Why Diageo plc, WPP PLC and Lonmin Plc Should Lag The FTSE 100 Today

Diageo plc (LON: DGE), WPP PLC (LON: WPP) and Lonmin Plc (LON: LMI) all slip.

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The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) lost a further 20 points to 6,525 by midday today, pulled in different directions by various company results — with a first-half boost for Royal Dutch Shell being countered by a fall for Diageo. The top index is now down 139 points so far this week, and heading further and further away from the 6,876 points it needs to reach a new 14-year high.

Which shares are dropping faster than average today? Here are three:

Diageo

Disappointing first-half results hit Diageo shares this morning, sending them down 125p (6.6%) to 1,785p.

The drinks giant reported a 1.8% rise in net sales in the half, though that was slowing from a first-half rise of 2.2%. The biggest regional growth, of 4.6%, was seen in North America. But with what chief executive Ivan Menezes described as “a more challenging emerging market environment“, emerging market sales grew by just 1.3%. In product terms, beer sales fell 2.6% but all other categories enjoyed growth.

With operating profit up 9%, earnings per share rose 4% to 62.6p and the interim dividend was lifted 9% to 19.7p per share.

WPP

Advertising and media giant WPP (LSE: WPP) (NASDAQ: WPPGY.US) saw its shares fall 17p (1.3%) to 1,270p this morning, despite news of a new acquisition.

WPP’s wholly-owned subsidiary tenthavenue has taken a majority stake in Jupicorp Proprietary Limited of South Africa — a firm that specialises in customer rewards programmes.

After a strong 2013, WPP shares have fallen back a bit of late, and at today’s price they’re now off 9% from their recent peak of 1,391p earlier in January — but the price is still up nearly 30% over the past 12 months.

Lonmin

Lonmin (LSE: LMI) shares had a rough start to 2013, but they’ve now climbed back to just above the 12-month break-even point, and were given a bit of a boost today by an upbeat first-quarter update.

For the three months to 31 December, the platinum miner saw refined production up 45% from the same period a year previously, to 196,249 ounces. Sales for the period rose by 24% to 134,804 ounces.

Sadly, though, a fatality led to a 10% fall in total mining production to 2.6 million tonnes during the quarter.

Should you invest, the value of your investment may rise or fall and your capital is at risk. Before investing, your individual circumstances should be assessed. Consider taking independent financial advice.

> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.

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