Marks and Spencer Group Plc, Ithaca Energy Inc and XP Power Ltd all fall.
The FTSE 100 (UKX) is still up there, having gained another 20 points to reach 6,118 at the time of writing. The Bank of England's decision today not to extend its quantitative easing programme does not appear to have damaged market sentiment, though keeping UK interest rates unchanged was widely expected.
Even if the FTSE 100 is extending its gains, there are always some individual constituents of the indices that are falling. We look at three companies dropping today:
Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) shares dropped 10.9p (2.9%) after the high-street giant released a disappointing trading update for the quarter ending 29 December. The problem is mainly in the clothing department, as the firm's "general merchandise" sales fell by 2.2% (3.8% on a like-for-like basis). With food up 2.7%, the overall result was a sale rise of just 0.6%, translating to a like-for-like sales fall of 1.8% overall.
Food sales over the Christmas period were especially strong, hitting a record £330 million, which the company says is 4% higher than the market. Eyes will now be on M&S's Spring and Summer clothing ranges, which launch this week.
Ithaca
Ithaca Energy (LSE: IAE) dropped 6p (4.5%) to 128p after publishing a 2012 fourth-quarter production report together with the firm's outlook for 2013. Net production came in at 610,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe), with an average rate of 6,631 boe per day (boepd). That was 31% up on the third quarter, and is pretty much bang in the middle of the company's earlier guidance.
But forecasts for 2013 suggest a small slowdown in production, with a production rate of between 6,000 and 6,700 boepd now expected.
XP Power
A trading update from XP Power (LSE: XPP), the manufacturer of power control components for the electronics industry, led to a 4.5p (0.5%) fall to 995p. Revenue for the year to December 2012 fell by 9% compared to 2011, although that was expected, as cautious customers took their toll. But there was at least a "marginal" improvement in the second half. Net debt fell over the year, from £18.6 million to £10.7 million.
XP's fourth quarter dividend will be announced in February along with the firm's 2012 figures, but it is expected to be at least 16p for a total dividend of at least 49p per share. That's 9% up on last year and represents a yield of 4.9% on the current price.
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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
