MARKET REPORT: Chemicals group crashes after diving into the red

Shares in chemical group Synthomer plunged to a five-month low as it plunged into the red, warning of “challenging” times ahead.

The FTSE 250 company, which makes highly specialized products used in everything from rubber gloves and paint to car tires and cement, posted a loss of £47.6m in 2022, following a profit of £283.9m in 2021 .

The company, formerly known as Yule Catto & Co, said business remains difficult, although it expects demand to pick up in the second half of the year.

“Our trading performance to date reflects the continuation of challenging macroeconomic conditions into the last quarter of 2022, with demand subdued in most of our end markets and regions,” a spokesperson said.

Shares in the company, which dates back to 1863 and is based in London but has offices across Europe, fell 11.6 percent, or 14.4 pence, to 109.5 pence.

The broader FTSE 250 fell 0.7 percent, or 132.93 points, to 18396.69, but the blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.2 percent, or 12.48 points, to 7484.25.

William Hill owner 888 was under pressure after being awarded a record sum by the Gambling Commission for ‘widespread and alarming’ failures.

The problems were related to rules around customer protection and money laundering, where one gambler was able to spend £23,000 in just 20 minutes, while another lost more than £70,000 in a month. 888 was fined £19.2 million – the largest fine ever imposed by the commission.

Gambling Commission chief Andrew Rhodes said: ‘When we started this investigation, the deficiencies we uncovered were so widespread and alarmingly serious consideration was given to revoking the license.’ Shares fell 1 percent, or 0.05 pence, to 54.45 pence.

Back in the high flight, oil companies BP and Shell were on the rise as the price of crude oil returned to $80 a barrel before giving up on profits.

It had fallen to about $70 earlier this month. BP gained 2.3 percent, or 11.4p, to 507.8p and Shell added 1.4 percent, or 30.5p, to 2263p.

Supply Guard – Team17

The boss of video game developer Team17 has decided to step down after 13 years to focus on her family.

Debbie Bestwick, who took over as CEO in 2010, said she will transition to a non-executive role once her replacement is found.

“Ultimately, I want to spend more time with my kids,” said the 53-year-old.

The company reported a 52 percent increase in revenue to £137.4 million for 2022, while profits fell 1 percent to £28.7 million.

Shares fell 8.8 percent, or 39 pence, to 405 pence.

Oil prices fell sharply this month as chaos swept through the banking sector, fueling fears of a slowdown in the global economy.

However, it has recovered in recent days in the hope that the crisis can be contained. The rally came as BP and Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil giant offered to buy 50 percent of Israel’s offshore natural gas producer NewMed Energy for around £1.6 billion, entering Israel’s growing energy sector.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co and BP said they plan to establish a new joint venture as part of the deal, which will “focus on gas development in international areas of mutual interest, including the Eastern Mediterranean.”

IAG, which owns British Airways, rose 2.2 percent, or 3 pence, to 140.24 pence after analysts at Redburn gave it a buy rating.

Water company United Utilities fell 0.4 percent, or 4 pence, to 1,031.5 pence after it said annual sales would be about 1 percent lower than previously thought.

Homebuilder Bellway reported that underlying profit before tax fell 4.6 percent to £312.1 million for the six months to January 31.

It posted record sales, up 1.6 per cent to £1.8bn, but saw its private home booking rate fall 43.8 per cent to 91 per week in the first half in the wake of last year’s market turmoil autumn after the mini-Budget. as the end of the Help to Buy scheme.

Bellway said it sees signs of demand recovery. It said the booking rate had risen to 135 a week – still down from a year earlier when it was 239 a week.

The group confirmed it expects property prices to fall to around £300,000 on average for the full year, down from £314,399 in July last year.

Shares rose 0.05 percent, or 1p, to 2041p.