Upgraded Rolls-Royce targets today helped its shares soar to a new record.
The FTSE 100 index also traded at an all-time high after last night’s forecast-beating Nvidia results underpinned confidence.
In other developments, WPP unveiled a turnaround plan and Ocado said it intended to cut 1000 jobs.
FTSE 100 Live Thursday
- Rolls-Royce boosts targets
- WPP unveils turnaround plan
- Ocado set to cut 1000 jobs
Market update: FTSE 100 builds on record, Rolls and LSEG surge
10:01 , Graeme EvansBumper cash returns from Rolls-Royce and London Stock Exchange Group today helped to keep the FTSE 100 index in record territory.
Rolls, which is now the fifth largest FTSE 100 company after soaring in value to £115 billion, traded above 1400p for the first time at one point today.
Another forecast-beating set of results under the leadership of Tufan Erginbilgic included a £1 billion surge in operating profit to £3.5 billion for 2025.
With current targets set to be met two years early, Rolls upgraded medium-term guidance to an operating profit of between £4.9 billion and £5.2 billion.
It also announced a dividend of 5p a share and said it would launch its first multi-year shares buyback programme worth up to £9 billion.
Erginbilgic said: “Beyond the mid-term we continue to see significant growth from existing businesses as well as from new business opportunities.”
Alongside the civil aerospace and defence divisions, the outlook has been boosted by profitable growth in power systems as Rolls captures data centre demand.
Rolls shares settled 6% or 74.5p higher at 1384.5p, just behind London Stock Exchange after the financial data and markets business included a £3 billion share buyback equivalent to 8% of its market capitalisation in annual results.
Having met or exceeded its medium-term guidance since 2023, LSEG also put in place a new framework for 2027-2029. This included mid-to-high single digit organic constant currency growth in total income.
Shares continued their recent recovery by adding another 466p to 8260p, having fallen from last Aprils 11,815p to 7180p earlier this month.
The other top performing stock in today’s FTSE 100 session was kitchen supplier Howden Joinery, which rose 6% or 53p to 909p after reporting a 5.1% rise in annual profits to £344.9 million.
The share price rally also benefited from guidance that Howden expects a steady year for the UK kitchen market, following several years of decline.
The FTSE 100 index stood at 10,828.23 after adding another 21.82 points to last night’s record close.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals fell 15% or 246p to 1406p after it forecast revenues growth of between 2% and 4% in 2026, which compares with 7% in 2025.
Hikma shares slide 15%, Howden Joinery ralies 7%
09:07 , Graeme EvansHikma Pharmaceuticals is bottom of the FTSE 100 index after its shares slumped 254p to 1398p in response to guidance in annual results.
The 15% reverse to a fresh four-year low was driven by a forecast for revenues growth of between 2% and 4% in 2026, which compares with 7% in 2025.
Alongside Rolls-Royce at the top of the FTSE 100, kitchens supplier Howden Joinery rose 7% or 62.5p to 918.5p after a 5.1% rise in pre-tax profits to £344.9 million.
Chief executive Andrew Livingston said: "For 2026, our planning assumption is that the UK kitchen market will be level year on year, following several years of decline, in what remains a competitive marketplace.”
A dividend of 16.9p has lifted the total for the year by 3.3% to 21.9p.
Ocado set to axe 1000 jobs, eyes £150m cost savings
08:26 , Graeme EvansAround 1000 jobs are being axed at Ocado as the retail technology firm looks to slash costs by about £150 million as part of a wider restructure.
The group confirmed around 5% of its global workforce is being cut, with about two thirds of the job losses impacting its UK operations.
Most of the UK cuts will affect staff at the firm’s headquarters in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.
Rolls-Royce and LSEG shares surge, FTSE 100 steady
08:11 , Graeme EvansRolls-Royce shares today surged by 7% to trade above 1400p for the first time. They later settled 84p higher at 1394p.
The engines giant earlier upgraded mid-term guidance and unveiled a multi-year share buyback plan.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: “The ‘burning platform’ which the current CEO inherited three years ago has been transformed into a business which is now, quite simply, on fire.”
