MARKET REPORT: Online shopping boom makes a packet for DS Smith

The boom in online shopping boosted demand for DS Smith’s cardboard boxes and paper packaging and yesterday made it the biggest riser on the FTSE 100.

In a trading update at its annual meeting, it said volumes had grown ‘very strongly’ since the start of May, ahead of the same periods in 2020 and 2019, and that current trading was strengthening in line with expectations.

The surge offset ‘significant’ rises in paper prices and costs such as energy and transport.

In demand: Box maker DS Smith said volumes had grown ‘very strongly’ since the start of May and that current trading was strengthening in line with expectations

The US and southern European markets saw ‘exceptionally strong’ growth alongside deliveries of fast-moving consumer goods – items such as cosmetics, packaged foods, drinks and toiletries.

The pandemic caused an explosion in online shopping as lockdowns forced people to rely on home deliveries.

Chief executive Miles Roberts said it was ‘ideally positioned’ to benefit and the group remained ‘confident about the prospects’. It plans to expand, with manufacturing sites in Italy and Poland due to start operations by April.

Stock Watch – Maestrano Group 

Shares in Maestrano Group tracked higher after the artificial intelligence firm secured approval from Network Rail to use technology developed by its subsidiary Cordel across the UK’s railway network.

The technology is designed to speed up clearance gauging, the process of making sure trains are able to safely pass along different routes, as well as through tunnels and between platforms.

Maestrano said the technology will make it easier to introduce new trains on to the UK’s railways, as well as cut down on unnecessary maintenance. The shares rose 11.1 per cent, or 1.5p, to 15p.

Shares rose 2.8 per cent, or 12.6p, to 462.3p, while rival box maker Smurfit Kappa climbed 0.7 per cent, or 29p, to 4305p.

The FTSE 100 lost 0.53 per cent, or 37.81 points, to close at 7149.37, while the FTSE 250 dipped 0.62 per cent, or 150.87 points, to 24.097.48.

The new package of tax increases announced by the Government appeared to have spooked investors, particularly a 1.25 percentage point rise on tax paid on income from dividends.

Takeover speculation at telecoms giant BT was fuelled further after the boss of Deutsche Telekom (DT), one of its biggest shareholders, said it was weighing the options for its 12pc stake in the firm and expected movement within the next 12 months.

DT chief Tim Hoettges said the German group was ‘entertaining all options’ regarding its interest in BT. 

His comments following the purchase of a 12.1 per cent stake in BT by French-Moroccan billionaire Patrick Drahi’s telecoms firm Altice in June. BT dipped 0.1 per cent, or 0.15p, to 164.65p.

On the way up was infrastructure engineer Renew Holdings, which surged 3.4 per cent, or 27p, to 820p as it upgraded profit forecasts on the back of strong demand for its services and a positive outlook for the UK market.

Maker of wall and floor tiles Victoria found firm footing, rising 2 per cent, or 5p, to 250p as it said trading continued to be solid and inflationary pressures around raw materials had abated from earlier in the year.

Science Group bounced 3.5 per cent, or 15p, higher to 450p after raising £18.5million in a placing of around 4.1m shares at 450p each, a 3.4 per cent premium to its price on Monday.

Mining minnow Kazera Global also rose 7.3 per cent, or 0.1p, to 1.48p after inking a deal to sell tantalum, an element used in electrical circuits, from its mine in Namibia to Chinese firm Jiujiang Jinxin.

Among the fallers, broker TP ICAP slumped 10.7 per cent, or 21.06p, to 176p following a gloomy set of half-year results that saw it swing to a £2million loss in the six months to the end of June from a £45million profit in the same period last year.

The firm blamed the challenging trading conditions on ‘quiet’ markets and ongoing disruption caused by Covid-19.

James Fisher & Sons, a provider of submarine rescue and marine engineering services, was also underwater, sinking 6.6 per cent, or 67p, to 953p as the pandemic continued to batter its businesses. 

The group reported a half-year profit of £9.2million, down 39 per cent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, AIM-listed communications firm Gamma tumbled 10.7 per cent, or 250p, to 2085p despite reporting a 32 per cent jump in half-year profits to £37million. 

The shares appeared to have succumbed to profit-taking, having risen nearly 16 per cent in the last month.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk