Premier Foods up, Admiral down in early trading

Mar 4 2008

Shares in Premier Foods jumped 15% today after the Oxo-to-Hovis firm said it had renegotiated banking facilities in the face of rising wheat costs.

The move by the debt-laden firm offered some relief to shareholders, even though Premier cut its final dividend and posted full-year losses.

Shares in FTSE 250 Index listed Premier recovered some recent losses to gain 14.5p to 106.5p, while the blue-chip FTSE 100 Index also made progress in the first hour of trading, adding 43.3 points to 5861.9.

The biggest faller in the top flight was insurance firm Admiral after the Diamond and Bell owner posted a 24% rise in full-year profits to £182.1 million.

Shares fell 7%, or 69.5p to 932.5p, as investors focused on the performance of Confused.com, which struggled to maintain share in a competitive market.

Cable & Wireless also fell - down 6.3p to 171.1p - as analysts reacted cautiously to new sales targets from the telecoms company.

And HSBC gave back gains seen yesterday after it posted solid full-year results. The stock was down 6.5p to 783.5p after Collins Stewart and JP Morgan both reduced their price targets for the banking giant.