The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) is slipping today, losing 41 points to 6,682 by mid-morning, as fears over corporate earnings appear to be overtaking optimism driven by the recovering economy — there have been some short-term bearish comments from both the US Federal Reserve and from some investors. Still, as it stands, the top London index is only down 11 points on the week so far.
Some shares are heading in the opposite direction based on their own good news. Here are three from the FTSE indices that are on the up:
easyJet
Full-year results from easyJet sent the budget airline’s shares up 80p (6.4%) to 1,336p, boosted by a 50.9% rise in pre-tax profit to £478m.
That came after revenue rose 10.5% to £4,258m with earnings per share up 62% to 101.3p. The firm has proposed an annual dividend of 33.5p per share for a lift of 55.8%, and has also recommended a special payment of 44.1p per share.
After today’s rise, easyJet shares have now more than doubled over the past 12 months.
AMEC
An interim update from AMEC (LSE: AMEC) this morning told us that the year to date is still going in line with expectations, and that the oil & gas support firm has a strong order book of £4bn — up from £3.9bn in June and £3.6bn last October.
Chief executive Samir Brikho said that the firm has its eye on acquisition opportunities, and also told us “We remain on track to achieve EPS of greater than 100 pence in 2014“.
The share price responded with a 14p (1.2%) rise to 1,181p.
Keller
Engineering contractor Keller Group (LSE: KLR) enjoyed a 46p (4.6%) share price boost to 1,051p after updating us on its progress to the end of October. Trading has “continued the improving trend established in the first half of the year“, we were told, with new project wins extending the value of the firm’s order book to above its level a year ago.
Although revenue is flat, efficiency improvements have contributed to improving margins — and City analysts are forecasting an EPS rise of nearly 50% for the full year.
