London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 7,396.95 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Rentokil surged as it reported a jump in full-year profit and hiked its dividend, underpinned by recent acquisitions.
In its 2022 preliminary results, the company said adjusted pre-tax profit rose 27.7% to £532m, with statutory revenue 25.6% higher at £3.7bn.
Rentokil pointed to the benefit of M&A, including the Terminix acquisition, and strong organic revenue growth of 6.6%, “driven by resilient demand and effective price progression”.
The company said it had made “excellent” progress on the Terminix integration and lifted its total synergy target from at least $150m to at least $200m in FY25, with $60m of incremental pre-tax net cost synergies expected to be delivered in FY 23.
Lloyds was on the front foot, along with Barclays and HSBC, following heavy losses in the previous session after Credit Suisse sparked a sector selloff.
On the downside, M&G, Anglo American and Segro all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 558.20p 10.97%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,956.50p 3.16%
Abrdn (ABDN) 205.60p 2.88%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,121.00p 2.32%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 47.08p 2.30%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,914.50p 2.16%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 227.40p 2.16%
Diageo (DGE) 3,522.00p 2.10%
BT Group (BT.A) 146.00p 1.88%
Informa (INF) 667.80p 1.77%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
M&G (MNG) 180.00p -9.27%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,446.00p -4.43%
SEGRO (SGRO) 748.60p -4.34%
Fresnillo (FRES) 707.80p -4.04%
Shell (SHEL) 2,171.00p -3.92%
BP (BP.) 473.00p -2.83%
British Land Company (BLND) 396.20p -2.63%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,851.00p -2.41%
Unite Group (UTG) 922.00p -1.97%
Prudential (PRU) 1,016.50p -1.88%
