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FTSE 100 movers: Next rallies but Smiths Group slumps on results
London's FTSE 100 was down 0.7% to 6,904.97 in afternoon trade on Friday amid trade war worries.
Next bucked the trend, rallying as it kept the dividend flat despite reporting a 5.6% fall in earnings per share after store sales fell in the year to 31 January. Analysts said the fact it has maintained its full-year guidance will be taken well following recent weakness and negative news flow from the UK retail sector.
"Next's 54-page-long results release is a whopper but it is what is missing from the statement that matters more than what is in it - there is no profit warning, there is no dividend cut and there is no sense of panic," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
Micro Focus was in the black, clawing back some of the losses it suffered earlier in the week after a profit warning on Monday.
GlaxoSmithKline was also higher after saying it's no longer interested in Pfizer's consumer healthcare business and announcing European and Japanese approval for its Shingrix shingles vaccine.
Centrica rose as Credit Suisse nudged up its price target on the outperform-rated stock to 175p from 170p.
"We see deep value within Centrica. We believe that the company can maintain the 12p/share dividend, even with a draconian price cap. In any event, we think a dividend cut is priced-in," the bank said, as it lifted its 2018 earnings per share estimate by 4% but cut its 2019 and 2020 estimates by around 1%.
On the downside, engineer Smiths Group tumbled after it posted a 12% drop in interim profit and revenue and sounded a cautious note its outlook.
Aviva fell as it said it has decided not to cancel £450m worth of preference shares following "strong feedback and criticism" from a large number of investors.
Just Eat was under pressure as Canaccord Genuity downgraded the stock to 'hold' from 'buy' and slashed the price target to 700p from 850p as it published new forecasts following last week's prelims and new guidance.
Risers
Next (NXT) 5,000.00p 8.01%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 957.20p 4.98%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,214.50p 4.74%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,326.40p 4.13%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,912.00p 2.60%
Centrica (CNA) 134.65p 2.08%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,402.00p 1.78%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 269.30p 1.51%
SSE (SSE) 1,230.00p 1.40%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,938.00p 1.36%
Fallers
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,481.50p -3.55%
Old Mutual (OML) 238.60p -3.36%
Carnival (CCL) 4,561.00p -2.61%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,715.00p -2.28%
Aviva (AV.) 492.60p -2.26%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 711.70p -2.12%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,661.20p -2.06%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 375.50p -2.01%
Just Eat (JE.) 703.40p -1.98%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 64.77p -1.95%