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Shares in the owner of British Gas fell by almost 10pc despite the London stock market bouncing back following a tech stock meltdown on Wall Street.
Centrica plunged 9.9pc, or 14.2p, to 128.85p after first-half profits halved – though it still made £1bn – following a 35pc drop in revenues to £13.3bn.
The FTSE 100 company pointed towards a ‘more normalised environment, having cashed in on soaring energy prices in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
Centrica plunged 9.9pc, or 14.2p, to 128.85p after first-half profits halved
It came during a turbulent day worldwide following a brutal selloff of US tech stocks in the previous session.
More than £500bn was wiped off the value of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ – Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook parent Meta and Tesla – on Wednesday, after disappointing updates from Tesla and Alphabet.
The turmoil sparked heavy selling in Europe early yesterday, with the FTSE 100 falling as low as 8056, its lowest since April. Victoria Scholar, at Interactive Investor, said markets have ‘become extremely vulnerable to the fate of a small handful of tech giants’.
But Wall Street stabilised and the Footsie closed up 0.40pc, or 32.66 points, to 8186.35 while the FTSE 250 was down 0.32pc, or 66.49 points, to 20,884.35. Smoking giant BAT warned illegal single-use vaping products in the US was hurting its business, even as sales of its new range rose by £165m in the first half, and gained 5.3pc, or 137p, to 2713p.
Relx added 2.9pc, or 101p, to 3583p, after the data and analytics firm’s revenues rose 7pc to £4.6bn in the first half with profits up 14pc to £1.3bn.
In the telecoms sector BT said its business arm remained affected by legacy contracts while its consumer division faced increased competition.
Group revenue slid 2pc to £5.1bn in the quarter to the end of June while profit fell 3pc to £520m. It climbed 0.4pc, or 0.55p, to 140.3p.
Strong growth across Turkey, South Africa and Egypt helped revenues at Vodafone rise 2.8pc to £7.6bn in the first quarter, lifting it 2.4pc, or 1.7p, to 72.14p.
Trading platform IG Group gained 4.9pc, or 41.5p, to 886.5p after resilient results in ‘slower market conditions’, with revenues down 3pc to £987m in the year to the end of May. And CMC Markets rose 0.8pc, or 2.5p, to 302p after it reiterated its annual forecasts after a decent first quarter.
Kitchen supplier Howden Joinery said it will continue to face higher freight costs in 2024, and sank 3.8pc, or 35.5p, to 912p.
De La Rue nursed even heavier losses after the banknote printer revealed a ‘material uncertainty’ over its financial future because a loan payment due next July. It dived 5.8pc, or 5.9p, to 96.6p.
Everyman Media – up 4.7pc, or 2.3p, to 51.5p – has welcomed more cinemagoers who paid higher ticket prices and spent more on food and drink. It is upbeat, with premieres including Joker: Folie a Deux, Paddington in Peru and Gladiator II to come.
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