London Report: FTSE climbs after Persimmon delivers a set of good results
BRITAIN’S top share index yesterday climbed to its highest closing level in three weeks, bolstered by housebuilding stocks after robust results from Persimmon.
The UK blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended up 38.06 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 6,779.31 points.
Persimmon delivered a 57 per cent rise in pretax profit and said it was trading ahead of last year in the traditionally slower summer period. It closed 1.1 per cent up at 1,350p.
Meanwhile, construction firm Carillion raised for the third time its merger proposal for engineering company Balfour Beatty, with new terms that valued its rival at £2.1bn.
Balfour Beatty rose 3.2 per cent to 256p, while Carillion shed 0.2 per cent to close on 336.70p.
Elsewhere, cigarette firm Imperial Tobacco climbed 2.3 per cent to 2,585p after announcing that it expected to report modest adjusted earnings growth in the full year after volumes from its top growth brands rose by three per cent in the first nine months.