The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) slipped further today, dropping 52 points to 6,408 by mid-morning to reach a two-month low.
Tesco reported a drop in profits and saw its share price fall 3%, and the miners are also slipping further today as metals and other commodities prices continue to weaken in the wake of disappointing manufacturing figures from China.
To find much in the way of winners today, we need to look outside the top FTSE index. Here are three FTSE 250 companies whose share prices are on the up:
SOCO International
Shares in oil and gas explorer SOCO International (LSE: SIA) gained some ground this morning, picking up 10.3p (2.6%) to 408p on the back of a Vietnam operations update.
Results from the company’s exploratory TGT-10XST1 well in the Te Giac Trang field have exceeded expectations, with a combined flow of more than 27,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the three zones tested.
Chief executive Ed Story was moved to say: “This has turned out to be a great well, representing one of the most prolific individual wells ever tested in Vietnam“.
Electrocomponents
A first-half update from Electrocomponents (LSE: ECM) sent shares in the electronics distributor up 5.7p (2%) to 285p, taking the price up more than 40% over the past 12 months.
A 4% sales improvement in September helped push total turnover for the half up 1%, with international sales responsible for the gain — in the UK, revenues were down 3%. Sales via eCommerce gained 6% and now account for about 57% of the total.
Chief executive Ian Mason said the firm’s strategic priorities are “to grow market share and improve our financial performance over the medium term“. Results for the six months should be with us on 14 November.
Domino’s Pizza
Domino’s Pizza (LSE: DOM) reported “solid progress” within its third quarter this morning, and the share price responded with a 21.5p (3.7%) jump to 611p.
Sales for the quarter rose by 10.4% to £141m, with year-to-date sales up 11.1% to £438m. Even though warm weather is apparently not good for consumption of the cheesy-bread-based comestible, like-for-like sales were still up 4% with a strong end to the quarter.
The firm opened eight new stores in the UK during the period, taking its total new openings to 23 for the year so far. There should be around 50 new stores opened by year-end.
