FTSE 100 movers: M&S lifts retailers, but financial and mining stocks fall

High street stalwart Marks & Spencer on Wednesday reinstated its dividend and delivered a 56.2% rise in first-half profits, causing shares to surge over 10%.

The company posted pre-tax profits of £325.6m in the six months to September 30, compared with £208m a year ago. Revenue rose 10.8% to £6.1bn, driven by a 14.7% rise in food sales, up 11% on a like-for-like basis.

“Marks & Spencer’s first-half results are so good that management’s biggest challenge now may be to stop analysts getting over-excited and prevent them from upgrading their numbers too much and setting too high a bar of expectations,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Sector peers Next, AB Foods and B&M were also rising after the results.

Rolls-Royce shares jumped after the engineering group was upgraded by Morgan Stanley from 'equal weight' to 'overweight', with the bank citing upside potential to cash generation.

Meanwhile, financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown was dragged lower after UBS initiated coverage on the stock with a 'sell' rating and 650p target price, compared with today's 707p level.

Insurance group Prudential and investment firm St James's Place were falling on negative readacross from weaker-than-expected results from Swiss Re and ABN Amro.

Utility stocks were mostly in negative territory today, with National Grid, SSE and Centrica among the top ten worst performers.

Miners were also struggling, with Fresnillo, Anglo American and Endeavour Mining in the red. Anglo American also fell after reporting another big slide in diamond sales at its latest tender of De Beers, blaming continuing macroeconomic "challenges".

FTSE 100 - Risers

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 248.10p 10.17%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 234.00p 3.54%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,319.00p 3.07%
Entain (ENT) 968.80p 2.95%
Unite Group (UTG) 941.00p 2.01%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 539.80p 1.39%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 151.70p 1.37%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 13,720.00p 1.25%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 512.00p 1.03%
Compass Group (CPG) 2,071.00p 1.02%