London Stock Exchange shares also rallied on the back of annual results, which included plans for £3 billion of buybacks over the next 12 months. The stock lifted 5% or 394p to 8188p.
The FTSE 100 index was broadly unchanged at 10,806.87, having surged by 1.2% to a record close last night.
WPP unveils turnaround plan as profits slide
08:05 , Graeme EvansThe new boss of WPP today unveiled her “bold plan” for reviving the fortunes of the former FTSE 100-listed advertising and marketing group.
Cindy Rose said: “Our recent underperformance has been driven by excessive organisational complexity, a lack of an integrated operating model and inconsistent strategic execution.
“While disappointing, I see huge potential as these issues are all within our power to fix and we're already making great progress.”
She said WPP will be streamlined into four operating units across four regions, unified by the company’s “pioneering” agentic marketing platform WPP Open.
The plan involves £500 million of cost savings in order to fund investment in growth and rebuild margins.
The strategic overhaul was unveiled alongside annual results, with revenues down 8.1% on a reported basis to £13.5 billion and headline operating profit 22.6% lower at £1.3 billion.
The group, whose brands include Ogilvy and Burson, has proposed a final dividend of 7.5p a share, down from 24.4p a year earlier.
Shares opened 7.2p higher at 279.6p before reversing to stand 11.5p lower at 260.9p.
Nvidia results clear high bar, shares edge higher
07:35 , Graeme EvansNvidia last night posted record quarterly revenues of $68.1 billion, up 73% on a year ago. The 2025 total lifted 65% to $215.9 billion.
Quarterly earnings per share of $1.62 rose 25% over the previous three months and also beat Wall Street expectations, which were for a figure of $1.53.
The semiconductor giant expects revenues of $78 billion for the current quarter.
Chief executive Jensen Huang said: “Our customers are racing to invest in AI compute — the factories powering the AI industrial revolution and their future growth.”
Shares rose 0.2% following the release, having lifted 1.4% for a market valuation of $4.75 trillion during normal trading hours.
Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman said: “Expectations for revenues in 2026 and 2027 are clearly too low, and we expect to see a slew of analyst upgrades in the coming weeks on the back of these numbers.
“The bar was high heading into results, but Nvidia continues to demonstrate why it’s the top dog.”
He said questions will still linger over whether the current AI spending wave can sustain growth beyond the next few years, and whether Nvidia will remain as dominant as AI shifts from training models to running everyday tasks.
Britzman added: “That uncertainty likely helps explain why the shares trade at only a modest premium to the wider market on a forward price‑to‑earnings basis, despite rocket ship financials.”
Rolls-Royce upgrades guidance, unveils major buyback plan
07:12 , Graeme EvansRolls-Royce today unveiled upgraded medium-term targets, alongside plans for its first ever multi-year share buyback programme.
The engines maker posted an underlying operating profit of £3.5 billion for 2025, up from £2.5 billion in 2024 after the operating margin improved to 17.3% from 13.8%.
Expectations for 2026 mean it is on track for an underlying operating profit within the company’s previous mid-term guidance range two years earlier than planned.
The upgraded mid-term targets include underlying operating profit of between £4.9 billion and £5.2 billion and free cash flow in the region of £5 billion-£5.3 billion.
Chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic said: “Beyond the mid-term we continue to see significant growth from existing businesses as well as from new business opportunities.”
Rolls announced a dividend of 5p a share, taking the total dividend for 2025 to 9.5p.
It also unveiled its first multi-year buyback programme, totalling £7 billion-£9 billion across the three years up to 2028 and including £2.5 billion this year.
FTSE 100 set for steady start, Wall Street tech stocks rally
06:59 , Graeme EvansThe FTSE 100 index is set to consolidate its record position after London’s top flight last night closed 1.2% or 125.82 points higher at 10,806.41.
US stocks also enjoyed a strong session yesterday as improved sentiment in the tech sector helped the Nasdaq Composite finish 1.3% higher.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average improved 0.6%.
Nvidia shares rose 1.5% and are expected to open slightly higher later today after quarterly results last night beat Wall Street hopes for revenue and profit.
The price of gold is at $5197 an ounce following a rise of 0.6% during Asia trading hours, while Brent Crude is slightly higher at $71.02 a barrel.
