Bovis (LSE: BVS), Amlin (LSE: AML) and Shanta (LSE: SHG) all rise on good news.
The FTSE 100 (UKX) is pretty much carrying on the way it ended last week -- going sideways, and is just 20 points down at 5,832. It's a regular story, with banks up a bit and miners down a bit. Tomorrow it might be miners up and banks down.
But whatever happens to the big sectors doesn't affect most individual FTSE index constituents. Here are three whose prices are doing well today...
Bovis
Bovis Homes (LSE: BVS) perked up this morning after reporting a doubling of interim pre-tax profits to £16m, and the shares put on 19p (3%) to 511p in early trading, before dropping back a bit to 500p. The interim dividend was also doubled, to 3p per share, in line with a doubling of earnings per share (eps) to 8.9p.
The housebuilder said that its completion figure of 944 homes was 18% up on the first half last year, at an average selling price of £164,000 -- though that was only £1,000 up on last year. Chief executive David Ritchie told us that “the Group's profits will, subject to stable market conditions, continue to increase significantly in the second half of 2012, in line with the Group's expectations.”
Amlin
Insurer Amlin (LSE: AML) saw its shares boosted 18p (4.7%) this morning after releasing pleasing half-time results. The Lloyds underwriter has so far enjoyed a year that has seen a relatively low amount of catastrophe claims, and told us of a pre-tax profit of £185m (compared to a £192m pre-tax loss for the same period last year).
According to chief executive Charles Philipps: “This is a welcome return to profit and the strength of our underwriting result underlines the quality and diversity of our business.”
The shares are up nearly 30% since their recent low, and forecasts still suggest a 6.4% dividend for the full year -- the interim payout was lifted by 4.2% to 7.5p.
Shanta
Shanta Gold (LSE: SHG) shares leapt 2.5p (9%) to 30p after the gold miner announced the commencement of operations at its New Luika gold mine in south western Tanzania. All steps of the process are now in place, and the first gold pour is expected by the end of this month.
The company expects the mine to produce between 13,000 and 17,500 ounces of gold in the fourth quarter of this year. The shares slumped early in the year, but they've staged a 60% recovery since 2012's low point in May.
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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
