Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
UK stocks opened modestly higher on Monday as the UK and EU decided to press on with Brexit negotiations beyond a previous Sunday deadline, raising hopes that a damaging deal-free separation can be avoided.
At 0825, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 14.27 points, or 0.2%, at 6,561.02.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca dropped 5.1% to £77.42 on confirming it had agreed to shell out $39 billion to acquire Boston-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals, bolstering its presence in immunology.
Separately, AstraZeneca also scored regulatory approvals in Europe for respiratory disease and breast cancer treatments.
Video games developer Codemasters soared 19% to 634p after it accepted a £945 million takeover offer from Electronic Arts that had trumped a rival bid from Take-Two Interactive.
EA offered 604p per Codemasters share, well above the implied 528p value of a cash and shares offer lobbed last month by Take-Two.
Consumer goods giant Unilever fell 0.6% to £43.94 as it announced that it would put its climate action plan, which includes achieving zero net emissions from its operations by 2030, to a shareholder vote.
Unilever said the vote, although non-binding and advisory in nature, would be the first time a major global company had voluntarily committed to put its climate transition plans before a shareholder vote.
Piping system manufacturer Polypipe jumped 8.8% to 497p, having upgraded its annual profit guidance, citing a continued recovery in demand.
Polypipe's underlying operating profit for the year to 31 December was now expected at around £40 million, compared to the current consensus range of £35 million-£37 million.
Real estate portal OnTheMarket rallied 12% to 137p as it, too, upgraded its annual guidance.
OnTheMarket's revenue for the year through January was now expected to be no less than £22.5 million, with adjusted operating profit no less than £1.5 million.
Recruitment firm SThree firmed 2.7% to 301p, even as its annual fee revenue dropped 8% after a positive performance in the US was more than offset by weakness in Europe and Asia.
On the brighter side, SThree said its performance had improved in the fourth quarter versus the third. Future dividend payments were 'under active review', it added.
Equities investor The Scottish Investment Trust gained 1.7% to 732p after it bumped up its annual dividend by 1.8% to 23.2p per share.
The increase came even as the company's net asset value per share total return for the year through October was negative 10.6%.