FTSE 100 movers: Miners fall; Rentokil higher after Trian buys shares

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,284.13 in afternoon trade on Friday. Miners Anglo, Rio and Glencore were among the worst performers as copper prices fell.

Rentokil Initial sparked after activist investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management bought 7.5m shares in the pest control company for £31m.

The shares were purchased at 413.4p each on 11 December.

Trian took a 2.26% stake in Rentokil in June and in September, the company announced the appointment of a representative of Trian to its board as a non-executive director, sending the shares surging.

Diageo was also a high riser. On Thursday, UBS upgraded shares of the drinks maker to 'buy' from 'sell' and hiked the price target to 2,920p from 2,300p, saying it sees upside risks to the US business.

"Our analysis shows its sell-out trends are running +3.6%, significantly outperforming a still weak Spirits industry, and the strong growth momentum behind key brands Don Julio and Crown Royal can be sustained," UBS said.

"Following -31% earnings per share downgrades over the past two years, we think investors can gain comfort the business is towards the end of its earnings downgrade cycle."

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rentokil Initial (RTO) 413.60p 3.69% Beazley (BEZ) 832.50p 2.08% Diageo (DGE) 2,602.50p 1.72% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,942.00p 1.28% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 394.80p 1.18% Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,140.00p 1.15% Pearson (PSON) 1,284.50p 1.10% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 544.00p 0.93% F&C Investment Trust (FCIT) 1,142.00p 0.88% Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,144.00p 0.85%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 100.15p -1.81% Anglo American (AAL) 2,477.50p -1.78% Fresnillo (FRES) 668.00p -1.69% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,922.00p -1.56% Prudential (PRU) 652.60p -1.54% Melrose Industries (MRO) 549.80p -1.50% Spirax Group (SPX) 7,280.00p -1.36% Croda International (CRDA) 3,445.00p -1.32% Persimmon (PSN) 1,261.50p -1.25% Glencore (GLEN) 373.25p -1.23%