London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 7,886.65 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Informa rallied as it announced the acquisition of B2B events group Tarsus for $940m, alongside its full-year results.
Aviva also gained after it posted a better-than-expected 35% rise in annual operating profit and announced a £300m share buyback, driven by a rise in life and general policy sales.
On the downside, packaging company DS Smith fell as it said third-quarter trading was in line with management expectations, but cautioned that customers had been de-stocking.
Entain lost ground even as the gaming giant reported a jump in revenues, supported by strong growth in its retail estate, while Spirax-Sarco Engineering slid despite reporting a rise in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit.
Beazley was in the red as it traded without entitlement to the dividend.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Informa (INF) 699.40p 2.94%
Aviva (AV.) 460.30p 2.27%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 788.50p 2.14%
BAE Systems (BA.) 930.60p 1.68%
Fresnillo (FRES) 722.80p 1.29%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 531.40p 1.18%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 158.50p 1.05%
Pearson (PSON) 871.40p 0.97%
Sage Group (SGE) 767.80p 0.97%
Prudential (PRU) 1,286.50p 0.90%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 328.30p -4.31%
Entain (ENT) 1,336.50p -3.99%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,400.00p -3.96%
Beazley (BEZ) 600.50p -3.38%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,759.00p -3.37%
Abrdn (ABDN) 224.90p -3.23%
Unite Group (UTG) 925.00p -2.84%
Barclays (BARC) 164.32p -2.70%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,582.00p -2.68%
British Land Company (BLND) 422.70p -2.51%
