MARKET REPORT: Smith & Nephew shaken by slowdown in China

Investors in Smith & Nephew were left reeling after the orthopedic company cut its full-year sales guidance due to weaker-than-expected trading in China.

The FTSE 100-listed company now expects full-year sales growth of 4.5 percent, up from 5 to 6 percent. Third quarter sales rose 4 percent – ​​or 5.9 percent excluding China – to £1.1 billion.

It also revised its full-year profit margin target for 2024. It now expects growth of up to 50 basis points on top of last year’s result of 17.5 percent.

Beijing’s value-based purchasing program has lowered prices of surgical products without increasing sales volumes. Smith & Nephew topped the FTSE 100 fallers’ list, down 12.5 per cent, or 137p, to 961p.

Both of the UK’s main stock indexes fell as investors digested a mixed bag of corporate news and pondered the implications of the budget.

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.6 percent, or 49.5 points, at 8,110, while the FTSE 250 finished down 1.5 percent, or 305 points, at 20,389.

Packaging company DS Smith was the biggest riser in the FTSE 100, jumping 14.3 per cent, or 68.1p, to 545.5p, after its US partner International Paper reported better-than-expected third-quarter results and said it expects the acquisition would be completed early in the first quarter. from 2025.

Coca-Cola HBC rose 1.6 percent, or 42 cents, to 2,710 cents as it raised its full-year outlook after strong performance so far this year.

Anglo American rallied as BHP issued a statement to clarify it had not officially walked away from its pursuit of its mining peer, following comments from BHP chairman Ken MacKenzie at the company’s annual meeting earlier this week.

Anglo-American gained 0.6 percent, or 14.5 cents, to 2,400 cents, while BHP fell 1.3 percent, or 29 cents, to 2,152 cents.

NatWest was steady at 367.7p even as the government sold more of its stake in the rescued lender, taking its stake below 15 percent.

Ocado fell 0.6 percent, or 2.10 cents, to 347.90 cents after the online grocer confirmed it was appointing former Microsoft chief executive Adam Warby to replace chairman Rick Haythornthwaite, who resigned six months ago announced.

And Vodafone lost 0.5 percent, or 0.3 cents, to 72 cents, after a preliminary deal with Hellenic Telecommunications to buy part of Telekom Romania’s wholly owned subsidiary Mobile Communications.

Burberry rose 3 percent, or 23.20p, to 783.4p after brokers upgraded their ratings. HSBC moved the luxury goods company from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’, while Bernstein upgraded Burberry from ‘perform’ to ‘outperform’.

But Kainos fell 12.6 percent, or 108p, to 747p as the IT services company said full-year revenue would be below market consensus, while its Digital and Workday Services divisions remain impacted by the macro -economic climate and associated delays in customer decision-making.

But PPHE Hotels added 3.3 percent, or 40 cents, to 1,250 cents after the owner of Park Plaza and Art’otel posted 5.1 percent revenue growth in the third quarter.

And Synthomer rose 4.2 percent, or 7.2 cents, to 180 cents, while the polymer developer said the third quarter was in line with expectations.

Small cap AI platform operator Cordel rose 9.4 per cent, or 0.63p, to 7.25p on news it had been awarded a contract extension with the Australian Rail Track Corporation.