The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was back on form last week and charged notably higher. The benchmark index jumped 3.5% over the five days to end the period at 6,840.5 points.
Unfortunately, not all shares were able to climb higher with the market last week. Here's why these were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week:
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Worley Ltd (ASX: WOR)
The Worley share price was the worst performer on the ASX 200 last week with an 8.3% decline. Investors were selling the engineering company's shares following the release of a trading update. That update revealed that Worley's performance has been impacted very negatively by COVID-19. As a result of these COVID headwinds and a stronger Australian dollar, Worley revealed that it expects to report half year aggregated revenue of $4.4 billion to $4.5 billion and underlying EBITA of $200 million to $210 million. This is down materially on the $5,998 million and $366 million, respectively, it reported in the prior corresponding period.
Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)
The Northern Star share price wasn't far behind with a 7.6% decline over the five days. This appears to be related to the company's merger with Saracen Mineral, which completed last week. The transaction will create a new top 10 global gold major with immediate production of 1.6 million ounces per annum and a pathway to 2 million ounces. A decent pullback in the spot gold price last week also weighed on its performance.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield CDI (ASX: URW)
The Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield share price was out of form last week and dropped 7.4%. This decline appears to have been the result of profit taking after a strong rise a week earlier. That rise was driven indirectly by a short squeeze initiated by traders from Reddit in the United States. The shopping centre operator had a high level of its shares held short last month.
Service Stream Limited (ASX: SSM)
The Service Stream share price was a poor performer and dropped 6.8% over the period. This also appears to have been driven by profit taking after a strong gain by the essential network services company's shares last week. That followed news that it had won a major contract with telco giant Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS).
