London’s FTSE 100 edged 0.21% higher to 7,356.94 points on the last full trading day before Christmas, as investors welcomed news that the Omicron variant may not be as severe as previous strains.
Citing data from an Oxford University laboratory study, drugs giant AstraZeneca (AZN) said a three dose course of its Covid-19 vaccine is effective against the highly transmissible new strain.
This gave a boost to travel and leisure stocks including British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG), bid up 4% to 147p, aero-engineer Rolls-Royce (RR.), which rose 3.4% to 122.4p, and Premier Inn owner Whitbread (WTB), marked 2.6% higher to £30.27.
Also on the rise was InterContinental Hotels (IHG), while in the FTSE 250, shares in low-cost carriers Wizz Air (WIZZ) and EasyJet (EZJ) and pubs play Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) were also in demand.
CORPORATE NEWS
Paddy Power and Betfair owner Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) firmed 2.6% to £116 as investors welcomed its £1.62 billion purchase of Sisal, Italy’s leading online gaming operator, from CVC Capital Partners.
The FTSE 100 gambling giant insisted the Sisal acquisition ‘fully aligns’ with its strategy of investing to build leadership positions in regulated markets globally and the deal, which should complete during the second quarter of 2022, is expected to enhance Flutter’s earnings in the first year post-completion.
Mining giant BHP (BHP) was marked down 0.4% to £21.75, despite receiving a C$17.78 million payment from Canada’s Noront Resources as part of a termination payment after the latter ended its ?agreement to support a BHP takeover offer.
Noront accepted a $616.9 million or C$1.10 takeover offer from Wyloo Metals after BHP decided against upping its $0.75 per share bid.
FTSE 250 infrastructure investor International Public Partnerships (INPP) inched 0.1% higher to 168.2p after agreeing to acquire a small portfolio of UK private public partnership investments from Amber Infrastructure for £3.1 million.
‘All the assets in this portfolio are now performing well with either no or minimal operational issues,’ said International Public Partnerships.
‘Overall, the portfolio is strongly yielding and delivers partially index-linked returns.’
Following on from yesterday’s announced disposal of Templars Square, Oxford, for £28 million, NewRiver REIT (NRR) nudged up 1.1% to 86.9 as it announced the completion of the disposal of Poole Retail Park in Dorset for £58 million.
AROUND THE MARKET
Elsewhere, esports and gaming solutions provider Gfinity (GFIN:AIM) gained 6.1% to 3.5p after extending its partnership with advertising technology platform Venatus for a third year.
The renewed agreement will allow Gfinity to accelerate its focus on driving the value per user across its websites under the Gfinity Digital Media group (GDM).
‘Successful partnerships with gaming experts such as Venatus are helping the GDM to go from strength to strength,’ enthused Gfinity CEO John Clarke.
‘We look forward to finding new and innovative ways to authentically engage gamers, driving growth of owned and recurring revenue streams as we target ambitious expansion over the years to come.’
Molecular diagnostics minnow Yourgene Health (YGEN:AIM) was marked up 2.5% to 12.6p after winning a contract from the Department of Health & Social Care to provide laboratory capacity to support the government’s Covid-19 testing programme, which is set to run until the end of March 2022.
Eyewear frames designer Inspecs (SPEC:AIM) edged up 1.4% to 370p on the acquisition of design and licensing outfit Ego Eyewear, whose licensed brands include the likes of Barbour and Liberty of London, in a deal which will further develop Inspecs’ brand portfolio and add to its Scandinavian offering.
And oil and gas engineering services business Plexus (POS:AIM) perked up 3.3% to 7.75p on the award of an order for a POS-GRIP surface production wellhead system from an unnamed North Sea operator.
