There was a little profit-taking after GKN published its third-quarter results. In the engineering group's core car parts division, Driveline, investors weren't so much disappointed by the sales figures - which were broadly flat on a surprisingly strong second quarter - as by the margins, which slipped from 7.4 to 6.6 per cent.
IC TIP:
Buy
at
173p
Management attributed this mainly to temporary factors such as higher steel prices, that should be recovered this quarter, higher staffing costs to cover expectedly strong production in the August holiday period, and increased transport costs as strong demand in China meant extra components had to be shipped in from Japan.
