The FTSE 100 is in a tentative mood, opening up slightly with around a three point gain to 7,614. The market may be waiting for an update on inflation due in shortly. Miners such as BHP Billiton (BLT) continue to struggle, the company is down 1.3% to £16.78.
Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) shifts on 1.3% to £15.80 as its two drug treatment for HIV has met an important goal in development.
The two-drug injectable treatment regimen met the primary endpoint for non-inferiority, while safety, virologic response and drug resistance results for the injectable regimen were consistent with results from the phase II LATTE and LATTE-2 studies, the company said.
Insurance firm Admiral (ADM) is up 4% to £20.77 on news that its pre-tax profits rose 9% to £211m in the six months to 30 June. The company’s turnover is up 14% to £1.66bn and its earnings per share figure rose 8% to 61.6p. David Stevens, group CEO, says the European business grew by almost a fifth in a year.
FTSE 250 pharma company Hikma (HIK) gains 8.7% to £17.90 on revealing that it grew operating profit by 54% to $174m in the first half. In the period up to 30 June, the company also increased its revenue by 11% to $989m on a year-on-year basis.
Construction company Balfour Beatty (BBY) is up 1.3% to 294p as its first half statutory pre-tax profits swell to £50m from £29m the prior year. For the six months to 30 June, the company’s total revenue fell to £3.22bn from £3.43bn the previous year but its order book increased by 11% to £12.6bn.
Energy company investor Riverstone Energy (RSE) ticks up 1.7% to £12.24 after increasing its net asset value per share by 2.9% in sterling terms during its first half. The company made a $10.7m profit in the six months to 30 June, taking advantage of a favourable market conditions to exit Three Ricers Natural Resources and sell 4.4 million shares in Centennial Resource Development.
Nanotechnology company Nanoco (NANO) dips 7.8% to 43.3p as an update ahead of its final results contain no information about profits. The company has said that it expects revenue of up to £3.3m and also details a ‘structured reorganisation’ of is executive team with chief financial officer David Blain stepping down.
