By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 20 Jan 2022
(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.4% at 7,556.72 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
AB Foods was in the red after it said fourth-quarter sales at its Primark stores had been hit by the surge in Covid Omicron cases, but were now showing signs of recovery as it maintained full-year guidance.
Shell and BP gushed lower as oil prices fell, while caterer Compass Group retreated as it traded without entitlement to the dividend and after a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Deutsche Bank.
On the upside, Rentokil gained after Citi upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'neutral', arguing that the proposed acquisition of US rival Terminix could propel the company into the number 1 slot in US pest control.
It would have estimated market share of 25%, followed by Rollins with 20%, Ecolab with around 5% and Anticimex with 4-5%, Citi said.
"Based on State by State branch footprint analysis, we feel confident that Rentokil can significantly outperform management's synergy target, possibly 2x," the bank said.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,149.00p 2.77%
Pearson (PSON) 678.20p 2.76%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,250.50p 2.63%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,915.00p 2.60%
Fresnillo (FRES) 861.00p 2.60%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 528.00p 2.33%
Prudential (PRU) 1,313.00p 2.06%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,027.00p 1.78%
Schroders (SDR) 3,477.00p 1.70%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 4,194.00p 1.65%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,029.00p -4.79%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 52.28p -2.97%
ITV (ITV) 115.10p -2.79%
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 243.30p -2.52%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,822.80p -2.49%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,824.80p -2.49%
Royal Mail (RMG) 479.30p -2.48%
BP (BP.) 384.95p -2.32%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,629.80p -2.20%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,678.00p -1.84%
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