The FTSE 100 recovered their earlier declines to stay flat in late morning trade on Friday at 7,451.53. That was in spite of obvious drags from select heavyweight company news.
The mid cap FTSE 250 nudged 0.17% to the good at 21,709.74.
Overnight China’s Shanghai fell 0.7% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 was off 0.6%. Meanwhile oil prices were flat and the pound was steady at $1.3o against the dollar.
A lower than expected final dividend and uninspiring outlook took the shine off better-than-expected full year results at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Shares in the UK bank slumped 7% to 212.7p after the company reported pre-tax profit of £4.2bn, above analysts’ consensus of £3.8bn.
New chief Alison Rose unveiled a new strategy for the taxpayer-backed bank, including cutting-back the size of the investment side of the business and renaming the company NatWest Group.
Shares in pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZN) bounced off earlier lows to trade a fraction (0.14%) higher at £76.37 after the company posted a 22% fall in annual profit as rising revenues were offset by an increase in selling and other administrative costs.
Revenues roses 10% to $24.4bn but pre-tax profits for the year through December fell to $1.55bn, down from $1.99bn the previous year.
Copper and gold producer SolGold (SOLG) said that it will need to raise new funds to bring projects into development and currently has insufficient working capital, sending the shares down 8% to 18p.
Going in the other direction were shares in warehouse property investor Segro (SGRO) after it reported adjusted pre-tax profit up 10% to £267.5m, buoyed by 4.7% growth in like-for-like rental income.
The company declared a full-year dividend of 20.7p, up 10% on-year.
Also rising were shares of utility group Centrica (CNA) which gained 4% to 74.7p after losing more than 15% yesterday on disappointing full year results.
