London shares gain on strong corporate earnings; virus fears loom By Reuters

(Reuters) – British stocks rose on Thursday as a set of positive corporate results helped outweigh concerns over increasing COVID-19 cases, while Unilever (LON:ULVR) was the worst blue-chip performer after it cut its full-year margin forecasts.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index inched 0.1% higher, led by travel, retail, and banking stocks.

Unilever Plc dropped 4% after it reduced annual operating margin forecast while reporting higher-than-expected underlying sales growth for the second quarter.

The domestically focussed mid-cap index rose 0.7%, with Howden Joinery Group and IG Group being the top boost to the index on positive results.

Transport firm FirstGroup jumped 3.1% after it increased its planned shareholder returns by 135 million pounds ($185.29 million) after closing the sale of its U.S. bus assets to private equity firm EQT Infrastructure.