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(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 9,163.49 in afternoon trade on Thursday amid a barrage of earnings news.
Rolls-Royce shot higher as the aerospace and defence engineer raised its full-year guidance after a strong first half, in which underlying revenues grew by double-digits and operating profits surged by 50%.
The company now expects to book a full-year underlying operating profit of £3.1bn-3.2bn for 2025, up from previous guidance of £2.7bn-2.9bn, while the free cash flow target has been upped to £3.0bn-3.1bn from £2.7bn-2.9bn.
Rentokil Initial surged as it backed its full-year outlook, hailing a "solid" first half, in line with expectations, and an improving performance in North America.
St James's Place also gained as it reported a strong operating and financial performance in the first half, with record funds under management of £198.5bn, up from £190.2bn at the end of December 2024.
Energy giant Shell gushed higher as it reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings but still sharply lower than a year ago on the back of weak oil and gas prices.
Adjusted earnings came in at $4.26bn for the three month period, beating average estimates of $3.74bn in a company-compiled poll, but down 24% on 2024's $6.3bn. For the half year earnings were down 30% to $9.8bn.
On the downside, Mondi slid as the paper and packaging group warned that an uncertain economic environment would continue to impact trading in the second half of the year and reported a fall in interim profits.
LSEG fell despite posting better-than-expected first-half pre-tax profit and announcing a new £1bn share buyback.
Anglo American retreated as the diversified miner reported a 180% increase in losses for the first half on the back of ongoing challenging conditions in the rough diamond market, leading the company to slash its interim dividend by 83%.
Miners more generally were weaker, with Glencore and Rio Tinto also in the red.
Vodafone was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'sell' at Goldman Sachs.
Haleon slumped after cutting its forecast for annual revenue growth, while Standard Chartered ticked lower even as it posted a better-than-expected 26% jump in first-half pre-tax profit to $4.38bn.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,071.50p 8.45%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 369.00p 6.46%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,239.50p 5.99%
Spirax Group (SPX) 6,480.00p 2.37%
Shell (SHEL) 2,734.50p 2.07%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 378.20p 1.94%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,594.00p 1.77%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,680.00p 1.75%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 235.00p 1.73%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 516.80p 1.69%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Mondi (MNDI) 1,105.00p -5.43%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,887.00p -5.39%
Glencore (GLEN) 298.80p -4.14%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,407.00p -3.95%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,146.00p -3.81%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 9,674.00p -3.79%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 80.78p -3.30%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,052.00p -2.37%
Haleon (HLN) 357.10p -2.14%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,402.00p -1.96%
