It was another mixed day for London stocks on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 closing higher, despite the prospect of higher for longer US interest rates hanging over stocks, while initial jobless claims for the week came in steady.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.4%, at 7,877.05. The FTSE 250 ended up 0.6%, at 19,450.67, and the AIM All-Share closed up 0.3%, at 745.29.
Upbeat Travel Sector
British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group rose 4.3% in a positive read-across from budget airline easyJet +2.3%. easyJet reported a “positive outlook” and said its “seasonal” losses eased in the first half to £350 million. Revenue surged 22% to £3.27 billion as bookings for summer 2024 remained strong.
Segro Gains on Rent Roll Growth
Segro +1.6% hailed “strong growth” in rent roll during Q1 2024 as it noted stabilization of industrial and logistics asset values. Total new headline rent signed was £29 million, up 21% year-on-year, though occupancy edged down to 94.5%.
M&A Activity
Hipgnosis Songs Fund jumped 30% after agreeing to a $1.40 billion cash takeover from Alchemy Copyrights at $1.16 (93.2 pence) per share, a 32% premium.
Energy Wins
Petrofac +2.7% won a $350 million five-year technical services deal with Equatorial Guinea’s national oil firm to operate Block B assets.
Small-Cap Mover
Surgical Innovations +25% reported revenues increased to £12.01 million, beating expectations, though pretax loss widened. It also secured two new UK distribution contracts.
Daily Risers and Fallers
Hipgnosis Songs 30.5%, Seraphim Sp 10.4%, Oxford Biomedica 7.7%, Wizz Air 6.6%, Robert Walters 6.1%.
Rentokil Initial -7.6%, Dunelm -7.3%, Synthomer -4.7%, Future -4.4%, Alfa Fin -4.0%.
Daily Recap
- Hipgnosis Songs Fund sold for $1.4 billion to Concord, shares surge
- easyJet trims losses, expects strong summer demand
- National Grid lifts guidance on earnings per share
- Dunelm shares dip despite sales growth and profit forecast
- Rentokil shares fall despite maintaining outlook
- Royal Mail takeover bid rejected, but another possible
- Gold settles amid Middle East tensions and Fed signals
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