Caterer Compass provided more evidence that it is turning the corner today, cooking up a jump in first-half profits accompanied by a confident outlook.
The food giant's shares scaled up the FTSE 100's strongest performers list as buyers piled in to make the most of its second set of good news in a week. The group reported a 42% rise in first-half pre-tax profits to £224m, hot on the heels of news that it is handing £500m back to shareholders after selling its Selecta vending business.
Compass shares ended up 13.25p, or 3.7%, at a three-year high of 373.5p but analysts doubt if they can push much higher.
"It's been a good week for Compass. First, confirmation of the Selecta disposal was made - at a price above expectations - and now, interim results have provided further evidence of the group's continuing recovery. Profit margins are up and the outlook statement is confident regarding the second half," said Keith Bowman at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers.
"Unfortunately for Compass shareholders, it is often better to travel than to arrive and with the shares up nearly 50% over the last 12 months alone, perception is that the good news is already in the price."
But Compass could not quite hold on to the FTSE 100 top spot, with InterContinental Hotels elbowing its way past on yet more takeover talk. The shares ended up 106p, or 8.4%, at £13.72, despite saying it was not in takeover talks. The strong rise in its share price follows months of speculation that the chain could get a buyout bid and comes after Monday's news that the Barclay brothers had raised their stake in the company.
Despite such sizeable gains for the two bluechips, the overall index remained mired in the red, thanks largely to a cautious property market outlook from Land Securities. The FTSE 100 ended down 9.1 points, or 0.1%, at 6559.5 with property companies making up five of the top 10 fallers.
Land Securities said growth was slowing across "some segments of the traditional property investment markets" sending ripples of caution throughout the sector. Its shares shed 83p, or 4.1%, at £19.35, British Land slipped 32p to £14.58, Hammerson fell 42p to £15.98, Slough Estates fell 18.5p to 750p and Liberty International fell 23p to £12.22.
Retailers added to the pressure with Next taking a 6% tumble, or 154p, to £22.47 after it warned that sales have slumped in the last couple of weeks.
Elsewhere among the retailers, Dixons and PC World owner DSG International was also down, hit by news it will be taking a one-off charge of as much as £200m as it writes down the value of its Italian business. The shares slipped 3.9p, or 2.2%, at 171.8p.
HSBC was hit by the renewed concerns over its US mortgage business. Analysts at Lehman Brothers reacted to yesterday's news of another rise in bad debts, by cutting their target price to 966p from £10.33.
"Overall, we would regard the figures as moderately disappointing," said Lehman's Robert Law. "After the recent recovery in the shares, we see some short term consolidation as likely. We prefer Standard Chartered, for growth and RBS for value."
HSBC shares, which went ex-dividend today, fell back 14p, or 1.5%, to 933.5p.
The gloomy property market sentiment spilled over into midcaps stocks, with Minerva down 18.75p, or 4.5%, at 401.25p and Great Portland Estates down 22.5p, or 3.1%, to 702.5p.
Elsewhere among the midcaps, Garfunkel's and Chiquito owner the Restaurant Group slipped back 5p to 354p on profit-taking after an AGM statement that flagged up like-for-like sales rising by a better-than-expected 4% in the 19 weeks to May 13.
Among the smallcaps it was retail again that was in focus , as French Connection dropped back after it unveiled a poor performance from its Toast mail order business.
Despite comments stressing that its recovery remains on track, the shares lost 20.5p, or 7.8%, to 241.5p.
Richard Ratner at Seymour Pierce said the Toast situation would likely be remedied during the second half and otherwise the update was much as expected.
"Moreover, the comments from the board about it being 'at the start of a new phase in our business cycle' should be interpreted positively," he said.
"We would be using the weakness to pick up stock."
On Aim, film rights and production company Handmade announced a partnership with Impact Pictures to produce a contemporary US remake of the 1980 British gangland thriller, The Long Good Friday. But the deal failed to grab the spotlight and Handmade's shares ended down 0.25p at 18.75p.
Tangent Communications was headed in the other direction, up 1p, or 7%, at 15.25p after the digital marketing company posted a 71% rise in operating profits to £1.07m for the year to February 28.
Tangent, whose major shareholder is former Carlton boss Michael Green, also unveiled it has picked up a contract to rebuild the Labour party website.
Mr Green's nephew Nicholas Green, who is joint chief executive, said that after increasing margins from 9.5% to 12.4%, the ultimate aim was to push margins on client business to the "mid-teens".
Marketing rival TMN Group was also on the way up, adding 4.5p, or 5.7%, to 84p after an upbeat trading update predicting earnings per share will beat expectations.
House broker Investec has a 110p price target and "buy" recommendation on the shares.