London’s FTSE 100 was up 1% at 7,015.26 in afternoon trade on Wednesday, following heavy losses a day earlier.
Diageo was the standout gainer as the drinks maker said it has restarted its £4.5bn plan to return capital to shareholders after business continued to recover in the second half of its financial year.
Spirax-Sarco Engineering rallied after it said margins in the four months to April 30 were higher than expected following a rise in sales.
Equipment rental firm Ashtead was a high riser after JPMorgan Cazenove lifted its price target on the shares to 5,050p from 4,300p and reiterated its ‘overweight’ rating. “The stock has been a stellar performer, but the investment case remains similarly straightforward and attractive to us; sustainable out-sized growth, strong cash generation and investor-friendly capital allocation framework,” JPM said.
On the downside, Flutter Entertainment fell after saying the boss of its US FanDuel operation had resigned and that his departure would affect the timing of a potential listing for the business in the US.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Diageo (DGE) 3,302.50p 3.53%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,927.00p 2.80%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,870.00p 2.73%
BP (BP.) 311.90p 2.40%
Pearson (PSON) 854.40p 2.15%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,828.00p 2.05%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,602.50p 2.01%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,769.50p 1.93%
SSE (SSE) 1,462.00p 1.92%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,964.50p 1.89%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,435.00p -5.56%
Renishaw (RSW) 5,470.00p -2.76%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 12,995.00p -2.70%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,125.00p -1.26%
British Land Company (BLND) 524.00p -1.06%
Entain (ENT) 1,550.50p -0.89%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 557.80p -0.61%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,520.00p -0.59%
Croda International (CRDA) 6,506.00p -0.55%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,044.00p -0.51%
