FTSE 250 movers: AG Barr fizzes; WPP slides

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250: 23,324.09 -101.96 (-0.44%) Shares in AG Barr jumped on Tuesday after the Irn-Bru maker said it had bought soft drinks maker Fentimans and premium juice brand Frobishers for a combined £51m as it looked to cash in on the fall in alcohol consumption by consumers.

The Irn-Bru owner bought Fentimans for £38m and Frobishers for £13m. "Both brands operate in the attractive adult soft drinks market, which is benefitting from the consumer trend of reduced alcohol consumption," the company said on Tuesday.

"These acquisitions reflect the execution of further meaningful and targeted M&A to elevate growth through broadening the brand portfolio while providing opportunities for cost synergies."

Integration of both brands was expected to take place during the current fiscal year, with associated efficiencies beginning to come through from the second half. Shares in the company jumped 6% in London trade.

AG Barr added that full-year results were expected to be in line with expectations as revenue jumped 4% to £437m for the 12 months to January 31, with double-digit profit growth and an adjusted operating margin of 14.7%, up from 13.6% a year earlier.

Analysts at Shorecap nudged up their operating profit forecast by around 1% to £64.2m, "which feeds into an adjusted pre-tax profit forecast of £65.6m, year-on-year growth at an attractive 12.2%".

India-exposed stocks jumped after US President Donald Trump announced a long-awaited trade deal that slashed tariffs on imports in exchange for Delhi's agreement to stop buying Russian oil.

The deal, announced overnight, will see tariffs on Indian exports cut to to 18% from 50%, removing a punitive 25% duty that had been imposed on the so-called "reciprocal" rate along with a further reduction for lowering trade barriers.

Trump claimed his India counterpart Narendra Modi had "agreed to stop buying Russian oil, and buy much more from the United States, and potentially Venezuela". He added that India would also buy more than $500bn worth of US energy, technology, agricultural and other products.

The news boosted Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust and JP Morgan India Growth & Income.

A rally in precious metals prices lifted Pan African Resources and Hochschild Mining.

Plus500 shot up after saying it has entered the US retail prediction markets segment through the launch of event-based contracts on its US B2C trading platform. The new offering includes products from Kalshi Exchange, the first regulated event-based contracts exchange in the US.

WPP was in the red as French peer Publicis tumbled after results.