London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.8% at 7,003.88 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Fashion retailer Next surged to the top of the index after it lifted full-year profits guidance after a sales rebound in the second quarter. In an unscheduled trading update, the company said it now expected annual pre-tax profits of £750m, up £30m from previous forecasts and towards the top end of estimates.
Stocks with particular exposure to Covid-related restrictions rose, with engine maker Rolls-Royce, British Airways parent IAG and Premier Inn owner Whitbread all up.
Catering group Compass was boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at Jefferies, which argued that the risk/reward was now more favourable. The bank said reopening uncertainty has propelled caterer shares back to post-Covid relative lows.
“However, balance sheets were de-risked last year and first-time outsourcing has emerged more rapidly than expected so industry revenue is likely to be bigger at next peak.”
On the downside, Royal Mail slumped after it said revenues rose 12.5% in the first quarter as people continued to shop online with Covid lockdown restrictions still in place, but that UK parcel volumes had started to slip as curbs were lifted.
Avast was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Next (NXT) 7,984.00p 7.98%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 96.30p 6.98%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 169.38p 5.56%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,482.00p 4.92%
3i Group (III) 1,210.50p 4.49%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 691.00p 4.25%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 2,112.00p 4.19%
British Land Company (BLND) 508.20p 3.82%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,944.00p 3.70%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,544.50p 3.59%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Royal Mail (RMG) 513.60p -3.20%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,540.00p -1.79%
Avast (AVST) 580.40p -1.63%
Fresnillo (FRES) 761.40p -0.99%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,320.50p -0.23%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,699.00p -0.15%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,625.00p -0.04%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,406.00p 0.03%
National Grid (NG.) 924.00p 0.22%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 14,250.00p 0.25%
