Demand from punters for a piece of the equities market helped Edward Bonham Carter’s Jupiter Fund Management reach record assets under management today.
FTSE 250-listed Jupiter revealed assets of £31.7 billion and Numis’ experts predicted the move by retail investors into equities — a “structural growth opportunity in the retail savings market” — is an opportunity for Jupiter. It reported a strong 2013 with pre-tax profit up 55% to £114.1 million. Jupiter, which will see Bonham Carter step up as chairman next month as Maarten Slendebroek takes the chief executive position, jumped more than 4% — up 16.7p to 418.95p today.
The wider market slumped 56.12 points to 6743.03 as traders remained cautious despite a 14-year high set by the Footsie on Monday. Research group Markit said the media sector could be under pressure from short-sellers and noted that 5% of publisher-to-education business Pearson is out on loan. Pearson fell 10p to 1074.5p.
Retail analyst Kate Calvert at Investec maintained her gloomy stance on department store group Debenhams. She rated it a Sell and said with this year forecast to be the fourth “of profit decline” she expects management to come up with a new strategy at its half-year results next month. But a focus on “product quality and… fewer promotions” will hit mid-term profit. She gave it a 67p price target and shares eased 1.3p to 73.2p.
National Express recorded a fall in 2013 profit but it beat City forecasts and travelled up 1.2p to 301.9p.
Jefferies said property group Segro had made “good progress” on selling off poorer assets. It rates it a Hold with a 354.5p price target and it lifted 0.8 p to 355.25p.
Online electrical retailer AO World surged 33% on its first day of trading yesterday but fell back slightly today — down 8.5p to 368.4p. Retail analyst Nick Bubb, said: “AO has yet to prove that its recent UK success (after the demise of Comet) is sustainable, as Dixons fights back, or shows it can grow outside the UK. Valuing such a low gross margin business at around £1.6 billion still seems somewhat excessive.”
AIM-listed pawn-broker H&T Group said pre-tax profits fell by 60.6% to £6.7 million but the outlook has improved and shares were flat at 179p.
Surveillance specialist Digital Barriers which sells its know-how to the US and UK governments, issued a profit warning because of product delays and customers taking longer to sign up to deals. Shares tumbled 25p to 116.5p.
