FTSE 100 movers: Landsec boosted by upgrade; JD Sports slumps

London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 7,612.72 in afternoon trade on Monday.

Land Securities gained after Morgan Stanley upgraded its stance on the shares to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’ and lifted the price target to 730p from 650p.

The bank noted that investors who held British Land and Landsec shares over the last decade have made 0-1% per annum in total returns including dividends.

"That is unusual as the average total shareholder return averaged 9% per annum for both over the three prior decades," it said.

"The recent decade saw severe structural pressures on retail (UK asset valuations down 65% and rents down 30-40% on average) and recently office, Brexit-related uncertainty, Covid, and also the rise of large sector specialists. All of these factors have more than offset the tailwinds from low rates."

JD Sports was also down after Sky News reported that Applied Nutrition, a manufacturer of sports supplements part-owned by JD, is beginning preparations for a £1bn London flotation.

According to Sky , Liverpool-based Applied Nutrition has been interviewing investment bankers in recent weeks about a listing that could take place in the autumn. City sources told Sky at the weekend that Deutsche Numis was among those in contention for a role on the float, which could rank among the largest in the UK this year.

Vodafone declined as it reported a fall in third-quarter service revenues. The company said service revenues fell 1.4% to €9.3bn on a reported basis. Vodafone still expects adjusted core earnings of around €13.3bn and adjusted free cash flow of €3.3bn.

Kingfisher was also weaker after JPMorgan Cazenove cut its price target shares of the B&Q and Castorama owner to 180p from 190p and placed them on ‘negative catalyst watch’ ahead of full-year results on 25 March.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Ocado Group (OCDO) 528.60p 4.67%
GSK (GSK) 1,668.40p 3.55%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,969.00p 2.18%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 662.60p 1.78%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,302.00p 1.52%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 775.40p 1.44%
Haleon (HLN) 329.60p 1.42%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,112.50p 1.41%
Informa (INF) 785.00p 1.26%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,910.00p 1.16%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Airtel Africa (AAF) 107.20p -3.77%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 108.85p -3.67%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,180.00p -3.07%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 67.00p -2.33%
Barclays (BARC) 147.24p -2.31%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,771.00p -2.29%
Kingfisher (KGF) 210.60p -1.86%
Glencore (GLEN) 410.10p -1.80%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 9,782.00p -1.69%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,805.00p -1.67%