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London’s FTSE 100 was up by 0.1% at 8,273.84 during afternoon trade on Thursday, with a mix of companies seeing gains and losses across the index.
Among the top performers was housebuilder Vistry, which led the index following the announcement of a £130m share buyback and a 7% increase in pre-tax profit for the first half of the year. For the six months ending 30 June, Vistry reported adjusted pre-tax profit of £186.2m, up from £174m in the same period last year, alongside a 9.1% increase in total completions, amounting to 7,792 homes. The company highlighted strong demand within its Partner Funded markets, driving its performance. Vistry also recorded an 11.1% increase in revenue, reaching £1.97bn.
Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn, also saw a rise in share price after Redburn upgraded its rating on the company’s shares to ‘neutral’. This uplift in confidence helped Whitbread become one of the notable gainers on the FTSE 100.
However, not all companies experienced positive momentum. Associated British Foods (ABF) was one of the day’s significant fallers, with shares dropping as the company revealed that like-for-like sales at Primark were expected to decline by around 0.5% in the second half of the financial year. LSE:ABF cited adverse weather conditions in the UK and Ireland, particularly wet weather, which negatively impacted foot traffic and seasonal sales in key segments such as womenswear and footwear. The company also projected a 0.9% decline in sales for the fourth quarter.
Admiral (LSE:ADM) and DS Smith (LSE:SMDS) both experienced drops as they traded without entitlement to their respective dividends, contributing to their weaker performance during the trading session.
In the broader market, other gainers included WPP, which saw a 3.93% increase, Severn Trent with a 3.58% rise, and Entain, which was up 3.51%. Meanwhile, notable fallers included Relx, which dropped by 2.76%, AstraZeneca, down 2.28%, and Halma, which declined by 2.20%.
By 10:25 BST, Vistry (LSE:VTY) led the risers on the FTSE 100 with a 5.77% increase, while Associated British Foods saw the sharpest decline, falling by 6.44%. Other stocks across the index continued to fluctuate, with both gains and losses reflecting varying market sentiments on the day.
