FTSE 100 movers: Insurers slide after pulling dividends; Whitbread rallies
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 08 Apr 2020
(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 1.6% at 5,611.73 in afternoon trade on Wednesday amid worries about the coronavirus, with insurers under the cosh.
Aviva and RSA Insurance fell after the insurers pulled their final dividends due to the coronavirus pandemic and in response to a request from the Prudential Regulation Authority. Direct Line and Hiscox also said they were cancelling their dividends, but Legal & General announced last Friday that it would go ahead with its 2019 dividend despite pressure from the Bank of England.
The PRA wrote a letter to insurers at the end of March asking that they be "prudent" in their approach to dividends.
Tesco was trading lower after it posted an 18.7% decline in full-year pre-tax profit but increased its final dividend as it estimated that the cost to recruit thousands of extra staff to cope with demand and employees taking time off because of the coronavirus would be between ?650m and ?925m. Fellow supermarket retailer Sainsbury's followed suit.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The latest results from Tesco are a reminder that the surge in demand (or less politely panic buying) which the supermarkets have seen in recent weeks has significant costs as well as benefits."
Going the other way, Premier Inn owner Whitbread and British Airways parent IAG - both of which have been hit hard by concerns about the impact of Covid-19 - rallied.
Centrica was on the front foot as British Gas said it will furlough 3,800 employees due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Whitbread (WTB) 2,862.00p 7.84%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 96.26p 4.63%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 253.30p 4.37%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,067.00p 4.30%
Centrica (CNA) 33.73p 4.17%
SSE (SSE) 1,205.00p 4.15%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 621.40p 3.88%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,563.00p 3.64%
Meggitt (MGGT) 272.00p 3.58%
ITV (ITV) 67.90p 3.51%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Aviva (AV.) 249.00p -6.64%
Tesco (TSCO) 213.30p -4.86%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 196.05p -4.83%
Fresnillo (FRES) 669.20p -3.66%
Glencore (GLEN) 137.02p -3.15%
BP (BP.) 330.90p -2.96%
Prudential (PRU) 1,051.50p -2.86%
M&G (MNG) 126.40p -2.81%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 215.00p -2.80%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 392.60p -2.65%
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