FTSE 100 movers: Rentokil recovers; NatWest tumbles

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 7,348.19 in afternoon trade on Friday. Rentokil was a high riser, having tanked last week after it warned that its full-year performance in North America was set to be "marginally below" its previous expectations, citing "near-term market uncertainty".

NatWest slumped after it missed expectations with its third-quarter profits and cut its full-year outlook for bank net interest margin (NIM).

Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the results were "largely disappointing" as net interest margin dipped below 3%, and the outlook was lowered.

He noted that deposit levels grew, which is a positive sign that NatWest is pricing itself at the right levels to attract customers searching for higher rates. However, he also pointed out that it's a less profitable business than non/low-interest current accounts.

"Add in mortgage headwinds as highly profitable business written over the pandemic rolls off, and that's caused the hit to net interest margin," he said.

Lloyds and Barclays also lost ground.

Reckitt was under the cosh after Berenberg downgraded shares of the consumer goods giant to 'hold' from 'buy', saying it was difficult to identify a catalyst.

"Our investment thesis was based on an improvement in operating performance underpinning a stock re-rating, and this has not materialised," it said. "Looking ahead, a catalyst is less clear as like-for-like sales growth could remain in the 3-5% range in 2024, as pricing moderates and group volume growth remains negative (yoy), until the business laps rebased market shares in US infant formula (i.e. until Q3 2024)."

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rentokil Initial (RTO) 421.40p 3.69% Fresnillo (FRES) 548.20p 2.70% Prudential (PRU) 849.40p 2.39% Vodafone Group (VOD) 76.51p 2.27% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,686.00p 2.06% Shell (SHEL) 2,738.00p 1.84% Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,658.00p 1.76% Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 12,780.00p 1.75% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 276.60p 1.62% Mondi (MNDI) 1,299.50p 1.60%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 179.95p -12.56% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,673.00p -3.55% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 4,284.00p -3.47% Diageo (DGE) 3,027.00p -2.65% Ocado Group (OCDO) 474.30p -2.63% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 40.09p -2.62% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,476.00p -2.11% Barclays (BARC) 129.96p -1.72% Unilever (ULVR) 3,847.00p -1.36% GSK (GSK) 1,454.60p -1.34%