FTSE 100 movers: WPP shines; 3i in the red again

1st Oct 2024 14:40

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 8,251.12 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.

Advertising giant WPP jumped to the top of the index after consumer goods giant Unilever concluded its global media review and reappointed the ad agency's media services business, Mindshare, in key markets.

According to reports, WPP lost five Southeast Asian markets to Publicis Media. However, Mindshare was reappointed to deal with Unilever's media accounts in the UK, US and China, and the company secured the Sub-Saharan Africa region, including South Africa, from Omnicom Media Group.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the shares were up on news WPP had secured "a favourable outcome from major client Unilever's latest media review, keeping some duties and adding new ones".

He added: "Losing Unilever as a client would have been a major blow, so it was no surprise to see investors expressing some relief."

3i Group was under the cosh again, having fallen sharply on Monday following a report that short-seller ShadowFall Capital and Research had taken out a multimillion-pound short position against the investment trust, saying that its largest holding, Action, was overvalued.

Frasers group was in the red after luxury handbag maker Mulberry rejected an £83m takeover offer from the company, saying it failed to recognise its "substantial future potential value".

JD Sports fell ahead of first-half results on Wednesday.

FTSE 100 - Risers

WPP (WPP) 793.40p 3.96%

Melrose Industries (MRO) 467.50p 2.59%

LondonMetric Property (LMP) 209.00p 2.05%

Rightmove (RMV) 630.00p 2.04%

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 379.70p 1.91%

Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,892.00p 1.83%

Fresnillo (FRES) 622.50p 1.80%

British Land Company (BLND) 443.00p 1.75%

Halma (HLMA) 2,652.00p 1.69%

Next (NXT) 9,944.00p 1.66%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

3i Group (III) 3,238.00p -2.03%

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,134.00p -1.05%

Frasers Group (FRAS) 825.50p -0.96%

Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,208.00p -0.90%

BT Group (BT.A) 146.70p -0.81%

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 152.85p -0.78%

Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,157.00p -0.74%

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 412.50p -0.65%

Sage Group (SGE) 1,018.00p -0.63%

GSK (GSK) 1,507.00p -0.63%