Standard Chartered leads FTSE 100 higher in earnings-driven session

By Devik Jain

(Reuters) -London’s FTSE 100 climbed on Thursday, driven by strong earnings updates from firms including Whitbread and Standard Chartered, although Sainsbury hit the bottom of the index after warning of a drop in annual profit due to the cost-of-living crisis.

The blue-chip index rose 0.8%, while the domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index advanced 0.9%.

Standard Chartered jumped 12.5% to the top of the FTSE 100 after the emerging markets-focused lender posted a forecast-beating 6% rise in quarterly profit, benefiting from higher interest rates aimed at controlling inflation.

Smith+Nephew gained 3% after the medical products maker topped first-quarter sales estimates, helped by a revival in elective surgeries that were delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitbread added 2.7% after the Premier Inn owner resumed dividend payments and said its future bookings in leisure and business segments at its British hotels have surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

“Broadly going through this reporting season, things are coming out pretty much where we want them if not better… the trouble with looking at the earnings is they’re backwards looking,” said Adrian Gosden, investment director at GAM Investments.

“The energy bills hit the UK consumer in April, that’s when they really got stuck in and so it will take us through to the other side of the summer to get companies to report on the quarter that we’re currently in to see how strong the consumer was in terms of willingness to pay a little bit more for what they wanted.”

Bucking the positive mood, Sainsbury’s fell 3.1% after the supermarket group followed market leader Tesco in flagging a lower annual profit due to soaring inflation.

Unilever rose 0.6% after the Dove soap maker posted upbeat quarterly sales as it hiked prices by more than 8% to offset higher supply chain and energy costs.

Grafton Group gained 5.5% to top the FTSE 150 after the building materials supplier reported a 17.5% rise in revenue.

(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Subhranshu Sahu)