LONDON (Alliance News) - Amid a lack of economic data on Thursday though a deluge of company news, the FTSE 100 at midday was climbing as the index continues to eye a fresh all-time high.Among the blue-chips risers at midday were
Experian,
Burberry and
British Land. Dragging at the other end was
Royal Mail, with
HSBC Holdings lower as it went ex-dividend.The FTSE 250 was outperforming London's index of large-caps thanks to a 60% jump for Ocado as it unveiled a technology sharing deal with Kroger, the second largest general retailer in the US.The FTSE 100 was up 0.2%, or 16.27 points, at 7,750.47 by Thursday midday. The index's all-time high currently stands at 7,792.56, which was set in January of this year.The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 0.8% at midday, 164.98 points higher, at 20,993.77. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.1% at 1,084.22.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.1% at 13,151.86. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.0% at 19,223.71, and the Cboe UK Small Companies up 0.4% at 12,855.36.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.3% and up 0.2%, respectively.Stocks in New York on Thursday were pointed to a lower open, having finished higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 were both seen 0.1% lower, while the Nasdaq composite was pointed down 0.4% The indices closed up 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.6% respectively on Wednesday.The White House said Wednesday US President Donald Trump is poised for next month's planned summit despite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's threat to cancel the meeting."We're still hopeful that the meeting will take place, and we'll continue down that path," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told US broadcaster Fox News. "But at the same time, we've been prepared that these could be tough negotiations.Trump is "ready if the meeting takes place, and if it doesn't, we'll continue the maximum pressure campaign that's been ongoing," Sanders said.North Korea cancelled high-level talks scheduled for Wednesday with South Korea due to the ongoing so-called Max Thunder drills being conducted by Washington and Seoul.To come in the US economic calendar on Thursday are initial and continuing jobless claims are 1330 BST, with the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey due at the same time. EIA natural gas storage change is at 1530 BST. In the corporate calendar, grocer Walmart reports earnings before the bell.In London at midday, credit-checking firm
Experian was the best FTSE 100 performer, up 4.2%.Revenue rose 8% to USD4.66 billion for the year to March 31 from USD4.34 billion last year, though pretax profit dipped to USD994 million from USD1.07 billion last year. The blue-chip firm upped its total dividend by 8% to 44.75 cents.The company said it saw a "strong finish" to the year, with fourth quarter revenue growth of 12% and organic growth of 8%.
Burberry was 2.9% higher, extending Wednesday's 3.6% gain on a set of in-line annual results.
British Land was 2.7% higher after the commercial property company said despite challenging market conditions, annual profit rose substantially amid growing revenue and a swing to profit on property valuation movements.For the year to the end of March, the group reported pretax profit of GBP501 million, more than doubling from GBP195 million the year before. This was after it recorded a GBP202 million gain from the revaluation of properties, swinging from a loss of GBP144 million in the prior year. Revenue grew considerably to GBP639 million from GBP589 million the year before.Slumped at the bottom of the index was
Royal Mail, down 5.7%.Revenue rose 4.1% to GBP10.17 billion for the year to March 25, from GBP9.78 billion the year before. This was up 2% on an underlying basis. Adjusted operating profit, before transformation costs, fell to GBP694 million from GBP712 million last year.The UK parcel and letter delivery segment, UKPIL, recorded revenue which was flat on a underlying basis, as it dipped to GBP7.62 billion from GBP7.66 billion. Within UKPIL, parcel revenue grew 4% while total letter revenue declined by 4%. Parcel volumes rose 5%, while address letter volumes fell 5%. UKPIL collections, processing and delivery productivity improved by 1%, below the firm's target range of 2% to 3%.
HSBC Holdings was down 1.8% as the Asia-focused bank went ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest payout.
Intertek, also ex-dividend, was 1.1% lower.Safely at the top of the FTSE 250 was
Ocado, up 60% to 883.00 pence, having hit an all-time high of 895.00p earlier in the session on news of a deal with Kroger.The technology sharing and investment partnership pact gives Kroger exclusivity in groceries for Ocado's technology in the US.As part of the deal, Kroger will invest GBP183 million in the online supermarket and will use Ocado's technology for grocery and other food distribution related activities in the US. It will pay monthly exclusivity and consultancy fees for using Ocado's technology.This new deal comes just a fortnight after Ocado landed a deal with Sweden's ICA Group, and follows partnerships in Canada and France which were announced in January and December respectively. None of these previous partnerships, however, included an investment into Ocado"Another leg up in the share price today reflects market excitement about the size of the opportunity across the Atlantic. However, the tie-up with US chain Kroger is not expected to be immediately earnings enhancing, so the company will remain loss-making for the time being," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.The stock has more than doubled in value since the start of 2018, having begun the year trading around the 400p mark.In second place was
Just Group, up 10%. The retirement-focused financial services company said it made a "strong" start to the year as it increased total new business sales.For the three months ended March 31, Just Group total new business sales rose 41% to GBP617 million from GBP436 million the year before. This was driven by retirement income sales increasing by 43% to GBP454 million from GBP317 million.At the bottom of the index was
Hill & Smith Holdings, down 8.5%. The infrastructure products manufacturer said operating profit for the period from January to April was lower than last year as revenue dipped to GBP185.1 million from GBP191.3 million.Hill & Smith said there was positive trading in its international businesses; however the UK was hurt by project delays and bad weather. However the group's UK performance started to recover in mid-March, it said. During the period, Hill & Smith completed four acquisitions for a total of GBP32.6 million.Elsewhere on the Main Market,
Mothercare rose 24% after it laid out a GBP113.5 million funding plan and a restructuring of its UK store portfolio.Under the store estate restructuring plan, the parenting products retailer plans to close 50 stores and seek rent reductions on a further 21 stores. It expects to have a total store portfolio of 78 by 2020, down from the current 137 stores.Mothercare plans to raise GBP28 million via issue of new equity in July via placing and open offer. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
Foxtons was up 6.1% despite reporting a drop in sales volumes and revenue in the first quarter due to a "challenging" London property market.The company recorded a revenue of GBP24.5 million for the three months to March-end, down from GBP28.7 million the prior year. The drop was attributed to lower sales pipeline, slow start to January and Easter timing."Whilst the sales pipeline has begun to improve it remains below where it was this time last year. The performance of our lettings business improved towards the end of the quarter and throughout April," Foxtons said in a statement.
Fevertree - the third largest company by market capitalisation on London's junior AIM market - lost 6.0% despite saying its performance in the first four months of 2018 was "encouraging" and trading remained in line with full-year expectations.In its annual general meeting statement, Chairman Bill Ronald said the tonic water maker saw "positive progress" for the first four months of 2018, especially in the UK.Phil Carroll, research analyts at Shore Capital, said: "The lack of upgrades to market expectations may put a dampener on the share price today, especially considering it has been rising into today's statement."
Last checked at 
