FTSE 100 movers: Airtel Africa surges; BT under the cosh

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 8,626.57 in afternoon trade on Thursday. Airtel Africa surged after a well-received third-quarter update and as it announced the launch of a second share buyback programme.

St James's Place rallied as it said net inflows and strong investment returns for clients had driven record funds under management for the year to the end of December 2024.

On the downside, BT Group was under the cosh as it said third-quarter revenues had fallen amid weaker phone sales and a struggling business unit.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said it had been a "patchy" third quarter.

"It's all well and good talking about cost transformation when sales are falling nearly across the board. Openreach was the only business area to show revenue progression," he said.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Airtel Africa (AAF) 146.60p 10.23% St James's Place (STJ) 1,020.00p 9.80% easyJet (EZJ) 512.20p 4.38% Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,336.00p 2.91% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 338.90p 2.67% Rightmove (RMV) 667.60p 2.49% Prudential (PRU) 687.20p 2.44% Fresnillo (FRES) 691.00p 2.37% Kingfisher (KGF) 249.50p 2.13% Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 460.30p 2.06%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Smith (DS) (SMDS) 581.50p -2.60% Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 4,229.00p -2.26% BT Group (BT.A) 144.20p -1.23% Whitbread (WTB) 2,883.00p -1.17% The Sage Group (SGE) 1,323.00p -1.01% Admiral Group (ADM) 2,731.00p -0.84% GSK (GSK) 1,391.50p -0.64% Rentokil Initial (RTO) 392.30p -0.51% Barclays (BARC) 295.30p -0.34% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 7,980.00p -0.32%