Source: Sharecast
Weir Group was leading the FTSE 100 leaderboard on Friday afternoon after the industrial engineer reported an impressive set of 2024 results, with strong aftermarket demand and improving margins, helping the stock to jump 6%.
Going into 2025, Stanton said Weir had a “growing pipeline” of project bids, a strong order book, and was seeing positive aftermarket demand drivers in mining. In a separate announcement, Weir said it had agreed to acquire mining software provider Micromine for £657m.
Sector peer IMI was also up 5% after delivering record annual earnings, driven by "good demand" for its energy-saving climate control solutions and a decent increase in profit margins.
Also impressing the market was property portal Rightmove after posting a rise in full-year revenue and operating profit, and lifting its dividend, as it said housing market activity gradually improved throughout the year.
Lastly, British Airways owner IAG reported a better-than-expected jump in annual profits after doubling earnings in the final quarter, driven by “robust” leisure travel and said it planned to return a further €1bn to shareholders.
Banking stocks were in demand despite widespread outages affecting the sector on Friday, marking the second consecutive month of payday-related banking disruptions. Nationwide, First Direct, Lloyds, and Halifax all experienced online banking issues, though most banks said systems were back to normal by the afternoon. The only listed bank in that group, Lloyds, was up 1%.
Leading the fallers was Smurfit Westrock as the packaging company announced the resignation of boardmember and non-executive director Dmitri Stockton.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,418.00p 5.77%
IMI (IMI) 1,985.00p 4.92%
Haleon (HLN) 400.80p 4.81%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,195.00p 3.87%
Rightmove (RMV) 667.40p 3.76%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 351.20p 3.69%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 751.40p 2.71%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,676.00p 2.45%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,318.00p 2.22%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 426.40p 1.99%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 4,037.00p -4.20%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,035.00p -2.86%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,068.00p -2.73%
Fresnillo (FRES) 733.50p -2.40%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,737.50p -2.22%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 567.50p -1.48%
3i Group (III) 3,950.00p -1.40%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 21,520.00p -1.33%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 393.70p -1.15%
WPP (WPP) 638.40p -1.05%