FTSE 100 movers: Big tobacco burned, Johnson Matthey Q1 disappoints

London's FTSE 100 was pushed down 1.07% to 7,363.57 in afternoon trade at the end of a busy week for corporate earnings.

British American Tobacco was crushed 12% and Imperial Brands by 9% late on Friday after the US Food and Drugs Administration said it aimed to lower nicotine levels in cigarettes to non-addictive levels. A new "comprehensive plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation" was launched that the FDA said will serve "as a multi-year roadmap to better protect kids and significantly reduce tobacco-related disease and death".

Elsewhere, Johnson Matthey was on the back foot after saying the first quarter saw low single-digit sales growth at constant exchange rates but with the weak pound boosting sales to double-digit growth, which was all in line with expectations.

BT Group retreated after saying earnings fell in the first quarter, with adjusted EBITDA down 2% to £1.79bn, although reported revenue was 1% higher at £5.84bn.

On the upside, Diageo was the standout gainer for the second day in a row after it announced a £1.5bn share buyback and posted an increase in full-year profits and sales on Thursday.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca was clawing back some of its losses from the previous session, when the shares tanked after it announced that initial results from its Mystic lung cancer drug trial failed to meet primary endpoints.

British Airways and Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group nudged up as reported a 14% jump in first-half operating profit and said it expects profit for the year to rise by a double-digit percentage. Operating profit in the six months to the end of June rose to €898m from €789m in the same period a year ago, as total revenue increased 0.9% to €10.9bn. Meanwhile, pre-tax profit came in at €706m, up 28.6%.

Risers

AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,476.50p 3.50%
Pearson (PSON) 676.00p 2.97%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,146.00p 1.66%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,128.00p 1.48%
Diageo (DGE) 2,434.00p 1.06%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 187.50p 0.81%
WPP (WPP) 1,559.00p 0.65%
Glencore (GLEN) 332.50p 0.54%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,510.00p 0.40%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,367.00p 0.37%

Fallers

British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,800.50p -9.80%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,200.50p -7.12%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,806.00p -3.34%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,287.00p -2.43%
CRH (CRH) 2,660.00p -2.13%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,348.00p -1.96%
BT Group (BT.A) 310.05p -1.93%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,268.50p -1.90%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,243.00p -1.80%
G4S (GFS) 326.70p -1.77%