FTSE 100 Live: Howden Rises 2.8% on £390M Buy, ICG Slumps 4.6% Amid Oil-Driven Selloff

The FTSE 100 opened 1 point lower on Wednesday as escalating Middle East tensions and elevated oil prices weighed heavily on sentiment. Brent crude futures advanced 1.91% to $97.85 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 2.15% to $95.78 ‌a barrel.

Sterling was quoted at $1.3461 early Wednesday, lower than $1.3475 at the London equities close on Tuesday.

Gainers & Losers 

Howden Joinery Group led the gainers, rising 2.78% to £776, while Whitbread advanced 1.75% to £2,332 and United Utilities Group gained 1.64% to £1,301. Also, RELX climbed 1.58% to £2,513, while JD Sports Fashion added 1.57% to £85.36 and Bunzl moved higher by 1.40% to £2,314.

On the downside, ICG declined 4.64% to £1,769, while Rio Tinto slipped 2.03% to £8,139 and Lion Finance Group fell 1.01% to £10,810. Among other laggards, Games Workshop Group dropped 0.97% to £19,400, while Diploma eased 0.92% to £6,970 and AstraZeneca edged lower by 0.70% to £13,122.

Currys Names New Chief Executive

Currys has appointed Fredrik Tønnesen as its new chief executive following Alex Baldock’s stepping down from the position in March. 

Tønnesen has been chief executive of Currys Nordics subsidiary since March 2023 and is responsible for around 40% of group revenue, with over 20 years experience in the company. 

Currys said Tønnesen “has delivered outstanding financial and operational performance, more than tripling operating profits while elevating colleague and customer satisfaction scores to world-class levels” in the Nordics branch. 

Currys said it is expecting full year profit before tax to be approximately £191 million, ending the financial year with net cash of more than £170 million. 

Howden Acquires DIY Kitchen

Howden acquired its consumer-facing rival DIY Kitchen in a deal worth just below £400 million. The company has reached an agreement to acquire DIY Kitchens for £292.5 million in cash and £97.5 million in shares. 

The firm said the acquisition would not affect its announced £100 million buyback plan. DIY Kitchens’ online channel provides consumers with self-service planning, design and ordering tools. 

“DIY Kitchens is a highly profitable and growing enterprise with a proven business model quite distinct from Howdens’ own trade-only, full-service model, through which the Group will be able to access, directly, ‘non-trade’ consumers, thereby expanding its addressable customer base in the UK,” Howden’s said.

B&M Profit Declines

Retailer B&M reported a 37.5% collapse in adjusted pre-tax profit to £284 million for the year to March 2026, as margin erosion and cost inflation dragged EBITDA down 25.9% to £459 million despite a 3.6% rise in group revenue to £5.78 billion.

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Morningstar Cuts Space X IPO Target

Morningstar analysts have slashed the Space X’s valuation to $780 billion (£579.9 billion), less than half of what the space technology company is reportedly targeting. 

In a research note, analysts said: “We see a wide range of possibilities around the newly acquired AI business and find its economic moat indeterminate, and it also poses a material threat of value destruction to the company, which limits our overall economic moat rating to narrow.”

Global Market View

In the US, stocks closed higher, with the Dow Jones climbing 0.5%, while S&P 500 edged up 0.1% and Nasdaq ended just seven points higher.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.5% to 68,402.13. Taiwan’s TAIEX also jumped 1.98% to 46,459.15 points. In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.67%. In India, both Nifty 50 and Sensex declined by 0.71% and 0.82%, respectively.