FTSE 100 movers: British land booms on buyback news; Experian out of favour

British Land shares were in demand on Tuesday after the company announced a £300m buyback, saying opportunities investment in the company's shares at the prevailing discount “offers better value than further asset acquisitions”.

"We continue to see strong demand in the investment market, which makes opportunities to acquire new standing assets, at attractive returns, more limited than usual,” said chief executive Chris Grigg.

“With our shares trading at a substantial discount to NAV and providing a 5% dividend yield, allocating capital into a share buy-back represents a clear value opportunity.

Investors were heartened by continued strong sales from Royal Mail's European parcels operation in the first quarter, offsetting a decline from its UK business, though for the full year management did not push the envelope and kept targets unchanged. But despite continued business uncertainty in the UK, the FTSE 100 group's letters division performed better than expected, helped by the snap election.

Shares in Information services company Experian fell as it reported total revenue growth of 5% in its first quarter on Tuesday, driven primarily by a 17% surge in revenue in Latin America, as well as 8% growth in North America and 5% in the EMEA-Asia Pacific regions.

The FTSE 100 company said the growth was offset somewhat by a 13% decline in revenue from the UK and Ireland in the three months to 30 June.

fell as it reported total revenue growth of 5% in its first quarter on Tuesday, driven primarily by a 17% surge in revenue in Latin America, as well as 8% growth in North America and 5% in the EMEA-Asia Pacific regions.

The FTSE 100 company said the growth was offset somewhat by a 13% decline in revenue from the UK and Ireland in the three months to 30 June.

Rio Tinto slipped as it cut full-year iron ore shipment guidance after volumes in the second quarter were lower than expected due to rail maintenance and poor weather.

The miner said iron ore shipments would be around 330m tonnes against previous estimates of 330m-340m.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,399.94 -0.06%

FTSE 100 - Risers

British Land Company (BLND) 622.50p 3.06%
Royal Mail (RMG) 410.80p 3.01%
G4S (GFS) 338.50p 2.64%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,029.00p 1.88%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,344.00p 1.78%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,898.00p 1.72%
Next (NXT) 3,732.00p 1.61%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,168.00p 1.48%
Kingfisher (KGF) 303.10p 1.37%
Schroders (SDR) 3,336.00p 1.21%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,407.50p -1.87%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,113.50p -1.50%
Experian (EXPN) 1,544.00p -1.28%
Glencore (GLEN) 317.15p -1.14%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,307.50p -1.13%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,415.00p -1.12%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 617.00p -1.04%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 5,252.00p -1.00%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,607.00p -0.99%
Sage Group (SGE) 669.00p -0.96%