FTSE 100 movers: Whitbread boosted by upgrade; Diageo goes ex-div

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 8,378.49 in afternoon trade on Thursday.

Premier Inn owner Whitbread was the top gainer on the index after an upgrade to ‘outperform’ by Bernstein.

Centrica was also on rise the after Jefferies upgraded shares of the British Gas owner to ‘buy’.

Bunzl was boosted by a broker note, as RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to ‘sector perform’ from ‘underperform’ and lifted the price target to 3,350 from 2,700p as revenue headwinds ease.

"After a period of deflation-linked underperformance, we raise our rating to SP to reflect, principally, a brighter revenue and margin outlook, confidence around M&A execution and a new capital allocation strategy which we think widens the investor audience," RBC said.

The bank said the price target increase reflects the value of future M&A.

On the downside, Diageo and Glencore both fell as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Whitbread (WTB) 2,951.00p 4.20%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,004.00p 2.82%
Centrica (CNA) 129.50p 2.53%
Spirax Group (SPX) 7,585.00p 2.36%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 447.50p 2.15%
Bunzl (BNZL) 3,530.00p 1.96%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 782.20p 1.88%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 236.60p 1.81%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,342.00p 1.71%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 486.60p 1.67%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

LondonMetric Property (LMP) 201.40p -2.23%
Diageo (DGE) 2,480.50p -1.55%
Glencore (GLEN) 400.10p -1.10%
SEGRO (SGRO) 868.00p -1.03%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 474.20p -0.96%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 4,367.00p -0.80%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,804.00p -0.78%
National Grid (NG.) 998.60p -0.59%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 622.50p -0.56%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 506.60p -0.55%