FTSE 100 movers: WPP whacked but Rolls-Royce boosted by upgrade
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.4% to 6,990.43 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Rolls-Royce was among the risers as Oddo upped the shares to 'buy' from 'neutral', saying the company is on the verge of a "significant" upturn in cash flow, which should be the sole decisive metric to which investors pay attention.
Evraz racked up strong gains even as the steel maker said consolidated output fell 10.3% in the third quarter.
On the downside, advertising giant WPP tumbled as it posted a drop in third-quarter revenues, cut its revenue guidance for the year and announced that it is considering selling a stake in its data division.
Third-quarter revenue fell 0.8% to £3.76bn, dented by currency headwinds of 2% and the group said it now expects like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to be down 0.5% to 1% in 2018, down from previous guidance of growth of about 0.3%. It also downgraded its margin guidance from flat at constant currency to down 100 basis points to 150 basis points.
BT Group was in the red as it announced the appointment of Philip Jansen as its new chief executive. Jansen joins the company from payments services group Worldpay, where he will be stepping down as co-chief executive at the end of the year.
Direct Line and Admiral both retreated as FTSE 250 insurer Hastings slumped after posting a rise in nine-month gross written premiums but striking a cautious note on the wider outlook.
Informa was on the back foot even as Peel Hunt upgraded its stance on the stock to 'add' from 'hold' following the market-wide de-rating and ahead of its trading update in November.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,742.50p 4.22%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 875.00p 4.17%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,522.00p 4.04%
Evraz (EVR) 541.40p 3.84%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,801.50p 3.24%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,269.00p 3.23%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,320.50p 2.92%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 748.20p 2.89%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 823.00p 2.72%
Just Eat (JE.) 605.60p 2.61%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
WPP (WPP) 895.60p -15.19%
BT Group (BT.A) 236.70p -5.40%
ITV (ITV) 144.65p -4.30%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,154.00p -4.02%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 5,715.00p -3.64%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 321.80p -2.31%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,240.00p -2.21%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,522.20p -1.96%
Informa (INF) 713.60p -1.35%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,951.00p -1.34%