London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.1% at 7,321.04 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Catering group Compass rallied after it posted a jump in first-half operating profit and revenue, lifted its revenue guidance and announced the launch of a £500m share buyback as it hailed strong growth across all sectors.
In the six months to the end of March, operating profit surged 134.5% to £673m, with revenues up 37.9% at £11.6bn.
Compass said second-quarter underlying revenues were at 99% of 2019 revenues, with the run rate now above its pre-Covid level. The company Compass upped its FY 2022 organic revenue growth guidance to around 30% from 20% to 25% previously, while margin guidance remained unchanged
On the downside, telecommunications and mobile money services company Airtel Africa was weaker after its fourth-quarter numbers missed expectations.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Compass Group (CPG) 1,660.00p 5.23%
Prudential (PRU) 917.00p 3.85%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,538.00p 3.78%
Rightmove (RMV) 550.20p 3.15%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 570.20p 2.85%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,308.00p 2.81%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 80.43p 2.79%
BP (BP.) 416.10p 2.75%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,922.00p 2.71%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 126.28p 2.65%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Airtel Africa (AAF) 133.80p -4.56%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,188.00p -3.04%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 767.40p -3.03%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 9,958.00p -2.81%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,876.00p -2.04%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,911.00p -1.92%
Halma (HLMA) 2,157.00p -1.82%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 311.20p -1.61%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,243.00p -1.58%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,724.80p -1.18%
