FTSE 100 movers: Pearson surges on restructuring; Barclays drops on downgrade
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.6% to 7,287.40 in afternoon trade as investors digested a better-than-expected US non-farm payrolls report and encouraging news from Pearson.
Pearson surged as the education publisher posted a 6% increase in first-quarter underlying sales, reiterated its guidance for the full year and announced further cost-cutting measures and a strategic review of its K12 courseware publishing business.
The company said it was currently undertaking the detailed planning to enable it to deliver annualised cost savings of £300m by the end of 2019, with further detail on the timing and costs of these plans to be revealed at the time of the interim results.
British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group racked up healthy gains as it reported first quarter-profits well ahead of expectations as a drop in costs offset lower passenger revenues. Operating profits in the first three months of the year of €170m before exceptional items were up 10% on the same period last year.
EasyJet flew higher after reporting a 12% increase in passenger numbers for April and an improvement in the load factor.
Marks and Spencer rallied after it appointed Archie Norman as chairman to take over from Robert Swannell at the start of September.
Smith & Nephew advanced after saying its full-year outlook for underlying revenue growth remained unchanged and reporting flat revenue for the first quarter.
On the downside, Barclays was hit by a downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral' at Goldman Sachs, which cut the price target by 28% to 180p, citing concerns about a potential narrowing of its capital gap.
InterContinental Hotels was on the back foot after it said first-quarter revenue grew but announced that chief executive Richard Solomons was stepping down after six years in the role.
Risers
Pearson (PSON) 729.50p 10.87%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 606.50p 6.03%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,268.00p 4.88%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 374.90p 4.87%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 840.00p 3.38%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,790.00p 3.11%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,406.00p 3.00%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,296.00p 2.05%
BAE Systems (BA.) 647.00p 1.81%
Glencore (GLEN) 282.10p 1.77%
Fallers
Barclays (BARC) 207.50p -2.05%
ITV (ITV) 203.50p -1.79%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,090.00p -1.69%
Provident Financial (PFG) 3,202.00p -1.54%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,116.00p -1.51%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,382.00p -1.50%
WPP (WPP) 1,667.00p -1.42%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 804.00p -1.23%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 507.00p -1.17%
Centrica (CNA) 195.80p -1.11%