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A stronger than expected start on Wall Street and better-than-expected US factory data helped give sentiment a bit of a lift on Friday afternoon.
By the close the FTSE 100 was off its lows to trade down 0.8% at 7,027.07. In the US the S&P 500 was up 0.3% to 4,321.68 by 4.30pm UK time.
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon reversed earlier losses to trade 3.3% higher at £10.78 as it reported wider annual losses as the pandemic-impact including lockdowns weighed revenue growth.
For the 52 weeks ended 25 July, pre-tax losses widened to £154.7 million from £34.1 million year-on-year as revenue fell 38.8% to £154.7 million.
Online electrical retailer AO World fell 23.7% to 165.8p as it said it expected profit to be 'heavily weighed' toward the second half of the year after reporting that first-half sales were weighed down by supply chain issues.
Information services provider Euromoney Institutional Investor upgraded its guidance, expecting annual adjusted pre-tax profit to be 'significantly' ahead of analysts' expectations. Its shares perked up 8.3% to £11.
Convenience foods maker Greencore fell 2.4% to 137.8p despite upgrading its outlook on adjusted operating profit after reporting stronger fourth quarter performance.
FY21 adjusted operating profit outturn was expected toward the upper end of previous guidance of between £36 million and £40 million, the company said.
Digital services business Capita fell 0.6% to 50.7p as it said it had agreed to sell its secure solutions and services business to NEC Software Solutions for about £62 million.