FTSE 100 movers: Hargreaves Lansdown rallies; WPP slumps

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,456.92 in afternoon trade on Friday. Hargreaves Lansdown was the standout gainer on the index despite reporting a fall in assets under management for the full year as the war in Ukraine, inflation and cost-of-living crisis shook investor confidence.

Broker Shore Capital noted that revenues of £583m were ahead of company-compiled consensus of £582m, while underlying pre-tax profit of £298m was ahead of company-collected consensus of £283m.

Advertising giant WPP slumped even as it reported a rise in interim profits, driven by strong client demand across all services.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "WPP's first-half numbers actually look fairly solid, but investors are so concerned about the economic backdrop, and what it says about WPP's prospects, they have reacted negatively.

"Clearly there is a belief that WPP's recent momentum, which helped it lift its annual sales outlook, can't last in the long-term."

Unite Group was weaker after a downgrade to 'hold' at Stifel, while Next was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'neutral' at Goldman Sachs.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 885.20p 4.91% RS Group (RS1) 1,092.00p 3.21% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,162.00p 2.83% London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,358.00p 2.63% Glencore (GLEN) 471.75p 2.61% Vodafone Group (VOD) 121.62p 2.51% BT Group (BT.A) 160.00p 2.43% Airtel Africa (AAF) 152.70p 2.41% Fresnillo (FRES) 708.40p 2.37% Anglo American (AAL) 2,920.00p 1.88%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

WPP (WPP) 827.00p -7.37% Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,568.00p -5.71% Unite Group (UTG) 1,115.00p -3.46% Next (NXT) 6,498.00p -3.22% Centrica (CNA) 83.34p -3.14% Ocado Group (OCDO) 910.60p -3.13% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 418.30p -3.06% Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,570.00p -3.02% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 124.00p -3.01% SEGRO (SGRO) 1,055.50p -2.81%