So much for buying on St Leger Day. The FTSE All-Share has fallen 7 per cent since the famous Doncaster racing fixture reached its climax on 13 September. Last week markets reacted savagely to mounting evidence that the eurozone is slipping back into recession. A spate of lacklustre trading updates this week has done little to dispel the gloom.
The most dramatic of these came from Mulberry (MUL). Sales continued to plummet in the fashion retailer's second financial quarter, shrinking 17 per cent in the UK on a like-for-like basis. The international business improved, but not by enough. The group admitted profit would be "significantly below current expectations", prompting Barclays to slash its forecast for full-year pre-tax profit from £10m to £4m.
Mulberry is being affected by a recent change of management, but also by a decline in tourist shoppers to the UK. A trading update from its larger and more international peer Burberry (BRBY) was much better, with first-half sales growth of 7 per cent despite currency headwinds. But the company warned that the trading environment was getting tougher even as currency headwinds were easing, sparking a sell-off in its shares.
Brewing giant SAB Miller (SAB) also prompted analysts to trim their forecasts with a first-half update showing that its total drinks volumes fell 1 per cent in the second quarter. Recruiter Michael Page (MPI) completed the picture, suggesting its operating profits would be "modestly lower than consensus market expectations" of £82m as a result of slowing global growth and investment in staff - an uncomfortable combination.
The market skittishness has since claimed another victim: the flotation of Aldermore. Having pencilled its IPO in for Friday 17 October, the self-styled challenger bank announced on Wednesday that its board and shareholders had "elected not to proceed" due to the "recent deterioration of global equity markets".
