A disappointing week showed little signs of improving after BP became the only oil major that analysts urged their clients to sell.
JP Morgan lowered its rating on the stock to ‘underweight’ from ‘neutral’ and reduced the target price to 550p from 615p.
It came a day after BP posted profits of £2.7billion in the three months to the end of September – a sharp drop on the £6.8billion recorded a year earlier.
The US investment bank said BP’s third-quarter profit miss was ‘substantial’.
That meant the oil major, unlike its peers Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Total, was the only one to have a ‘sell’, or equivalent, recommendation.
Sell: JP Morgan lowered its rating on BP stock to ‘underweight’ from ‘neutral’ and reduced the target price to 550p from 615p
BP fell 1.6 per cent, or 8.2p, to 494.4p.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.3 per cent, or 20.71 points, to 7342.43 and the FTSE 250 was up 0.6 per cent, or 102.84 points, to 17,185.89.
There was a double update from Vertu. The car dealer tightened its grip over south-west England after it bought a business that has been trading for more than 90 years. It will now own Rowes, which has four outlets and is a major seller of Hondas.
The London-listed firm is now in charge of 34 sites in the region.
It also said its Companies House records have been ‘falsely amended by a malicious actor’ to show that some directors resigned while two others were hired.
Vertu insisted that none of the changes had happened and was working to find out how the records were altered. Shares fell 0.3 per cent, or 0.2p, to 75.8p.
Smurfit Kappa welcomed signs that business was picking up. The paper and packaging firm said demand for boxes fell 2 per cent in the third quarter having declined 7 per cent in the first and 5 per cent in the second.
Stock Watch – Equals Group
Equals Group rose 13.7 per cent, or 14p, to 116.5p as the fintech firm became a takeover target after it identified two potential buyers who could take it private.
It helps businesses make payments and, in the process of a strategic review, has contacted two groups to see if they could offer a proposal that would ‘deliver greater value’ to shareholders.
‘Any such proposal could include an offer for the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital,’ it said.
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The company’s share rice rose 0.6 per cent, or 16p, to 2700p.
The firm behind National Express, Mobico, dipped by 1 per cent, or 0.6p to 61.9p after Berenberg cut its target price from 140p to 100p.
Weir Group, the mining technology firm, fell 0.47 per cent, or 8p, to 1699p after its orders fell 2 per cent in the three months to the end of September.
It came as it appointed its next finance boss, Brian Puffer, who will start no later than April, to replace John Heasley, who is moving to Anglo American.
Engineer John Wood hired a new finance boss. Arvind Balan, who held the same role at Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace business for the last two years. Shares rose 1.6 per cent, or 2.3p, to 144.2p.
AstraZeneca has teamed up with the clinical-stage biotech company Cellectis to develop cell therapies for patients with cancer and rare diseases.
Its shares were up 0.8 per cent, or 86p, to 10,336p yesterday. Halfords jumped 2.9 per cent, or 5.8p, to 206.4p after the cycling and motor retailer agreed to sell a 5 per cent stake in its automotive software business to global mobility company Bridgestone for £2.5million.
Video game publisher Devolver Digital beefed up its business by buying its US peer System Era in a cash and share deal worth up to £33million. Shares were flat at 25.5p.
Sopheon took a slight knock a day after the British software firm looked set to be bought for £115million by a company backed by US private equity.
Shares, up 88 per cent on Tuesday, fell 2.2 per cent, or 20p, to 900p.
A weak set of results for Sys Group saw the IT services and cloud hosting provider sink into the red.
The company made around £11million of revenue in the six months to the end of September, down slightly from £11.3million in the same period last year.
And profits of £1.6million fell short on the £1.7million that it pocketed the year before.
Sys Group slumped 11.2 per cent, or 5p, to 39.5p.
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