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FTSE 100 movers: BHP, HSBC drop on results; Evraz rallies on new contract
London's FTSE 100 was down 0.2% to 7,235.19 in afternoon trade on Tuesday as investors mulled disappointing results from HSBC, BHP and InterContinental.
Evraz was the standout gainer after signing a new five-year contract on Monday to supply rail products to Russian Railways.
Mining giant BHP Billiton was in the red. The company declared a bumper dividend and said underlying attributable profit rose 25% in the six months to the end of December, but this fell short of expectations of $4.3bn and investors were disappointed with the performance on productivity.
InterContinental Hotels was down after it reported a jump in full-year profit but said it will not be paying out any additional capital this year as it looks to reinvest savings in growth.
In the year to the end of December 2017, operating profit rose 7% to $759m versus consensus of $754m, while pre-tax profit was up 14.7% to $678m.
The company also said it is undertaking a comprehensive efficiency programme to realise around $125m in annual savings for reinvestment to drive growth. As a result, no additional capital return will be paid this year, but IHG said its commitment to return surplus funds to shareholders remain unchanged.
Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser was under the cosh as Credit Suisse cut the stock to 'neutral' from 'outperform' and reduced the price target to 6,300p from 7,500p following a disappointing FY18 outlook in the full-year results on Monday.
"Whilst the FY results were broadly in line, the outlook was more cautious than expected. Pricing pressure persists and will be compounded this year by higher input costs," CS said.
Advertising giant WPP retreated after Pivotal downgraded the stock to 'hold' while Shire was weaker as JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded the specialty biopharmaceutical company to 'neutral' from 'overweight', slashing the price target to 3,600p from 5,000p.
The bank said that while the valuation remains undemanding, there are few 2018 or 2019 catalysts beyond the potential spin-off of the Neuroscience division, which it does not see as creating fundamental value.
Risers
Evraz (EVR) 430.50p 4.49%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 485.30p 2.13%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,056.00p 1.88%
Schroders (SDR) 3,474.00p 1.88%
Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 379.70p 1.82%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,852.00p 1.74%
Croda International (CRDA) 4,486.50p 1.73%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 191.20p 1.73%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,465.00p 1.65%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 291.60p 1.50%
Fallers
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,494.20p -4.34%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,514.00p -3.90%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 733.30p -3.58%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 5,928.00p -2.42%
WPP (WPP) 1,402.50p -2.30%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,998.00p -1.41%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,067.00p -1.40%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,037.00p -1.02%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,348.50p -0.92%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 891.60p -0.69%