Interim results from the educational publishers Pearson are out this morning, noting a 6.7% decline in revenues although operating profits have remained flat, reflecting an uptick in margins. The company remains on track to deliver against full year expectations but despite management assurances that the business is positioned for sustained growth and further margin expansion, investors seemed to focus on areas of weakness including some contract losses. Pearson’s share price was 60p or around 6% lower in early trade although some support has emerged with the stock trading around 3.5% lower an hour into the day.
Shares in the energy and services company Centrica ticked higher on Monday as investors saw last week’s sell off as being overdone. Thursday’s half year report was seen as underwhelming with the announced share buy back being seen as particularly contentious after it fell short of expectations, but the 8% slump in valuation may have been too punitive. The Centrica share price is a little over 2% higher in early trade, leading the FTSE-100.
Down in small cap territory, Mkango Resources saw a bounce in its share price this morning after announcing that the company had signed a Mining Development Agreement for a rare earths project in Malawi. The deal is seen as something of a game changer for the country, providing both social and economic benefits. The Mkango share price was trading 45% higher just after 9am.
Headlines we expect on Tuesday
BP Interim Results
This time last year Underlying replacement cost profit $2,589m, Dividend 7.27c
Fresnillo Interim Results
This time last year Adjusted revenues $1,430m, Gross profit $283m, Dividend 1.4c
