The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) is hovering 8 points down at 6,626 at the time of writing, although there’s very little macroeconomic news driving the markets today. Sentiment is pretty mixed — figures from China have shown a bit of brightness of late, but fears are once again growing for the beleaguered economies of the eurozone.
With the FTSE static, it doesn’t take much by way of a rise to beat it. Here are three consituents of the various indices that look set to achieve that feat today:
Supergroup
Supergroup (LSE: SGP), the owner of the Superdry fashion brand, has seen its shares soar by 140% over the past 12 months. That includes a 14p (1.4%) rise today, to 1,035p, after being boosted by news of a new 10-year partnership deal as part of the firm’s drive into Asia.
F J Benjamin, a luxury goods retailer in Southeast Asia, will take on the Superdry brand in Malaysia and Singapore, and plans to open three stores in Kuala Lumpur by early 2014 and one in Singapore.
Forecasts suggest double-digit earnings growth for this year and next, so even after such an impressive price climb, there could be more to come.
Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty (LSE: BBY) shares were up 3.7p (1.6%) to 236p by mid-afternoon, after the infrastructure firm told us it has been awarded an £80m student accommodation contract. The deal, with Urbanest, will see Balfour Beatty designing and building a 19-storey development with 1,092 bedrooms on Westminster Bridge Road. The complex will also house a sixth-form college and office space.
Balfour Beatty’s share price has slumped 20% over the past 12 months, but forecasts for this year suggest a P/E of 10, falling to under 9 for 2014 — and there’s a dividend yield of 5.6% predicted.
Dialight
Shares in Dialight (LSE: DIA) have been erratic over the past year, but first-half figures today from the lighting and signals specialist gave the price a 45p (4.2%) boost to 1,120p. Revenue for the half rose 13% to £59.9m, although underlying pre-tax profit fell 35% to £5.4m “due to repositioning of obstruction signals business”.
The firm’s lighting division did especially well, with revenue up 70% and profit up 180%. Although earnings per share dipped by a third to 11.6p, Dialight lifted its interim dividend by 22.5% to 4.9p per share.
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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.