FTSE 100 movers: Smurfit and DS Smith gain on Goldman note
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,080.20 in afternoon trade on Monday, with paper and packaging companies leading the gains on the back of a Goldman note.
Smurfit Kappa and DS Smith were the top gainers as Goldman Sachs put out a note on packaging and paper.
Goldman said it likes Smurfit in the packaging space, along with Mondi, which had been trading up earlier. The bank said it expects Smurfit and Mondi to benefit from already achieved price increases throughout 2017 and continuous solid demand.
"Smurfit Kappa Group and DS Smith, two of the biggest box producers in Europe are targeting box prices after rising input costs through 2017 caused margin contraction. At 4Q results, Smurfit highlighted it had achieved a 5% box price increase and remained confident in achieving the 6%-8% it guided for earlier in 2017.
"DS Smith is targeting an 8%-10% increase and had achieved around 3.5% at 1H18 results and price increases are progressing in line with expectations. We expect the recovery to continue in 1H18 and drive a margin expansion in 2018 as producers benefit from already achieved box prices and get additional gains in 1H18 contract negotiations."
GS upped its price target on Smurfit Kappa to 3,000p from 2,700p.
Housebuilder Persimmon was in the black even as PM Theresa May revealed a new planning policy framework to force councils to hit house-building targets. May said in a speech in London that developers need to do their bit, with those slow to build new homes at risk of being refused planning permission in future. She also said the bonuses being paid to the heads of some of the biggest developers are based not on the number of homes built but on their profits or share price.
Property investment and development company Segro was on the front foot after an upgrade to 'buy' from Stifel.
London Stock Exchange was in the black following a report that it has brought in Simon Collins, a former UK chairman of KPMG, to head up an independent review of last year's boardroom crisis.
Sky News reported over the weekend that LSE chairman Donald Brydon has written to its 20 largest shareholders to inform them of the review.
Ashtead was on the front foot ahead of its third-quarter update on Tuesday, which is expected to show strong trading and yield improvement.
Risers
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,526.00p 3.95%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 473.60p 3.00%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,643.00p 2.28%
CRH (CRH) 2,448.00p 2.04%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,035.00p 1.83%
SEGRO (SGRO) 581.60p 1.64%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,680.81p 1.44%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 457.39p 1.37%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 3,885.00p 1.25%
Old Mutual (OML) 249.00p 1.22%
Fallers
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 265.30p -2.64%
Evraz (EVR) 438.10p -1.40%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 566.40p -1.39%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,167.00p -1.26%
ITV (ITV) 152.15p -1.14%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 363.00p -0.87%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,890.00p -0.84%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 699.10p -0.84%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,587.00p -0.77%
Glencore (GLEN) 361.85p -0.73%