put out a release denying that any such breach has occurred, that it has been given no notice of any such breaches, and that operations at its Sukari mine "continue as normal". Could this be a good time to pick up a bargain based in ill-founded public fears?
Severfield-Rowen
Structural steelmaker Severfield-Rowen (LSE: SFR) lost a further 9% in early trading, dropping 15p to 140p. This follows on from a downbeat interim statement in May, which told us that the first half was not going to be great, and then a profit warning in June in which we learned of more operational cost overruns.
The shares have slumped from a high of 220p earlier in the year, and if the second half is better, as the company suggests, could we have an oversold bargain now? The forward dividend yield is looking close to 4%, and there's no sign of it being affected yet -- but there are better dividends out there.
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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
