Compelling earnings from industry giants lift London stocks

The broader personal care, drug and grocery stores index rose 1.7% on the news, leading sectoral gains. British American Tobacco advanced 5.9% to the top of the FTSE 100 after the Dunhill cigarette maker forecast low-single-digit organic revenue growth in 2024 and a full-year profit beat.

Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 rose on Thursday, supported by a string of upbeat results from industry giants, including Unilever and British American Tobacco, while a drop in drugmaker AstraZeneca's fourth-quarter profit dragged the pharma and biotech index lower.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 climbed 0.1% by 9:01 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 added 0.5%. Shares of Unilever rose 3.1% after the Dove soap maker reported a rise in fourth-quarter sales and launched a 1.5 billion euro ($1.6 billion) share buyback program.

"Unilever will continue to be seen as a solid defensive play and a core constituent of most portfolios, while also being held back by its reputation as a company with limited high growth prospects," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor. The broader personal care, drug and grocery stores index rose 1.7% on the news, leading sectoral gains.

British American Tobacco advanced 5.9% to the top of the FTSE 100 after the Dunhill cigarette maker forecast low-single-digit organic revenue growth in 2024 and a full-year profit beat. Shares of catering group Compass also climbed 3.7% on a rise in first-quarter organic revenue and better-than-expected like-for-like volume.

On the contrary, top decliner pharma and biotech index shed 1.5% on a 2.3% fall in AstraZeneca shares as fourth-quarter profit missed market estimates. The precious metal miners lost 0.3% as a pushback from U.S. Federal Reserve officials on early interest rate cuts lowered gold prices.

Among other corporate updates, shares in global miner Anglo American climbed more than 2% following strong uptick in copper production last year. SSE was at the bottom on FTSE 100, down 2.2%, after the power generator and network operator forecast lower-than-expected renewable production in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, data showed Britain's housing market recovered further in January with new buyer enquiries at their strongest in almost two years.