Ocado, Sports Direct and CareTech

“Blue-chips opened in positive territory but failed to track the heady gains seen on Wall Street and in Asia. Traders are looking to the European Central Bank's minimum bid rate and press conference early this afternoon, with US unemployment claims data due out around the same time,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Online supermarket Ocado continues to see strong growth in sales although there has been a slight slowdown in the final quarter with sales up by 13.1% compared with 13.6% over the past 12 months. Average weekly orders are up by 17.6% at 241,000 but the supermarket price war is taking its toll with the average order size down by 2.9%. This is due to price deflation and increased take-up of Ocado’s ‘Smart Pass’ which encourages customers to shop more frequently.

“Sports Direct’s shares tumbled after underlying earnings fell by more than a third in the first half, principally due to the devaluation of the pound. Existing strategic challenges and currency headwinds facing the group are set to continue to adversely impact the group’s financial performance over the medium term. Sport Direct’s shares were down by more than 4.5% in early trading.

“Specialist social care services provider CareTech’s shares rose following strong full-year figures. The group has hiked its dividend after revenues rose by nearly 20%. CareTech focuses on the most complex and vulnerable young people and the market for this client group stands at over £10bn. There is currently an undersupply of specialist beds in this niche area and the market is growing by almost 3% per annum. CareTech’s shares were up by over 4.9%.”

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