FTSE 100 Movers: Becht bows out at Reckitt

14th Apr 2011 14:47

Shares in Cillit Bang maker Reckitt Benckiser took a sharp dive after the FTSE 100-listed maker of household products announced the retirement of its chief executive Bart Becht. The Dutchman, who has been at the helm of the firm since it was formed from the merger of UK company Reckitt & Colman and Dutch firm Benckiser , will hand over the reins to Rakesh Kapoor, currently in charge of the company's 'Powerbrands' strategy, on 1 September. Becht will act as a 'part-time adviser' to Kapoor until September next year. Retailers such as Primark owner Associated British Foods and Marks & Spencer got a pick-me-up from the Nationwide building society's consumer confidence index for March, which showed a recovery from February's record low level. The building society's consumer confidence index for March rose by five points to 44. "While this is a welcome change in direction, we must remember that the index remains at a historically low level, and the up tick in March failed to reverse the fall suffered in the previous month," said the Nationwide's chief economist, Robert Gardner. "When we compare the index to its long-term average of 80 points it is clear that we will need to see a succession of increases before we can say that confidence has returned anywhere close to pre-recession levels," Gardner added.FTSE 100 - RisersResolution Ltd. (RSL) 308.50p +1.68%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 632.50p +1.36%3i Group (III) 265.20p +1.34%Unilever (ULVR) 1,950.00p +1.14%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,889.00p +1.02%Serco Group (SRP) 559.50p +0.99%G4S (GFS) 271.10p +0.93%Pearson (PSON) 1,105.00p +0.73%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,026.00p +0.69%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 369.60p +0.65%FTSE 100 - FallersReckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,132.00p -6.95%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,360.00p -3.27%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,371.00p -2.70%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 907.50p -2.47%Barclays (BARC) 302.10p -2.19%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 43.27p -2.02%Cairn Energy (CNE) 438.60p -2.01%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,326.50p -1.86%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,548.00p -1.78%BG Group (BG.) 1,471.00p -1.74%