Market Report: Full steam ahead for trains and buses operator Go-Ahead Group

Glencore’s rally continued ahead of tomorrow’s annual results

London Midland rail franchises as well as London’s red buses, rose 22p to 2,580p (AFP)

On a day when traders lacked drive, it was full steam ahead for trains and buses operator Go-Ahead Group.

Shares in the FTSE 250 firm, which operates the Thameslink, Southern, and London Midland rail franchises as well as London’s red buses, rose 22p to 2,580p as broker Jefferies upgraded the shares to buy and upped its target price to 3,030p.

Analyst Joe Spooner predicts the dividend will grow by around 50 per cent by 2018, which he thinks the company can afford to cover with the bus division’s profits alone.

Go-Ahead’s rise, which tapered off as the afternoon wore on, came as the FTSE 100 finished just 1.08 up at 6,097.09 after a lacklustre day of trading. IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: “The real fireworks come later in the week, with China data galore and then US non-farms on Friday.”

Glencore’s rally continued ahead of tomorrow’s annual results, which are expected to show it swung to a $400m (£288m) loss in 2015 from a $2.3bn profit the year before as the metals price slump continues to put pressure on the commodities trader-cum-miner. The shares were 5p firmer at 133.25p.

Shares in Jordan-based drug-maker Hikma Pharmaceuticals were off colour, down 24p at 1,881p as JPMorgan cut its target price after the terms of its $2bn Roxane takeover were revised to include lower revenues from the US-based generics business of Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim. The deal for Roxane completed yesterday.

HSBC was down 7.7p to 459.65p after Bernstein downgraded it to underperform, although its Asia-focused rival bank Standard Chartered recovered from early falls to close 0.45p higher at 430.45p even as the broker slashed its target price from 1,000p to 600p.

Distribution group Bunzl drifted 2p lower to 1,933p as adjusted operating profits outside of the US and Europe tumbled 24 per cent to £42.1m.

Finally, AIM-listed Amara Mining was 1.75p better off at 12p – a 17 per cent jump – as it agreed to an all-share takeover by Australia’s Perseus Mining, valuing Amara at £68m.