LONDON MARKETS: Kingfisher Shares Drop In London As Profit Declines; FTSE 100 Flat

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K's FTSE 100 slipped Tuesday, with shares of Kingfisher PLC dropping after its quarterly update and Petrofac PLC's shares extending losses after a profit warning.

The FTSE 100 was off less than 1 point at 6,728.96, with gains among banking, industrial and telecom issues offsetting losses in the energy, mining and utilities groups.

Later Tuesday, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is expected to speak to the U.K. parliament's Treasury Committee about the central bank's recent inflation report.

Shares of Kingfisher PLC fell 3.2% as the home-improvement retailer, whose brands include B&Q and Screwfix, said third-quarter profit and sales declined, largely because of adverse foreign-exchange movements and a weak market in France. Total group sales fell 3.6% to 2.82 billion pounds ($4.41 billion) during the 13 weeks to Nov. 1. Group retail profit was GBP225 million, hurt by a GBP13 million cost from translating overseas profits into sterling.

Petrofac Ltd. shares logged the worst loss on the FTSE 100 as they fell 4%. That move built on Monday's 26% tumble, which came after the oil-services firm cut its profit forecast. Credit Suisse downgraded the company on Tuesday to neutral from outperform, noting Petrofac's outlook for 2015 profit of $500 million is 27% below consensus expectations.

"Although the moving parts in the guidance are relatively clear, we feel the main sentiment driver will be the admission that project execution has fallen well short of management's exalted record, lowering confidence over the quality of future earnings," wrote Credit Suisse analyst David Thomas in a note.

Deutsche Bank downgraded Petrofac to a hold rating.

Elsewhere, Bloomberg reported Tuesday that some hedge funds were told by a prominent London mining banker that a takeover of Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) by Glencore PLC will take place. Shares of Rio Tinto fell 0.4% and Glencore shed 0.2%.

Mining giant BHP Billiton was down 1.4%.

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