London midday: Stocks turn higher as Rolls-Royce surges
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 27 Feb 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks had reversed earlier losses to trade up by midday on Thursday, with Rolls-Royce pacing the gains after results, as investors waded through a barrage of earnings reports.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 8,689.61, outperforming its European peers, which took a hit after US President Donald Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs on EU imports. Speaking at his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump said that details of the tariffs would be released soon.
Germany's DAX was down 0.6%, while the benchmark Stoxx 600 was 0.4% lower.
In equity markets, Rolls-Royce surged to the top of the FTSE 100 as it lifted mid-term guidance and unveiled a £1bn share buyback as annual profits jumped, driven by its civil aerospace unit. It also announced its first dividend since the Covid-19 pandemic.
London Stock Exchange and Aviva both gained on the back of better-than-expected results, while Serco and Man Group were also higher after results.
On the downside, Barclays, Diageo, Unilever and Ashmore all fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.
WPP tumbled as the advertising giant reported a drop in full-year revenues and said like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs for 2025 was expected to be flat to 2% lower.
St James's Place lost ground despite saying it swung to a full-year profit, while consumer healthcare firm Haleon was down even as it reiterated its full-year outlook after posting improved full-year sales and profits.
Ocado tanked even as it announced narrower full-year losses driven by strong rises in revenue at its retail and technology divisions and saying it expected to turn cash flow positive by fiscal 2026.
Howden Joinery slid as it reported broadly stable full-year profits and revenue in a "challenging" market, but announced a new £100m share buyback.
Wood Group fell sharply as it announced the appointment of Iain Torrens as interim chief financial officer following the sudden resignation of Arvind Balan last week, which was put down to an incorrect description of his professional qualifications in various statements in the public domain.
The appointment comes just days after Wood confirmed it had received a takeover approach from Dubai's Sidara.
Taylor Wimpey retreated as it posted a fall in annual revenues and profits but said it had seen a "robust" start to the new year as demand picked up.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,764.28 0.38%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,440.51 -0.75%
techMARK (TASX) 4,736.07 -0.36%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 747.40p 18.95%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 11,595.00p 4.55%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 337.00p 3.09%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,387.50p 3.05%
Aviva (AV.) 538.20p 2.63%
Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,147.00p 2.59%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 634.40p 2.16%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,180.00p 1.11%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 12,010.00p 1.08%
BT Group (BT.A) 155.90p 0.81%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
WPP (WPP) 651.60p -15.55%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,083.00p -4.07%
Haleon (HLN) 384.20p -2.81%
Barclays (BARC) 300.50p -2.70%
Rightmove (RMV) 639.40p -2.65%
Diageo (DGE) 2,131.50p -2.29%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 775.60p -1.75%
Spirax Group (SPX) 7,340.00p -1.74%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 112.55p -1.66%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,257.00p -1.60%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Man Group (EMG) 215.40p 2.87%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 69.10p 2.83%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 97.30p 2.75%
Serco Group (SRP) 162.80p 2.45%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 62.00p 1.64%
Carnival (CCL) 1,740.50p 1.21%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 275.00p 1.18%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 141.40p 1.14%
Energean (ENOG) 1,023.00p 1.09%
Patria Private Equity Trust (PPET) 569.00p 1.07%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Ocado Group (OCDO) 286.10p -14.14%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 85.60p -11.75%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,500.00p -6.79%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 34.40p -6.57%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 784.50p -6.38%
Genus (GNS) 1,728.00p -5.90%
Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 3,330.00p -4.86%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 148.50p -4.13%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 77.30p -4.09%
Computacenter (CCC) 2,140.00p -3.08%
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN