FTSE 100 movers: Coca-Cola HBC fizzes higher; BAT slumps

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 8,756.98 in afternoon trade on Thursday. Coca-Cola HBC rallied after saying it expects organic operating profit to rise by 7% to 11% this year amid a "challenging" macroeconomic environment.

The bottling company, 20% owned by the drinks brand of the same name, also said organic revenue was forecast to grow 6% - 8% in the year, compared with average market expectations of 7.3% in a company-compiled poll.

Average analyst forecasts tipped 10.7% average growth in 2025 organic earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT).

British American Tobacco slumped as it posted a 5.2% drop in full-year revenue, driven by the sale of its businesses in Russia and Belarus last year and translational FX headwinds, but said it swung to a profit.

BAT said it plans to be a "predominantly smokeless" business by 2035.

Imperial Brands also fell.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "It's all very well making grand pledges to be a 'smokeless business' by 2035 but it does beg the question of what's going to replace the revenue and cash flow provided by selling cigarettes, given it is this which allows the company to sustain generous dividends and share buybacks.

"In 2024, areas like vaping and e-cigarettes contributed £250 million out of its near-£12 billion worth of adjusted operating profit. This clearly illustrates the size of the task over the next decade better than the company's observation that these areas of the business are now contributing some 17.5% of revenue.

"At a headline level the company posted a profit for 2024 but a big write down in Canada meant this was still a messy set of numbers."

Unilever lost ground as the consumer goods company said it expects a slow start to the current financial year with "subdued" market growth in the near term and announced a €1.5bn share buyback, while fourth-quarter underlying sales just missed estimates.

Barclays was weaker even as it reported a 24% jump in full-year pre-tax profit to £8.11bn and announced the launch of a £1bn share buyback.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "A stable, dependable and progressive set of numbers such as these would normally fire the share price ahead, but given Barclays' recent run the height of expectation has turned into a temporary headwind."

FTSE 100 - Risers

Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 3,190.00p 7.41% Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 4,294.00p 7.16% Mondi (MNDI) 1,300.50p 4.04% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,254.50p 3.72% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 8,474.00p 3.37% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 22,450.00p 2.89% Diploma (DPLM) 4,728.00p 2.52% Croda International (CRDA) 3,198.00p 2.14% Diageo (DGE) 2,179.50p 2.13% Legal & General Group (LGEN) 244.40p 2.13%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,090.00p -8.96% Unilever (ULVR) 4,452.00p -6.29% Barclays (BARC) 294.60p -4.27% Vodafone Group (VOD) 67.24p -2.72% Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,814.00p -2.43% Shell (SHEL) 2,639.50p -2.30% Beazley (BEZ) 832.00p -2.06% Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,064.00p -1.94% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 441.80p -1.82% Centrica (CNA) 135.45p -1.17%