Half-year figures by Ladbrokes owner Entain and a profitable Deliveroo today cheered investors.
Others in the spotlight include housebuilder Persimmon and cyber insurance firm Beazley.
The wider market mood was one of caution as the FTSE 100 gave up a chunk of yesterday’s rebound.
FTSE 100 Live Thursday
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Deliveroo posts first profit
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Entain lifted by Euros betting
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Barratt-Redrow deal in CMA boost
FTSE 100 lower despite earnings upgrades, TI Fluid jumps 11% in FTSE 250
10:16 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index is down 88.20 points to 8078.68 despite upgrades to guidance by insurer Beazley, bookmaker Entain and drugs firm Hikma.
Ex-dividend stocks BT and NatWest dropped 5% and 3% respectively, while Scottish Mortgage lost 26.8p to 798.2p after portfolio company Nvidia lost another 5% last night.
The biggest fall in the FTSE 100 was by Cheltenham-based Spirax after the thermal energy and fluid technology firm’s interim figures failed to ease the City’s margin concerns.
Spirax expects an improved second half but with a recovery in biopharma demand not expected until the end of 2024 the shares reversed 9% or 785p to a five-year low of 7750p.
On the risers board, cyber security-focused specialist insurer Beazley jumped by 12% after record first-half earnings of $729 million smashed the City consensus by 74%.
A better-than-expected claims experience drove the beat, with much stronger full-year guidance helping the Lloyd’s of London insurer’s shares up 77.5p to a record 714.5p.
Other stronger blue-chip stocks included Hikma Pharmaceuticals, which surged 7% or 135p to 1975p after boosting its 2024 outlook alongside half-year results.
The FTSE 250 index fell 1.4% or 281.31 points to 20,294.72, with Hill & Smith down 4% even though the road safety barriers and galvanising services firm said it expects momentum to continue in line with recently upgraded expectations.
Shares declined 90p to 2070p, having ended last month at a record high.
The best performing mid-cap stock was TI Fluid Systems, up 11% or 12.4p to 124.4p after raising its margin outlook on the back of productivity and efficiency progress.
Beazley and Entain jump but FTSE 100 lower, Deliveroo up 6%
08:26 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index has given up about half of yesterday’s rebound, with London’s top flight down by 0.9% or 75.15 points to 8091.73.
Big fallers included BP, BT and NatWest after their shares traded without the right to the latest dividend awards.
Spirax, the thermal energy and fluid technology firm, also fell 8% or 680p to 7855p following the release of half-year figures.
Elsewhere on the FTSE 100 results front, Beazley shares jumped by 11% and Ladbrokes business Entain by 7%. Persimmon added 1% or 12.5p to 1551p.
The FTSE 250 index fell 0.9% or 189.64 points to 20,386.39, with road infrastructure business Hill & Smith down by 100p to 2060p following half-year results.
Deliveroo shares jumped 6% or 7.5p to 135p after posting its first profit in half-year results.
Beazley says its cyber insurance strategy ‘proved resilient’ to CrowdStrike outage as profits hit record
07:56 , Michael Hunter
Beazley said its approach to cyber insurance was “tested and proved highly resilient” by the Microsoft / CrowdStrike IT outage, which It called “the world’s largest”.
The Lloyds of London and FTSE 100 insurance group has become a major cyber insurer.
Its CEO, Adrian Cox, said today:
“ When faced with the world’s largest ever IT outage, Beazley’s approach to underwriting cyber risk was tested and proved to be highly resilient.”
Profit before tax for the half year to the end of June almost doubled to a record $728.9 million (£572.9 million).
Barratt’s £2.5 billion deal for Redrow Homes moves nearer with watchdog scrutiny focused on just one site
07:42 , Michael Hunter
Barratt Homes’ £2.5 billion bid for fellow developer Redrow has moved nearer to being cleared by regulators, but has not yet got the green light.
There are no UK-wide concerns. But the Competition and Markets Authority has singled out one site where it has concerns about the impact of the deal on local markets.
It is in Whitchurch in Cheshire, and includes local towns including Nantwich, Ellesmere and Market Drayton.
