London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 7,467.35 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Testing, inspection and certification company Intertek rallied as it posted a jump in revenue, hailing robust demand for its ATIC Solutions business and a recovery in China.
In an update for the period from 1 January to end of October, the group said total revenues rose 9% at constant currency, driven by like-for-like revenue growth of 5.2% and the performance of its three recent acquisitions contributing £120m of revenue.
On the downside, Imperial Brands, Vodafone, National Grid and British Land all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.
B&Q owner Kingfisher was under the cosh as it narrowed its full-year profit guidance despite an improvement in third-quarter sales amid strong demand for energy efficiency products.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,983.00p 3.19%
SEGRO (SGRO) 839.40p 2.87%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,233.50p 2.62%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,076.50p 2.33%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 90.34p 2.18%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,593.50p 2.15%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 119.50p 1.88%
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 259.00p 1.85%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,842.00p 1.75%
Unite Group (UTG) 958.50p 1.75%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,106.00p -3.62%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 92.46p -2.32%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,066.00p -2.02%
Kingfisher (KGF) 248.50p -2.01%
National Grid (NG.) 1,015.00p -1.65%
British Land Company (BLND) 408.70p -1.52%
RS Group (RS1) 963.50p -1.23%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,599.00p -1.20%
Bunzl (BNZL) 3,052.00p -1.01%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,886.00p -1.00%
