FTSE 100 movers: Sky rallies on Exane note; Royal Mail slumps on UK Mail deal

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.9% at 6,867.40 in afternoon trade.

Sky was the standout gainer as Exane BNP Paribas said it was its preferred UK TV play.

The bank, which rates the stock at ‘outperform’, said: “We argue Sky can deliver sustainable mid-single digit organic revenue growth for the medium term through a combination of pricing power and innovation.

“Sky’s track record on innovation and market segmentation is strong and Sky Q, mobile, NOW TV, Sky Store and further triple play penetration can drive attractive growth.”

Smiths Group was a high riser after it posted a drop in profits for the year to the end of July as its John Crane division suffered amid tough conditions in the global energy markets, but the results were better than expected.

Reported pre-tax profit fell 2% to £451m on revenue of £2.95bn, up 2% on a reported basis but down 2% on an underlying basis. Statutory pre-tax profit, meanwhile, rose to £346m from £325m.

Operating profit came in at £510m, down a touch from £511m the year before.

On the downside, Royal Mail was the worst performer, taking a hit after Deutsche Post agreed to buy UK Mail Group for 440p per share, valuing the company at £242.7m.

Hargreaves Lansdown said Royal Mail was down on fears that pricing pressure, that looked to be easing, might be about to enter a second round.

Supermarket retailer Sainsburys was under the cosh after it reported a drop in like-for-like sales in the second quarter, blaming industry-wide falling food prices.

Total retail sales fell 0.4% in the 16 weeks to 24 September, with like-for-like retail sales including VAT but excluding fuel down 1.1%.

Risers

Sky (SKY) 885.00p 4.42%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,438.00p 3.68%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 367.20p 2.97%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,543.00p 2.87%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,524.00p 2.60%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 624.90p 2.43%
Prudential (PRU) 1,390.00p 2.17%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,030.00p 2.08%
ITV (ITV) 187.50p 2.07%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 153.60p 2.06%

Fallers

Royal Mail (RMG) 482.80p -4.02%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 241.10p -3.87%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,391.00p -0.86%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,117.00p -0.51%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,960.00p -0.50%
Centrica (CNA) 223.00p -0.27%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 575.70p -0.24%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,482.00p -0.16%
SSE (SSE) 1,537.00p -0.13%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 994.50p -0.10%