Following the government’s advice to citizens to stay at home as the coronavirus spreads, companies that are likely to suffer from a lack of socialising were battered on the markets.
Cinema operator Cineworld lost more than 43% of its value, closing down 16p at 21.38p. The company said today that it will close all of its cinemas tomorrow, having already warned of the severe effect that Covid-19 is likely to have on its business. Its shares are now down 80% since the start of last week.
Hollywood Bowl joined Cineworld as two of the top three fallers on the FTSE, dropping 42% to 71p per share. The company said it is “preparing for a potential temporary closure” of its tenpin bowling sites.
Everyman Media Group, which also said today that it will close its cinemas, saw a more muted fall, down by just 2.5%.
Tritax Big Box dropped almost 8% after full-year results that saw it boost its dividend by 2.2% to 7p. Harworth Group dropped almost 20% on the back of fall in annual profit of more than 25%.
There was another sharp fall for Countrywide, which plunged by a further 30% after yesterday’s 51% fall, which came after merger talks with LSL ended.
Dixons Carphone rose by more than 10% on the news that it was cutting costs by closing all 531 of its standalone Carphone Warehouse shops.
Laura Ashley Holdings dropped by almost two-thirds, to just 0.35p per share, on the news that it plan to appoint an administrator. The company said the coronavirus has had “an immediate and significant impact on trading”.
The FTSE 100 closed up by 143 points, or 2.8%, at 5,294. The FTSE 250 was down almost 3% at 13,924.
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