In a sinking market, with leading shares recording their biggest daily drop for nearly seven months, Carnival has managed to keep above the water line.
The cruise company reported a 4.7% rise in third quarter revenue and a jump in net income from $934m to $1.25bn, helped by higher demand for its Asian trips and higher onboard spending. It raised its guidance for the full year from the $1.6 to $1.75 earnings per share its predicted in June to $1.84 to $1.88. Carnival closed 6p higher at £24.43.
But overall the FTSE 100 suffered a 97.55 point fall to 6676.08, its worst performance since 3 March. Poor economic data in the form of disappointing manufacturing surveys from the eurozone set the tone, despite some relief that China and the US performed better than expected.
Geopolitical tensions also played a part, following news of the US air strikes on Syria.
There were a number of corporate factors. Supermarkets were weakened further by Kantar Worldpanel’s latest report showing the UK grocery market grew at its slowest rate for more than 20 years. J Sainsbury lost 15p to 263.8p, while Tesco dropped another 8.5p to 194.5p despite parachuting in new finance director Alan Stewart several weeks early. A number of analysts cut their target prices, including Exane BNP Paribas, Nomura, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank.
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