FTSE 100 movers: Sainsbury's shines; Rolls-Royce retreats
London’s FTSE 100 was flat at 7,761.39 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Sainsbury’s rallied after convenience store retailer Bestway Group said it had purchased or agreed to buy a 3.45% stake in the supermarket giant, but was not considering an offer for the chain.
"Bestway Group intends to hold its shares in Sainsbury's for investment purposes and looks forward to supporting the executive management team," it said. "Bestway Group may look to make further market purchases of Sainsbury's shares from time to time, subject to availability and price."
Rolls Royce was the worst performer on the index after the company’s new boss reportedly told staff that it was a "burning platform".
In a global address to staff, parts of which were shared with the Financial Times, Tufan Erginbilgic, said that "given everything I know talking to investors, this is our last chance". He described the company's performance as unsustainable, adding that the situation had nothing to do with Covid-19.
Corrugating packaging company Smurfit Kappa was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘equalweight’ from ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY)250.10p4.47%
Persimmon (PSN)1,445.50p2.70%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT)768.80p1.80%
Shell (SHEL)2,383.50p1.79%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO)601.80p1.72%
Unite Group (UTG)1,009.00p1.71%
BP (BP.)491.85p1.58%
Barratt Developments (BDEV)465.70p1.53%
SEGRO (SGRO)840.20p1.52%
Airtel Africa (AAF)117.80p1.46%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.)110.10p-2.98%
Diageo (DGE)3,419.50p-1.51%
Antofagasta (ANTO)1,778.50p-1.47%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG)3,414.00p-1.33%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR)12,495.00p-1.30%
Rentokil Initial (RTO)499.70p-1.25%
Croda International (CRDA)6,834.00p-1.16%
Smith & Nephew (SN.)1,123.00p-1.10%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT)5,590.00p-1.06%
National Grid (NG.)1,022.00p-1.02%