FTSE 100 movers: Taylor Wimpey and Ashtead lead gains

The FTSE 100 was in positive territory on Tuesday afternoon, as a mixture of encouraging results and analyst optimism looked like extending the index's winning streak to a third day.

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey topped the leaderboard after it unveiled a significant upgrade to its medium-term dividend policy and increased their three-year medium term financial targets for 2016 to 2018 to also cover return on net operating assets and profitability.

As well as a second special dividend of £300m, to be paid in July 2017 following one of the same size already announced for 2016, the company said the ordinary dividend will be "significantly upgraded" to approximately 5% of net assets, meaning a minimum of £150m will be paid per year across interim and final payments in May and October, through the cycle from 2017.

At an event for analysts and institutional investors, TW said it will now target an average annual return on net operating assets of 30%, an average operating profit margin of circa 22% and a total of £1.3bn of dividends to be paid in cash to shareholders over the period - which implies another special dividend for July 2018.

Unsurprisingly, with the sector's shares having been quite weak this year, Taylor Wimpey was up around 5% on Tuesday, hitting its highest level since early February in early trade.

Another construction market player, Ashtead, was also building a head of steam on Tuesday. Shares in the plant hire group, which is mainly focused on non-residential construction and industrial equipment in the US and UK, were given an upgrade by analysts at Exane BNP Paribas.

Having downgraded to 'neutral' in December, Exane upgraded the stock to an 'outperform' rating following its recent weakness, upping their target price to 1,050p per share from 900p.

Analysts said they believed earnings momentum had stabilised and "could potentially inflect".

"We see modest upside to FY17 consensus, with scope for the shares to re-couple with the earnings trend."

Diversified Irish investment group DCC was another on the up, boosted by full year pre-tax profits soaring 47% to £216.3m thanks largely to its energy division.

EBITA grew 36% to reach £300.5m, beat expectations by 1%, and with underlying profits surging, adjusted EPS grew 23% to 257.1p, beating consensus forecasts 2%.

Analysts at Berenberg said: "No new acquisitions were announced with the results, but we have spoken to management which confirmed that both large energy deals completed in FY 2016 - Butagaz and Esso Retail France - outperformed management’s expectations."

Arresting its recent fall earthwards, Inmarsat rallied 4% thanks in part to a note from Credit Suisse that reiterated its 'outperform' rating on the satellite group while downgrading rival Eutelsat to 'neutral' after its substantial profit warning.

The more positive rating on Inmarsat was maintained but the analysts cut their target price to 1,060p from 1,186p to reflect the delay to the introduction of key GlobalXpress products and ongoing economic headwinds in maritime.

Land Securities was also in positive territory after posting “strong” preliminary results, with asset values, revenue and earnings all increasing in the 12 months to 31 March.

The commercial property firm reported a basic net asset value per share of 1,482p - up 10.3% - and an adjusted diluted net asset value per share of 1,434p - an increase of 10.9%.

“Continued leasing momentum in our development programme combined with smart asset management and balance sheet discipline has put the business in a strong position,” said CEO Robert Noel.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 193.00p 4.38%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 914.50p 4.34%
DCC (DCC) 6,400.00p 4.07%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 778.50p 4.01%
Anglo American (AAL) 627.50p 2.95%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,171.00p 2.81%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,065.00p 2.68%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 550.00p 2.23%
Glencore (GLEN) 136.15p 1.91%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,811.00p 1.74%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,031.00p -2.09%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,999.00p -1.70%
Tesco (TSCO) 164.15p -1.53%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,719.50p -1.50%
Diageo (DGE) 1,862.00p -1.43%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,177.50p -1.36%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,121.50p -1.31%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,910.00p -1.11%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,267.00p -1.02%
BAE Systems (BA.) 485.20p -1.00%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Lookers (LOOK) 139.50p 5.92%
BTG (BTG) 617.00p 5.20%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,082.00p 4.95%
AO World (AO.) 170.00p 4.29%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,190.00p 3.84%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 985.00p 3.20%
Marshalls (MSLH) 348.00p 3.14%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 253.30p 3.14%
NCC Group (NCC) 287.70p 3.04%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 216.10p 3.00%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 248.70p -3.23%
Halma (HLMA) 890.00p -3.10%
ICAP (IAP) 443.40p -2.29%
Interserve (IRV) 308.40p -1.91%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,259.00p -1.78%
Investec (INVP) 470.70p -1.53%
Ibstock (IBST) 208.80p -1.51%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 622.00p -1.50%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 262.60p -1.46%
IP Group (IPO) 154.10p -1.09%