Burberry (LSE: BRBY) sales growth slows, while Britvic (LSE: BVIC) has product problems.
The FTSE 100 (UKX) dropped 39 points in early trading to reach 5,626 points, but has recovered a little to 5,645 at the time of writing, just 20 points down. The mood seems to be a mix of vague optimism over Europe and general fears of the worldwide economic slowdown. And ahead of the forthcoming interim reporting season, nobody really knows what to expect.
But it's companies that drive the index, not the other way round, and here are three constituents of the FTSE indices that have been falling today...
Burberry
Shares in fashion purveyor Burberry Group (LSE: BRBY) fell by 75p (5.8%) to 1,209p, after a first-quarter update showed slowing global growth. Though underlying revenue grew by 11% to £408m, that's down on last year's fourth quarter growth of 15%, and fell short of City expectations.
The firm saw a strong growth in men's tailoring and accessories, and also benefited from higher prices. But in tough market conditions it wasn't enough to satisfy the growth expectations in the share price, which is down nearly 25% since its April peak of 1,586p.
Britvic
Soft drinks maker Britvic (LSE: BVIC) fell heavily this morning, dropping 41p (14%) to 259p, after updating us on last week's recall of two of its Fruit Shoot products. There are problems with a new cap design, and the firm is going back to an old cap. The commencement of resupply is going to take six weeks, but it will take six months to get back to full volume.
The firm believes this will impact pre-tax profit to the tune of £15m to £25m over this trading year and next. Assuming the worst case, the recent 30% share price drop will put the shares on a forward price to earnings ratio of about 9 for September 2012, which suggests the fall might be overdone.
Thorntons
Thorntons (LSE: THT) shares dropped 1.2p (4.6%) to 24.8p, despite its fourth-quarter trading update looking fine. Trading at the chocolate and confectionery maker was in line with expectations, with sales growing by 7.8% to £24.7m. That was strongly boosted by a more than trebling of commercial sales from £2.9m to £9.3m due to the introduction of a "Best of British" range for the summer -- but maybe investors are seeing that as a one-off.
Thorntons shares have lost more than 50% over the past 12 months
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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
