Hints and tips:
...Harold James, managing director of Salt Union, owned by US-based Compass Minerals, is challenging plans by French energy group GDF Suez to build an underground gas storage facility less than a kilometre...
...Another warm, dry winter is crushing sales of ice-melting crystals for the second year in a row for the big three suppliers – Cargill, Compass Minerals and Morton Salt, a unit of Germany’s K+S....
...Demand for defensives on Monday lifted Compass on to the FTSE 100 leaderboard....
...Compass took on 7.3 per cent to 566p after unexpectedly raising its dividend by a third to 17½p a share....
...Compass Group rose 2.2 per cent to 552½p after Citigroup started coverage with a “buy” rating based on its “defensive growth” outside Europe and higher margins than peer Sodexo....
...Citi “buy” advice helped Compass climb 0.7 per cent to 556½p, while Smith & Nephew took on 0.8 per cent to 614½p after results from US rival Biomet proved broadly reassuring....
...Compass rose 0.7 per cent to 526½p after rival Sodexo raised earnings guidance....
...Elsewhere among the gainers, Compass rose 3.1 per cent to 540p....
...At the heart of the salt rush is one very profitable group: the US mining group Compass Minerals, Salt Union’s parent company....
...Compass Group was up 7.9 per cent to 319p after the caterer said its first-half profit was ahead of last year....
...Fertiliser company K+S was the Dax’s third-biggest faller after investors reacted to press reports it was priming a $2.4bn cash bid for US company Compass Minerals, the world’s fourth-biggest salt manufacturer...
...Compass Group, the contract caterer, added 9.3 per cent to 281½p after posting a 30 per cent increase in annual profit....
...Compass, the contract caterer, was the biggest riser in the FTSE 100, up 3.6 per cent to 341¾p on bargain-hunting. Compass hit 300p earlier this month....
...Compass Group lost 2.8 per cent to 302p as Panmure Gordon downgraded the contract catering group from “hold“ to “sell”....
...Conroy Diamonds & Gold moved up 10.6 per cent to 2.62p as the minerals explorer announced the discovery of a new gold-bearing structure in Monaghan county in Ireland....
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