FTSE 100 movers: Provident surges while BP slips up

The FTSE 100 was trading higher on Tuesday afternoon as reporting season kicked into gear.

Non-standard lender Provident Financial raced up the leaderboard after it posted results for the six months to 30 June on Tuesday, with first-half adjusted profit before tax up 17.6% to £148.9m and adjusted earnings per share up 10.7% to 77.9p. The firm said first-half statutory profit before tax improved 48.9% to £165.4m, and basic earnings per share were up 39.2% to 86p. Provident reported a stable annualised return on assets of 15.7%, up from 15.6% at the same time last year, after absorbing the impact of the 8% bank corporation tax surcharge on Vanquis Bank’s profits from 1 January this year. The company’s board declared an interim dividend per share of 43.2p, an increase of 10.2%.

Mondi Group also gave its shares a lift as it updated the market on its half-year earnings expectations. The FTSE 100 firm said it anticipates basic underlying earnings per share of 73 to 77 euro cents, up from 67.8 cents a year ago, and basic earnings per share of the same 73 to 77 cent range, well up from 60.3 cents last year. Mondi said basic headline earnings per share should also fall within the same range, compared with 60.1 cents in the comparative period.

BT Group was a top riser as regulator Ofcom report confirmed the positive news that the company will not have to completely chop off its Openreach infrastructure arm, though it will have to become a distinct company with its own board, own staff and separate branding. As a legally separate company within BT Group, with its own ‘articles of association’ and a majority of independent directors who are not appointed by or connected to BT, the company would be obliged to consult formally with customers such as Sky and TalkTalk on large-scale investments

Among Tuesday's fallers BP reported a steeper than expected fall in profits for the second quarter but said it was drawing a line under the liabilities for the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster at $61.6bn. An underlying replacement cost profit of $720m in the three months to the end of June was down 45% from the same period last year, though at the reported level the loss before tax of $3.38bn for the second quarter was less than half its comparative from 2015.

"The negative reaction in the share price could have been worse when put into the context of the 10% oil price decline in July," said analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets, "but BP finally drawing a line under its Deepwater Horizon oil spill liabilities was a source of relief. BP’s downstream business continues to be the main bread-winner but a warning that refining margins would stay under pressure worried investors this couldn’t be maintained. The upstream business did return to profitability since oil prices rebounded from lows earlier this year."

Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons were also on the back foot after a report from Kantar Worldpanel showed the 'Big Four' supermarkets, also including Walmart's Asda, had lost further market share to discounters and seen sales drop in the weeks following the Brexit vote.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Provident Financial (PFG) 2,738.00p 5.31%
BT Group (BT.A) 403.20p 4.05%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,873.00p 4.00%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,520.00p 3.54%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,647.00p 3.04%
GKN (GKN) 298.10p 2.83%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,400.00p 2.11%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 497.90p 1.65%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 926.00p 1.65%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 729.50p 1.60%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Tesco (TSCO) 157.35p -2.93%
easyJet (EZJ) 990.50p -2.89%
BP (BP.) 429.55p -2.45%
ITV (ITV) 185.00p -2.17%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 410.50p -2.03%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,580.00p -1.79%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 223.90p -1.71%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 146.70p -1.61%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,603.00p -1.54%
Barclays (BARC) 148.85p -1.42%