FTSE 100 movers: Housebuilders hit by Crest Nicholson warning; Halma rallies

London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.7% at 8,156.78 in afternoon trade on Thursday.

Intermediate Capital, Land Securities and JD Sports fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

Persimmon and Berkeley also lost ground as FTSE 250 housebuilder Crest Nicholson slashed its interim dividend payment after swinging to a loss in the first half, and substantially scaled back its profit guidance for the full year.

On the upside, Halma surged to the top of the index after it reported another year of record profit and revenue as it hailed a solid performance in the safety and the environment & analysis sectors.

In the year to the end of March 2024, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 10% to £396.4m on revenue of £2.03bn, up 10% on the previous year.

BT Group rallied after Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim took a 3.2% stake in the telecoms firm. According to a regulatory filing late on Wednesday, the stake - worth around £400m - was taken by Slim’s family business Inbursa.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "This could be taken as an endorsement of recently appointed chief executive Allison Kirkby’s new strategy for the group."

FTSE 100 - Risers

Halma (HLMA) 2,627.00p 11.79%
BT Group (BT.A) 133.75p 3.36%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,490.00p 2.94%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,043.00p 2.31%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,590.00p 1.36%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 353.40p 1.29%
SSE (SSE) 1,783.00p 0.68%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 14,305.00p 0.63%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 257.80p 0.55%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 4,411.00p 0.48%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,260.00p -3.91%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 621.00p -3.35%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,600.00p -2.78%
Fresnillo (FRES) 540.50p -2.52%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,173.00p -2.27%
Kingfisher (KGF) 257.90p -2.01%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 856.50p -2.00%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,470.00p -1.87%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 5,115.00p -1.82%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 122.35p -1.65%