12th Mar 2024 13:56
(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 1.1% at 7,756.25 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
Ladbrokes owner Entain jumped to the top of the index following a report it has hired bankers to prepare a sale of PartyPoker as it seeks to fend off activist investors by reinvigorating its core operations.
According to Sky News, Entain is working with advisers from Oakvale Capital on a prospective sale of the online poker business.
Industry sources who have been contacted about the sale told Sky they expected it to fetch around £150m.
British American Tobacco was also in the black as it confirmed media speculation around its holding of Indian tobacco firm ITC, announcing plans to sell more than 400m ITC shares through its subsidiary Tobacco Manufacturers India (TMI).
Persimmon was under the cosh as the housebuilder warned of continuing tough markets and reported a worse-than-expected 52% decline in full-year profits. Pre-tax profit for the year to December plunged to £351.8m, missing estimates of £359.5m.
Peer Barratt Developments also fell.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Entain (ENT) 763.60p 3.92%
Prudential (PRU) 816.00p 3.53%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,392.00p 3.15%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 592.00p 2.81%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 96.40p 2.72%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,922.00p 2.34%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 466.70p 2.17%
Beazley (BEZ) 659.50p 2.09%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 251.40p 2.07%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,300.00p 2.04%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Persimmon (PSN) 1,320.50p -3.93%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 1,443.00p -1.90%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,574.00p -1.42%
SSE (SSE) 1,590.50p -1.39%
Fresnillo (FRES) 464.20p -1.19%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 472.70p -1.17%
SEGRO (SGRO) 884.60p -0.81%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,703.00p -0.78%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,812.00p -0.71%
Unite Group (UTG) 955.50p -0.68%