London midday: FTSE maintains gains as Glaxo rallies on deal news

London stocks were still in the black by midday on Monday, with pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline pacing the advance after it confirmed it had rejected an offer from Unilever for its consumer healthcare arm.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 7,591.25.

Investors were mulling a survey out earlier showing that UK house prices continued to rise in January, marking the busiest start to the year on record.

According to the latest Rightmove House Price Index, the average price of property coming to market rose by 0.3% in January from December, to £341,019. That is 7.6% higher than January 2021, and the highest annual rate of price growth recorded by Rightmove since May 2016.

In equity markets, GlaxoSmithKline surged after revealing it had rebuffed a £50bn offer from Unilever for its consumer healthcare business - a joint venture with Pfizer. Unilever shares slid. Glaxo said it had rejected three proposals from Unilever, all of which "fundamentally undervalued" the business and its future prospects.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The market has given a thumbs down to news that Unilever has bid for GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer goods division. The negative share price reaction probably reflects investors’ fears that Unilever is going to come back with a higher offer and potentially pay too much.

"GlaxoSmithKline’s share price has jumped on the news as Unilever’s actions effectively fire the starting gun for a bid war for the consumer goods unit. Nestle could be interested, so too private equity."

Elsewhere, Taylor Wimpey gained after the housebuilder said it was is set to meet its annual targets following an "excellent" year and pledged to return excess cash to shareholders.

Antofagasta was also higher after UBS upgraded shares of the Chilean copper miner to ‘neutral’ from ‘sell’ and lifted the price target to 1,400p from 1,300p as it said the risk/reward was more balanced after recent underperformance.

Events business Informa and Cineworld both rallied following weekend reports that all Covid restrictions in England were set to be scrapped "within days".

Asset manager Ashmore fell after it posted a drop in second-quarter assets under management, citing weaker emerging markets.

Shares of Darktrace slid following a report the cybersecurity firm has come under attack from short seller ShadowFall.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,591.25 0.64%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,874.82 0.58%
techMARK (TASX) 4,515.86 1.29%

FTSE 100 - Risers

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,703.60p 3.81%
Informa (INF) 575.40p 3.49%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 158.60p 3.02%
Admiral Group (ADM) 3,195.00p 2.70%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,413.50p 2.50%
Kingfisher (KGF) 337.40p 2.49%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 807.20p 2.46%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 6,342.00p 2.37%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,100.50p 2.23%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,480.00p 2.12%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Unilever (ULVR) 3,633.50p -7.70%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,153.50p -0.77%
Evraz (EVR) 576.00p -0.66%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 11,210.00p -0.58%
National Grid (NG.) 1,075.80p -0.48%
M&G (MNG) 213.00p -0.42%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,980.00p -0.28%
Prudential (PRU) 1,313.00p -0.27%
Avast (AVST) 602.60p -0.07%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,066.00p 0.00%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Cineworld Group (CINE) 43.40p 7.56%
Shaftesbury (SHB) 648.50p 3.26%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 921.00p 2.91%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 179.50p 2.87%
Indivior (INDV) 233.00p 2.82%
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 3,760.00p 2.45%
NCC Group (NCC) 234.50p 2.40%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 1,212.00p 2.36%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 350.80p 2.33%
Ascential (ASCL) 383.60p 2.29%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

AVI Global Trust (AGT) 213.00p -79.87%
Darktrace (DARK) 420.20p -5.49%
Countryside Properties (CSP) 337.20p -4.48%
Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon (BGS) 187.60p -2.80%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 8,350.00p -2.34%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 210.00p -2.33%
Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 194.15p -2.29%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 272.40p -1.80%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 284.60p -1.66%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 724.00p -1.63%