(Sharecast News) – London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 6,720.11 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Just Eat Takeaway – which has benefited from Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns – was the top performer after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was too early to say whether lockdown will end by summer.
Informa was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ at UBS.
Going the other way, software group Sage was the top gainer on the index after saying it traded in line with expectations in the first quarter as recurring revenue grew strongly. Total revenue rose 1.4% to £447m in the three months to the end of December from a year earlier as recurring revenue increased 4.7% to £408m.
Ocado was also on the rise as Berenberg upped its price target on shares of the online supermarket to 2,900p from 2,525p. The bank said Ocado is a long-term winner.
“Covid-19 has accelerated the online channel shift and highlighted the importance of automation as a long-term solution for online grocery,” it said.
“Ocado is primed to capitalise. Once travel restrictions ease, we expect more deals with both existing and new partners and increase our base-case number of customer fulfilment centres (CFCs) to 190 (from 178). We also believe concerns about the patent infringement claims are overdone; the group is confident that no valid patents have been infringed.”
Like Just Eat, it’s likely the shares were also being boosted by Johnson’s comments about lockdown.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 8,334.00p 4.04%
Sage Group (SGE) 592.40p 3.39%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,643.00p 2.76%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,767.00p 2.61%
Ferguson (FERG) 9,226.00p 2.28%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 417.10p 2.23%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 479.60p 2.22%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,861.00p 2.14%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,666.50p 2.05%
M&G (MNG) 197.00p 2.02%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
British Land Company (BLND) 435.50p -2.81%
WPP (WPP) 788.20p -2.79%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,756.50p -2.69%
Informa (INF) 528.60p -2.44%
Pearson (PSON) 719.40p -2.41%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 158.35p -2.16%
BT Group (BT.A) 135.30p -2.03%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 105.35p -1.91%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 644.50p -1.41%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,498.50p -1.32%