The CMA found that both house builders have a high share of development land around a Barratt development at Tisltock Road, along with Redrow’s development at Kingsbourne in Nantwich.
Barratt and Redrow will be able to submit plans to address the Tilstock Road concerns.
Persimmon points to signs of improvement in house market, completions at top end of guidance
07:32 , Michael Hunter
Persimmon, the FTSE 100 developer, pointed to signs of improvement in the house market today, including a “strong pick up in enquiries and visitors” at its sites.
It said the trend “will be further supported by the recent cut to the Bank of England base rate”, with its net private sales rate already up 68% year-on-year in July.
The FTSE 100 firm said it expected its completions for the full year to be at the top end of forecast ranges, at around 10,500. It completed 4,445 in the first half, up from 4,249 in the same period a year ago.
For the six months to the end of June, profit before tax slipped to £146.3 million from £151 million, from revenue of £1.3 billion, up from £1.2 billion.
Its average selling price rose 3% to £263,288.
Persimmon added its voice to the backing in the industry for the government’s plans to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years.
CEO Dean Finch said: “Strengthening consumer sentiment, improving macro-economic conditions and the government’s welcome and ambitious planning reforms that demand more of the high quality, affordable homes that are Persimmon’s core strength, are all supportive of our ambition to grow this year and in the future”.
Entain lifts guidance amid Euros boost
07:30 , Graeme Evans
Ladbrokes and BetMGM business Entain today lifted full-year guidance on the back of a forecast-beating second quarter performance.
Stronger than expected win margins for the Euros helped the results as half-year earnings lifted 5% on a year earlier to £524 million. The full-year figure is now expected to be in the range of £1.04 billion and £1.09 billion.
Interim boss Stella David said: “Entain’s H1 results are clear evidence that our hard work improving the group’s operational performance is bearing fruit.
“Whilst there is more work to do, we are pleased with the progress so far and look forward to building further on these solid foundations in H2 and beyond.”
The company has announced an interim dividend of 9.3p a share, a rise of 5% on year earlier and worth approximately £60 million.
Deliveroo posts first profit
07:23 , Simon Hunt
Deliveroo has posted its first-ever profit in a major milestone for the London-based delivery app after it saw continued growth.
The firm reported a profit of £1.3 million for the first six months of the year, compared to a loss of £82.9 million the previous year.
Order numbers for the period grew 2% to 147 million, while Gross Transaction Value, a measure of the value of total orders, was up 6% to £3.7 billion.
CEO Will Shu said: “While there is continued uncertainty in the external environment, I am encouraged by the inflection we are currently seeing in consumer behaviour in many of our markets.
“The Deliveroo platform is more powerful than ever, and we remain responsive to the external environment while continuing to optimise our proposition for consumers, riders and merchants.”
Nvidia reverse continues amid more S&P 500 volatility
07:22 , Graeme Evans
The 0.8% reverse for the S&P 500 index followed a bright start for the US benchmark, having traded 1.7% higher early in the session.
Deutsche Bank points out that this was a sixth consecutive session with a trading range of more than 2%. Prior to last Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting there had been only five such days all year.
The Magnificent Seven dropped 1.4%, with big fallers including Nvidia after a 5% reverse. It has lost a fifth of its value in the past week.
On the earnings front, Airbnb shares fell 13% and Super Micro Computer by 20% following their results the previous evening. Walt Disney dropped 4%.
FTSE 100 set to retreat after 1.75% rally, Brent Crude at $78 a barrel
07:08 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index is set to give up a big chunk of Wednesday’s 1.75% rebound as futures trading is pointing to a decline of 75 points to 8092.
The expected retreat comes after a poor finish to Wall Street trading as the S&P 500 index closed 0.8% lower and the Nasdaq Composite down by 1%.
Amid ongoing fears of a US recession, traders are on the sidelines ahead of this afternoon’s weekly figures on jobless claims.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index is 0.7% lower but the Hang Seng index and Shanghai Composite are moderately higher.
In commodities, the price of Brent Crude has risen for a third session in a row to $78.14 a barrel after US crude oil inventories dropped more than expected.