FTSE 100 surged in early trade. The index climbed more than 40 points to break above the 10,500 mark for the first time. The rally followed a 29% jump in Schroders after the asset manager agreed to a £9.9 billion takeover by US investment giant Nuveen.
Schroders soared 28.99% to £589.50 after it accepted a £590-per-share cash offer plus a £22 dividend. The group is now valued at £612 per share.
The deal represents a 29% premium to the prior close and 42% above the three-month average.
The combined entity will manage £1.8 trillion in assets, creating one of the world’s largest global active asset managers. The takeover news sparked a broader rally across financial services stocks.
St. James’s Place gained 3.27% to £1,296 while London Stock Exchange Group rose 2.55% to £7,570. Pershing Square Holdings also climbed 2.21% to £4,622, and ICG advanced 2.09% to £1,714.
RELX reported a 9% rise in operating profit to £3.3 billion on revenues of £9.59 billion, boosting investor confidence in its AI-driven growth strategy. The company increased its dividend by 7% to £67.5 per share.
The group forecast another year of strong underlying growth in revenue and adjusted operating profit in the year ahead.
Some defensive heavyweights still lagged. Unilever fell 2.22% to £5,202 after warning that 2026 growth would sit at the lower end of its 4-6% guidance range.
Among others, Reckitt Benckiser slipped 0.54% to £6,280, Severn Trent dropped 1.10% to £3,049 and GSK declined 1.54% to £2,117.
SSE also fell 0.76% to £2,616, while Persimmon retreated 1.16% to £1,491.50.
British American Tobacco posted strong operational momentum despite a 1% revenue decline to £25.61 billion. The profit came from operations surging 265% after a major legal settlement in Canada.
The company lifted its dividend by 2% and announced a £1.3 billion buyback for 2026.
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UK GDP grew 0.1% in December and it brought annual growth for 2025 to 1.3% slightly ahead of 2024’s 1.1%.
Wall Street closed mixed overnight after stronger US nonfarm payroll data reduced expectations of near-term Federal Reserve rate cuts.
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% and Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2% while S&P 500 finished almost flat.
Gold traded lower at $5068 an ounce while the pound stood at $1.3624 before the release of fourth quarter GDP figures.
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