The M&C20 suffered the biggest fall of its 11 month history, as shares in leisure sector stocks plunged 3.6% this week – wiping £420m off the value of the index’s 21 constituent companies.
Finishing the week down 46 points at 1,246, the M&C20 significantly underperformed the general stock market, which was down 18 points to 1,028.
Nine of the M&C20’s 10 biggest companies by market capitalisation lost ground – eight of these at a deeper rate than the FTSE All Share average of -1.7%.
The Restaurant Group saw the largest decline, down 7.8% to 641p, despite a range of analysts reiterating “buy” ratings on the stock and target prices ranging from 717p to 755p.
And Mitchells & Butlers slumped by 5.4% to 521.5p as analysts covering the stock issued a consensus recommendation of “hold” and an average twelve-month price target price of 463p.
Enterprise Inns continued its 2014 share price roller coaster ride with a fall of 6.7% to 141.8p, but nevertheless remains more than 40% above its equity value of this time last year.
Prezzo slid a more modest 2.0% to 154p during a week in which the company announced full year 2013 results with EBITDA up 13% to £28.9m on revenue up 15% to £166.5m. Panmure Gordon analyst Simon French set a target price of 197p and commented: “The group has made an encouraging start to 2014 and is targeting 25-30 new site openings this year. Early signs and trading at the group’s first Cleaver sites are reported to be encouraging.”
Cineworld bucked the downward trend, up 1.3% to 304.8p, after the company announced it will add eight IMAX theatres to existing and new Cineworld multiplexes in the UK and three to its Cinema City circuit in Central Europe and Israel.
