FTSE 100 movers: St James's Place, Reckitt in the red

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 7,634.75 in afternoon trade on Wednesday. Wealth manager St James's Place tumbled after saying it swung to a full-year loss and slashing its dividend, as it set aside £426m for potential client refunds.

In the year to the end of December 2023, the company swung to an IFRS loss after tax of £9.9m from a profit of £407.2m the year before.

The firm posted a post-tax cash result of £68.7m, down from £410.1m a year earlier, as it took a significant hit from a one-off ongoing service evidence provision of £426m "for potential client refunds linked to the historic evidencing and delivery of ongoing servicing".

Reckitt Benckiser tumbled after fourth-quarter sales missed expectations. The owner of Durex, Nurofen, Vanish and Dettol, among others, said sales fell 7% in the three months to December end to £3.6bn, or by 1.2% on an underlying basis. Analysts had been expecting like-for-like sales to grow by 1.6%.

Taylor Wimpey also lost ground as it said 2023 profits almost halved as higher mortgage rates hit demand, but added that current trading was showing "some encouraging signs of improvement with reduced mortgage rates positively impacting affordability".

FTSE 100 - Risers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 366.00p 2.20% Barclays (BARC) 169.72p 1.74% Sage Group (SGE) 1,225.00p 1.61% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 116.60p 1.57% Kingfisher (KGF) 233.60p 1.48% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 524.60p 1.47% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 236.90p 1.45% Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,326.00p 1.40% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 610.60p 1.31% 3i Group (III) 2,440.00p 1.03%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

St James's Place (STJ) 487.60p -22.40% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,090.00p -13.05% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 133.60p -4.73% Unite Group (UTG) 933.00p -4.45% Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,068.00p -4.04% Ocado Group (OCDO) 477.80p -3.28% Anglo American (AAL) 1,708.00p -3.08% RS Group (RS1) 755.60p -2.84% Haleon (HLN) 312.80p -2.83% Halma (HLMA) 2,298.00p -2.79%