Card-protection specialist CPP was in the spotlight again today as it warned that ongoing compensation payouts mean it’s still resting on a knife edge.
The company almost collapsed two years ago after becoming embroiled in a mis-selling scandal. It was fined £10.5 million by the FCA for wrongly selling plastic card or identity protection policies to 1.3 million customers and ordered to pay up to £1.3 billion compensation.
This year, claim forms were sent to those who shelled out for the cover, usually sold through banks and credit-card companies, and customers have until the end of August to make a claim.
CPP said today that payouts are “within expectations”. But the company warned of continued “material uncertainty” over the compensation scheme, liquidity and the delivery of the company’s long-term plan. CPP lost 0.2p to 10.3p.
As Wall Street and Asia soared to new heights, the FTSE 100 rose more modestly, 14.26 points to 6817.18. Companies trading ex-dividend were a drag, with Royal Mail off 9p at 482.15p and Burberry falling 20p to 1458.5p.
Tullow Oil dipped 2.5p to 852.5p after the explorer owned up to a $415 million (£242 million) write-off on disappointing activity in Mauritania, Ethiopia and Norway.
Ocado slipped 4.3% yesterday after flagging industry-wide pressure, but retraced the fall today as traders reflected on the more positive aspects of the first-half report. The online grocer climbed 19.1p to 374.1p.
Construction and property specialist Kier Group built up 54p to 1838.5p after reporting strong trading. The company’s construction order book is already equivalent to 90% of forecast revenue for the year.
Anite slipped 1.5p to 92.37p on the small-cap index, as the handset and telecom network testing business revealed that profits last year almost halved to £15.3 million.
Fibre optic cable and satellite technology specialist Global Invacom, whose customers include BSkyB and Dish in the US, had a decent debut on AIM, climbing to 20.62p after listing at 19.75p. The company, whose kit is used in the Shard and Buckingham Palace, raised £11.8 million on a £60 million valuation.
