London midday: FTSE stays down as ex-divs weigh; Sage tumbles

London stocks were still a little weaker by midday on Thursday amid a deluge of corporate news, dragged lower by ex-dividend shares.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,420.80.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "After a sparkling session on Wall Street last night amid hopes that the latest inflation data raises the chances of a US interest rate cut, European markets didn’t share the joy. The FTSE 100, Dax, CAC 40 and IBEX 35 were all down in early trading amid mixed corporate news."

BP, GSK, Kingfisher, Shell, Tesco, Bunzl and Essentra were all lower as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Sage Group slumped despite posting solid first-half results, after it trimmed its annual revenue guidance.

EasyJet flew lower as it said chief executive Johan Lundgren was to step down after more than seven years in the role. Lundgren, who has held the position since December 2017, will retire in early 2025. He will be replaced by current chief financial officer Kenton Jarvis.

The announcement came as easyJet posted a reduction in first-half losses. Traditionally its weaker half, as it does not include summer holidays, the headline pre-tax loss for the six months to 31 March narrowed to £350m from £411m a year previously.

Wizz Air also lost ground.

Convatec was in the red despite keeping its top-level guidance for 2024, as growth forecasts in the advanced wound care division were reduced due to "short-term uncertainty".

On the upside, BT jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 despite the telecoms giant reporting a 31% drop in annual profits in the year to 31 March, as it laid out plans to save £3bn of costs a year by the end of the decade.

Watches of Switzerland surged as the luxury timepiece retailer said it was "cautiously optimistic" about future trading after a 4% rise in sales in the final quarter of its financial year driven by the US.

Media group Future rocketed despite reporting a fall in half-year revenues and profits, as investors welcomed news of a £45m share buyback.

Auction Technology and Helios Towers also gained after results.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,420.80 -0.30%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,771.43 -0.02%
techMARK (TASX) 4,783.04 -0.05%

FTSE 100 - Risers

BT Group (BT.A) 126.50p 11.80%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,782.00p 2.51%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,125.00p 2.09%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,630.00p 1.96%
Prudential (PRU) 818.60p 1.84%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 77.50p 1.84%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 786.00p 1.52%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 711.70p 1.43%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 6,060.00p 1.34%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,755.00p 1.09%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Sage Group (SGE) 1,101.00p -8.06%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 252.00p -5.33%
easyJet (EZJ) 505.40p -4.53%
Kingfisher (KGF) 259.20p -3.64%
Pearson (PSON) 955.00p -2.99%
Shell (SHEL) 2,800.00p -2.41%
Tesco (TSCO) 303.60p -2.29%
Bunzl (BNZL) 3,042.00p -2.19%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,088.00p -2.16%
BP (BP.) 486.75p -2.05%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Future (FUTR) 1,001.00p 15.06%
Auction Technology Group (ATG) 553.00p 12.40%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 121.60p 10.14%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 370.20p 9.59%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 191.20p 3.02%
IWG (IWG) 210.40p 2.63%
Victrex plc (VCT) 1,326.00p 2.63%
Great Portland Estates (GPE) 441.00p 2.44%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 850.50p 2.35%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 127.50p 2.00%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Tritax Eurobox (GBP) (EBOX) 59.30p -4.35%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,138.00p -3.61%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 369.40p -3.60%
Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 81.50p -3.32%
Spectris (SXS) 3,198.00p -3.15%
Trainline (TRN) 316.60p -2.76%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,580.00p -2.72%
Grainger (GRI) 265.00p -2.57%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 468.40p -2.46%
Premier Foods (PFD) 165.60p -1.78%