HSBC hands Flutter a boost on Gold Cup day

The bookmakers may have taken a lead at Cheltenham yesterday, even after Galopin Des Champs raced home in the Gold Cup on St Patrick’s Day.

And investors in Paddy Power owner Flutter got a further boost when analysts at HSBC raised the price target for its stock from 14300p to 16900p.

The investment bank said the gambling giant’s plans for an additional US listing should boost its value, while clarity on UK regulation in the forthcoming white paper “could be a positive catalyst”.

It also praised “strong” trading in the UK and “excellent” momentum in the US.

The upgrade came as punters – many with a few Guinnesses in them – watched as jockey Paul Townend brought home the 7-to-5 favorite for Bravemansgame and Conflated.

However, Flutter shares fell 1.5 per cent, or 205p, to 13625p, rival Entain, which owns Ladbrokes and Coral, fell 0.5 per cent, or 6p, to 1207.5p and William Hill owner 888 fell 8, 1 percent, or 5.15p, to 58.85p. The Gold Cup would have given many in City some much needed rest at the end of a tumultuous week. The FTSE 100 fell 1 percent, or 74.63 points, to 7335.4, in another grim session for London’s premier index. The FTSE 250 fell 1.5 percent, or 287.75 points, to 18470.83.

Rising metal prices boosted mining stocks with Glencore up 2.2 percent, or 9.45p, to 432.65p, Anglo American up 1 percent, or 25p, to 2504p, Fresnillo up 1.8 percent, or 12.2p, to 710p. However, Rio Tinto lost 0.6 percent, or 31 pence, to 5,250 pence.

Investors made another attempt to secure safe havens, causing gold producer Endeavor Mining to rise 2.4 percent, or 42 pence, to 1,760 pence. The price of oil fell to about $73 a barrel as demand was hit by fears about the health of the global economy.

Bodycote, the heat treatment specialist, was one of the companies that did enjoy a positive trading session. Revenue was up 20.8 per cent to £743.6m for 2022. Profits were up 23 per cent to £95.3m. Shares gained 5.9 percent, or 34 pence, to 615.5 pence.

Talks about a possible takeover of John Wood Group continue after the engineering group asked to give the potential buyer another month to make an offer.

At the US private equity giant Apollo, four bids have been rejected, including the latest offer of 237 pence per share.

The deadline for submitting a bid on March 22 has been extended to April 19 at 5 p.m. CET. Analysts at Jefferies said their “upside scenario” would be an offer of 290 pence per share.

Shares rose 1.5 percent, or 3 pence, to 205.9 pence. The BT boss was slammed by the telecoms watchdog after saying his company’s network expansion “will end in tears” for some of its competitors.

Ofcom delayed finalizing its investigation into a new pricing plan for Openreach as CEO Melanie Dawes wrote in a letter to Philip Jansen that his comments caused “significant concern”. Shares fell 6.1 percent, or 8.9 pence, to 137.75 pence.

Meanwhile, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) rose 2 percent, or 144p, to 7470p after UBS upgraded its rating from “neutral” to “buy” and raised its price target from 8500p to 8700p. The broker attributes this to an improved forecast for LSEG’s Trading & Banking (T&B) division.

GSK gained 1 percent, or 13.8 pence, to 1400.8 pence after Deutsche Bank upgraded the company’s shares from hold to buy and raised its price target from 1500 pence to 1700 pence.

But private equity group Bridgepoint fell 10.1 percent, or 21.7 pence, to 193.7 pence after Peel Hunt downgraded the company’s rating from “buy” to “hold” and lowered its price target from 340 pence to 220 pence. .

Tech products supplier Diploma raised £235m in addition to buying Tennessee Industrial Electronics for around £76m. Shares were up 3.2 percent, or 84p, to 2720p.