FTSE 100 movers: Segro slumps; BP rallies on results

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 7,522.98 in afternoon trade on Tuesday. Property investment and development company Segro was under the cosh after a downgrade by Kepler Cheuvreux.

Cybersecurity firm Avast was also weaker after saying it expects annual revenue to slow and margins to be squeezed amid a "challenging global backdrop".

Premier Inn owner Whitbread and Iberia and BA owner IAG were among the top performers on the index.

BP rose even as it said it swung to a massive first-quarter loss as a result of its decision to exit Russia after the country's invasion of Ukraine. Analysts said investors were encouraged by better-than-expected underlying profits.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "$20.4bn is an eye-watering quarterly loss for BP but it's far from unexpected. The market had already factored in a huge hit due to its Russia exit and now the company has unveiled the price to pay is a big and bold $25.5bn. That's the amount it has set aside in pre-tax charges and the cost of extricating itself from Rosneft.

"But surprising on the upside is the boost to underlying profits which came in at $6.2bn, sharply higher than the consensus expected of around $4.5bn. The company has been raking in cash as the supply squeeze on oil markets has intensified. The war and the high geopolitical tensions have brought about a surge in the oil price which is up 40% since the start of the year, spiking in the first weeks of the war at $139."

M&G also gained after HSBC upgraded shares of the asset manager to 'buy' from 'hold'.

"We see M&G offering very attractive total capital return yields at an average of 20% per annum over 2022-24, which correspond to the group returning circa 60% of its market cap to shareholders over three years," HSBC said.

"Although we expect limited growth in nominal operating earnings and capital generation, our forecast share buybacks mean that on a per share basis we see high-single digit compound annual growth rates in these metrics and dividend per share over the medium term."

FTSE 100 - Risers

Whitbread (WTB) 2,926.00p 3.87% BAE Systems (BA.) 766.00p 3.51% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 148.78p 3.35% BP (BP.) 403.55p 3.06% M&G (MNG) 220.50p 2.94% BT Group (BT.A) 182.00p 2.62% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 501.20p 2.24% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 238.30p 2.14% Standard Chartered (STAN) 561.60p 1.78% Barclays (BARC) 150.62p 1.63%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

SEGRO (SGRO) 1,225.50p -8.72% Croda International (CRDA) 7,326.00p -6.13% Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 726.60p -4.57% Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,494.00p -3.96% Entain (ENT) 1,464.00p -3.59% Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 11,730.00p -3.46% Glencore (GLEN) 480.75p -3.33% Avast (AVST) 545.60p -3.26% Ocado Group (OCDO) 896.40p -2.99% Land Securities Group (LAND) 731.20p -2.84%