08.38 Among the individual movers on the FTSE 100, Associated British Foods, the conglomerate that owns Primark, is off 0.8pc, weighed down by a cut to "reduce" from "neutral" by analyst David Hayes at Nomura:
The stock outperformance over the past 18 months has relied mostly on a re-rating of Primark based on the 7pc+ LFL (like-for-like) sales growth in the past three quarters and some margin recovery. This performance boom was owing to the deflationary cotton price and US dollar weakness (supporting accentuated competitive price points and margin). With cotton and FX trends reversing now, this implies slowing LFL and contracting margins. Space growth is limited by unique store requirements.