On a busy day for corporate news the FTSE 100 climbs 0.3% to 7,309.63, boosted by strong trading on Wall Street overnight.
Pay-TV firm Sky (SKY) gains 18.3% to £13.07 as it is subject to a £22.1bn cash bid from US media conglomerate Comcast, an offer which trumps the existing bid from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox.
The £12.50 per share offer also pits Comcast against Disney which is currently trying to buy a string of assets from Fox, including its interest in Sky.
The UK’s second largest housebuilder Persimmon (PSN) is also a big winner this morning, rising 11.1% to £27.64 as it posts pre-tax profit up 25% to £966m on strong demand and reveals plans for a bumper three-year package of dividends. Other housebuilders, including Berkeley (BKG) and Taylor Wimpey (TW.) are also trading higher.
Challenger bank Virgin Money (VM.) gains 4% to 275p as it reports a 28% increase in full year pre-tax profit. The company is downbeat about 2018 margins but appears to have managed expectations well at a recent investor day, when several analysts downgraded their forecasts.
Baker Greggs (GRG) ticks up 0.8% to £13.23 as it delivers a 2% profit increase for 2017, in line with forecasts, thanks to new store openings and an expanded product range.
The company hikes its dividend 4.2% to 32.3p as it points to its ‘resilience in the face of a economic uncertainty.
Aerospace engineer Meggitt (MGGT) falls 2.25% to 456.1p as it points to continuing pressures on its energy-related business and a margin impact from new accounting rules, obscuring otherwise solid 2017 numbers.
Power generation outfit Drax (DRX) gains 5% to 250.4p as its core earnings come in slightly ahead of analysts’ expectations at £229m - up 63.6% year-on-year. The big rise reflects a strong contribution from the acquired Opus Energy business and higher profit from its biomass plants.
