Babcock, Hunting and Earthport

“The FTSE 100 opened on the front foot, tracking early gains in Asia, although volumes were subdued in the run-up to the Christmas break,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Babcock was an early blue-chip riser after its Cavendish Nuclear subsidiary clinched a 10-year contract with Sellafield. Cavendish Nuclear will supply specialist handling and containment systems to process nuclear material in a deal worth up to £95m over the first three years. Cavendish Nuclear will use Babcock's Rosyth Dockyard, which has a proven track record of delivering large-scale complex products, including the containment doors for the pile fuel cladding silo at Sellafield. Babcock’s shares were up by more than 1.6%.

“International energy services group Hunting was one of the biggest FTSE 250 risers on its expectation that full year earnings would be at the upper end of market forecasts. Trading at the group's perforating systems business, Hunting Titan, has strengthened throughout the year and it continues to gain market share due to its reliability. Hunting’s shares were up by over 2.4%.

“Cross-border payments provider Earthport lost more than a third of its value in early trading after it warned that revenues for the year ending next June would be 10-15% below current forecasts. Earthport is being hit by delays in some expected contracts and the decision by one of its leading e-commerce clients to change its plans over domestic payments. This decision alone will cost Earthport around 5% of projected revenues. Earthport’s shares were down by more than 34.4%.”

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