(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were staging a rebound on Friday following Thursday's sell-off in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Evraz and Pearson performing strongly after issuing results.
Despite a chorus of outrage at Russian President Vladimir Putin's move, the punishments have so far been seen by markets as well short of the most stringent.
While the latest measures from Washington target Russia's two largest banks and see controls on high-tech items aimed at crippling its defence and aerospace sectors, US President Joe Biden has not cut off oil exports.
The FTSE 100 index was up 80.42 points, or 1.2%, at 7,287.80 early Friday. The index closed down 291.17 points, or 3.9%, to 7,207.01 on Thursday in its biggest single-day fall since June 2020.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 205.22 points, or 1.1%, at 20,457.10. The AIM All-Share index was up 5.61 points, or 0.6%, at 1,013.39.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 1.1% at 724.24. The Cboe 250 was up 0.6% at 18,205.49, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.1% at 14,811.48.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 1.0% higher.
In the FTSE 100, Evraz was the best performer, up 21%, after the Russian steelmaker delivered a robust financial performance in 2021 as demand increased. The stock was attempting to claw back steep losses having dropped 30% on Thursday and losing two-thirds of is value so far in 2022.
Evraz posted pretax profit of USD4.18 billion for 2021, more than three times higher than USD1.30 billion in 2020 on total segment revenue of USD14.16 billion, up 45% from USD9.75 billion. Evraz generated free cash flow of USD2.26 billion last year, doubled from USD1.02 billion in 2020.
The demerger of Evraz's coal business is expected to complete in late March 2022, the company said.
"We are conscious of the current geopolitical circumstances. We continue to monitor the situation and will keep you updated regarding any material developments that can influence our business," Chief Executive Officer Aleksey Ivanov said.
Pearson was up 8.5% after the education materials publisher launched a share buyback programme, as it said 2021 brought a strong financial performance.
Pearson posted pretax profit of GBP157 million, more than halved from GBP354 million in 2020, on total sales that rose marginally to GBP3.43 billion from GBP3.40 billion.
Pearson declared a total dividend of 20.5 pence, up 5.1% from 19.5p in 2020. In addition, the publisher said it intends to start a share buyback of GBP350 million in 2022.
Looking ahead, Pearson said it was confident of further group revenue growth, with adjusted operating profit before interest and tax expected to be in line with current market expectations.
"We are pleased to note the positive momentum (both operationally and from a trading / financial perspective). More broadly, we like Pearson's financial strength, growing exposure to and substantial sunk investment in digital products, and its status as a beneficiary of a positive medium-term outlook for global learning spend," said Shore Capital's Roddy Davidson.
BAE Systems was up 5.0% after JPMorgan raised the defence contactor to 'neutral' from 'underweight'. BAE on Thursday reported strong annual results.
Rightmove was up 4.5% after the property portal said pretax profit nearly doubled last year to GBP225.6 million from GBP134.8 million in 2020, as revenue jumped by nearly half to GBP304.9 million from GBP205.7 million. Revenue also beat 2019's total of GBP289.3 million.
Rightmove said it expects the number of property transactions in the UK to return to pre-pandemic levels, but it expects the online property advertising market to continue to grow.
The company declared a 4.8 pence final dividend, up from 4.5p a year ago, taking its total payout for 2021 to 7.8p.
International Consolidated Airlines Group was up 2.5% after the British Airways parent posted a narrowed loss for 2021 and said that it expects to fly 85% of its 2019 capacity in 2022.
IAG posted an operating loss of EUR2.77 billion in 2021, narrowing from EUR7.45 billion in 2020. Its operating loss before exceptional items narrowed to EUR2.97 billion from a EUR4.39 billion, beating consensus estimates for a loss of EUR3.03 billion.
However, the airline group, which also include Spain's Iberia and Ireland's Aer Lingus, expects operations to be profitable from the second quarter, leading to a significantly positive year for both operating profit and net cash flows from operating activities.
At the other end of the large-caps, Avast was the only stock in the red, down 0.1%.
The cybersecurity firm said it delivered a strong year of top line organic growth and high levels of profitability. For 2021, Avast posted pretax profit of USD450.3 million, almost doubled from USD236.3 million in 2020 on revenue USD941.1 million, up from USD892.9 million.
US peer NortonLifeLock said it has obtained antitrust clearance from Spain for its acquisition of Avast, but noted the UK antitrust review continues, which is the final condition for the purchase.
In Asia on Friday, markets rose, with the exception of Hong Kong. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 2.0%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.6%, but the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong lost 0.5%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.1%.
The dollar was lower across the board. The pound was quoted at USD1.3385 early Friday, up from USD1.3353 at the London equities close Thursday.
The euro was priced at USD1.1180, up from USD1.1148. Against the safe-haven yen, the dollar was trading at JPY115.30 in London, lower against JPY115.43.
Brent oil was quoted at USD101.64 a barrel Friday morning, down from USD104.19 at the close Thursday, though still above USD100 a barrel. Gold stood at USD1,911.24 an ounce, lower against USD1,924.11 late Thursday.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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