FTSE 100 movers: Tui flies higher on trading update but Pearson drops

London’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.3% to 6,182.73 at 1430 GMT as investors digested weak UK data releases and a bigger-than-expected rise in US initial jobless claims.

Tui was a high flyer after saying overall demand and pricing for holidays has remained resilient in the first half of its financial year. Tui said it has sold 47% of its summer holiday programme, in line with last year, and at 1% higher average selling prices, meaning revenue from the programme has been lifted 3%.

With Turkey off limits for many holidaymakers, the Anglo-German travel group behind the Thomson and First Choice brands said it "remixed" its offering to channel travellers to Spain and on longer-haul holidays instead.

Heavily-weighted mining stocks reversed earlier declines to trade higher, with Antofagasta in particular benefiting from an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ by Canaccord Genuity.

Merlin Entertainments was also in the black as Panmure Gordon lifted its target price on the stock to 515p from 480p, maintaining its ‘buy’ rating.

“Merlin offers low-risk structural growth in a global industry with high barriers to entry. Its global footprint and strong multi segment brands give multiple levers to drive double digit earnings growth over the long term.”

Education publisher Pearson was on the back foot. Deutsche Bank said in a note on Thursday that the stock’s valuation was full, trading on a 15.8x 2016 price-to-earnings ratio it believes is high given structural challenges and revenue decline.

“For investors who believe in a turnaround, the 2018 multiple is 13.9x, which is only an 8% discount to the European publishing sector. Given the uncertainty we remain ‘sell’ on the shares."

The bank noted that Pearson has not grown its revenues by more than 1% underlying since 2010, and that was an abnormal period in terms of college enrollment.

“We think it will face revenue declines again in 2016 and be flat in 2017. Even in 2018, if growth does transpire, we forecast it will be anaemic at around 2%, barely enough to offset cost inflation.”

Risers

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,085.00p 5.54%
Glencore (GLEN) 154.85p 2.18%
Anglo American (AAL) 546.60p 2.03%
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 9,755.00p 1.93%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 478.40p 1.85%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,395.00p 1.83%
Fresnillo (FRES) 955.00p 1.76%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 464.20p 1.09%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,345.00p 0.98%
Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 274.50p 0.92%

Fallers

Pearson (PSON) 881.00p -2.71%
Next (NXT) 5,415.00p -2.61%
Barclays (BARC) 149.25p -1.58%
British Land Company (BLND) 698.50p -1.48%
Old Mutual (OML) 194.20p -1.27%
BT Group (BT.A) 440.90p -1.17%
SSE (SSE) 1,491.00p -1.13%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,950.00p -1.13%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,489.00p -1.06%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,220.00p -1.04%