FTSE 100 Modestly Higher On Earnings

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are up in positive territory Thursday morning, outperforming peers, as investors react to a slew of earnings updates. Worries about global economic growth in the wake of fresh tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump limit market's upside a bit.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 19.60 points or 0.22% at 8,751.06f a few minutes ago.

Aerospace and defense major Rolls-Royce Holdings shares are soaring nearly 19% after the company reported 2024 operating profit of £2.46 billion, beating analyst expectations. Looking ahead, for fiscal 2025, the company now projects underlying operating profit of 2.7 billion pounds to 2.9 billion pounds, as well as free cash flow of 2.7 billion pounds to 2.9 billion pounds.

Aviva is gaining nearly 2.5%. Aviva reported full-year profit of 683 million pounds or 23.3 pence per share from 1.09 billion pounds or 37.2 pence per share in 2023.

IAG, London Stock Exchange, BAE Systems and Melrose Industries are up 2.2 to 2.5%.

AstraZeneca, Hikma Pharma and Hiscox are gaining 1.2 to 1.3%. JD Sports Fashion, Intertek, Glencore, Marks & Spencer, BT Group and Easyjet are modestly higher.

WPP is plunging 15.5%. WPP reported profit before tax of 1.031 billion pounds for the full year, significantly higher than 346 million pounds in the previous year. Earnings per share rose to 49.4p from 10.1p in the prior year.

Howden Joinery is declining 7.4% after reporting a 0.3% drop in operating profit at 339.2 million pounds in 2024, from 340.2 million pounds in the previous year. Net profit was 249.3 million pounds or 45.4p per share, down from 254.6 million pounds or 46.3p per share last year.

Haleon is down 3.4% after reporting a fall in revenue. However, the company reported a rise in pre-tax income, helped by a decline in costs and a rise in other incomes.

Barclays Group, Diageo, RightMove, Taylor Wimpey, Croda International, 3i Group, Vistry Group, SSE, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Auto Trader Group, Experia and Mondi are lower by 1.2 to 3%,

Wealth management firm St. James's Place plc said its fiscal 2024 IFRS profit before shareholder tax was 535.9 million pounds, compared to prior year's loss of 4.5 million pounds. Earnings per share were 72.6 pence, compared to loss of 1.8 pence last year.

Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, or SMMT, said UK car production logged a double-digit decline in January reflecting weakness in key markets combined with planned model changeovers. The data said vehicle production slid 17.7% from a year ago. Factories rolled out 71,104 cars and 6,908 commercial vehicles. In the same period last year, there was a bumper performance, when car and commercial vehicle output climbed 21.0 percent and 27.5 percent.

Production for home market declined 30.5% and that for exports decreased 13.4% from the previous year.