London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,456.92 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Hargreaves Lansdown was the standout gainer on the index despite reporting a fall in assets under management for the full year as the war in Ukraine, inflation and cost-of-living crisis shook investor confidence.
Broker Shore Capital noted that revenues of £583m were ahead of company-compiled consensus of £582m, while underlying pre-tax profit of £298m was ahead of company-collected consensus of £283m.
Advertising giant WPP slumped even as it reported a rise in interim profits, driven by strong client demand across all services.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “WPP’s first-half numbers actually look fairly solid, but investors are so concerned about the economic backdrop, and what it says about WPP’s prospects, they have reacted negatively.
“Clearly there is a belief that WPP’s recent momentum, which helped it lift its annual sales outlook, can’t last in the long-term.”
Unite Group was weaker after a downgrade to ‘hold’ at Stifel, while Next was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 885.20p 4.91%
RS Group (RS1) 1,092.00p 3.21%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,162.00p 2.83%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,358.00p 2.63%
Glencore (GLEN) 471.75p 2.61%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 121.62p 2.51%
BT Group (BT.A) 160.00p 2.43%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 152.70p 2.41%
Fresnillo (FRES) 708.40p 2.37%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,920.00p 1.88%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
WPP (WPP) 827.00p -7.37%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,568.00p -5.71%
Unite Group (UTG) 1,115.00p -3.46%
Next (NXT) 6,498.00p -3.22%
Centrica (CNA) 83.34p -3.14%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 910.60p -3.13%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 418.30p -3.06%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,570.00p -3.02%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 124.00p -3.01%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,055.50p -2.81%
