FTSE 100 movers: Kingfisher gains on results; Melrose slides after chemical incident

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 10,526.99 in afternoon trade on Tuesday. B&Q and Castorama owner Kingfisher rallied after saying it was still on track to meet full-year guidance despite a 0.9% fall in first-quarter sales due to softer markets in the UK and France.

BA and Iberia owner IAG was among the gainers as Morgan Stanley said it remains its top pick in European airlines. "We retain IAG as our Top Pick given improving RASK (revenue per available seat kilometer), disciplined cost, resilient free cash and strong shareholder returns," the bank said.

British Land was also in the black after Barclays upgraded the shares to 'overweight' from 'equalweight'.

The bank said that following three years of broadly flat earnings, British Land is returning to earnings growth, and it thinks the valuation screens attractively given increased earnings growth visibility.

"BLND has spent much of the past decade being judged on NAV, ERV growth and valuation yields, but the market increasingly cares about recurring earnings, EPS CAGR and cash flow delivery," it said. "The company has shown a strong operational performance, clear leasing momentum, in particular from AI and technology tenants, and we think it offers the right product in an increasingly bifurcated London office market."

On the downside, Melrose Industries was under the cosh following a chemical incident at GKN Aerospace's Garden Grove facility in the US. The company said there had been mandatory evacuation orders for portions of the surrounding community to protect public safety while response operations continued but that there had been no injuries, leaks or contamination.

BP shares slid as the oil giant said that chair Albert Manifold had been removed with immediate effect after "serious" concerns were raised about "important governance standards, oversight and conduct".

Senior independent director Amanda Blanc said: "Albert has helped bring a welcome focus and pace to BP's transformation. However, the board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action."

BP has appointed Ian Tyler as interim chair with immediate effect.

Autotrader slumped after Panmure Liberum downgraded the shares to 'hold' from 'buy' and slashed the price target to 420p from 830p. Panmure said the aftermath of the "disastrous" Deal Builder rollout has been worse than it expected.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 40.74p 4.69% Kingfisher (KGF) 303.40p 3.87% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 411.30p 3.65% Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 11,000.00p 3.20% British Land Company (BLND) 407.80p 2.93% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,158.50p 2.85% Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 261.80p 2.83% Glencore (GLEN) 583.90p 2.44% Barclays (BARC) 456.45p 2.37% Antofagasta (ANTO) 4,021.00p 2.26%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Melrose Industries (MRO) 480.60p -5.36% BP (BP.) 525.00p -4.77% Autotrader Group (AUTO) 441.00p -2.95% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 7,250.00p -1.93% Admiral Group (ADM) 3,410.00p -1.78% Rightmove (RMV) 433.70p -1.52% DCC (CDI) (DCC) 6,090.00p -1.06% Weir Group (WEIR) 2,476.00p -1.04% Vodafone Group (VOD) 110.55p -0.85% The Sage Group (SGE) 873.80p -0.59%