London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 7,176.18 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
Rentokil was under the cosh for the second day in a row after announcing on Tuesday that it was acquiring US rival Terminix in a $6.7bn deal.
British Airways and Iberia owner IAG flew lower after it saying it was in advanced talks to cancel the acquisition of Air Europa from Spain’s Globalia. IAG agreed in 2019 to buy rival Air Europa for €1bn, but the price was reduced earlier this year to €500m after the travel sector took a hit from the pandemic.
The company said a further update will be made “in the future, as appropriate”.
On the upside, sales and marketing firm DCC surged to the top of the index after it bought US sales and distribution business Almo for around $610m, marking its largest acquisition to date.
FTSE 100 – Risers
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,956.00p 8.17%
Darktrace (DARK) 398.40p 5.96%
Sage Group (SGE) 818.00p 1.69%
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 221.80p 1.65%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,234.00p 1.36%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,403.00p 1.23%
3i Group (III) 1,406.50p 1.22%
Ferguson (FERG) 12,560.00p 1.17%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,267.00p 1.08%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,926.00p 1.08%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 515.40p -5.88%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 204.80p -2.94%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,342.50p -2.89%
Kingfisher (KGF) 331.80p -2.10%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 129.82p -2.07%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 111.88p -2.05%
Next (NXT) 7,892.00p -2.01%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,504.00p -1.43%
BAE Systems (BA.) 531.60p -1.41%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,777.00p -1.31%
