FTSE 100 movers: M&S savaged after dividend cut

19th May 2009 11:42

M&S is the day's biggest blue-chip faller after it saw a sharp drop in pre-tax profits to £706.2m from £1.13bn. In a widely anticipated move M&S said it will rebase its dividend payment to 15p a share from the current 22.5p. Brokers were disappointed were the guidance on margins and cautious on prospects for consumer spending over the rest of the year.The best performing blue-chip is inter-dealer broker ICAP, which announced record revenue and profit for last year, helped by successful acquisitions. Revenue in the year to 31 March 2009 rose 23% to £1,601m from £1,304m the year before, while pre-tax profit rose 2% to £281m from £275m.Vodafone is another heavy faller. One-off charges, principally in Spain, slashed mobile phone Vodafone's annual profit, though the underlying numbers met forecasts. Group revenue for the year to March rose to £41bn, up 15.6%, and on a pro forma basis by 1.3%. Group adjusted operating profit rose by 16.7% to £11.8bn before impairment charges with underlying profits up by 10.0% to £14.5bn.Pre-tax profits, though, fell more than 50% to £4.2bn from £9bn after a £5.9bn write-down on its operations in Spain and Turkey.FTSE 100 - RisersLegal & General Group (LGEN) 66.00p +7.49%ICAP (IAP) 428.50p +7.26%Land Securities Group (LAND) 519.50p +6.35%Anglo American (AAL) 1,580.00p +6.18%Thomson Reuters (TRIL) 1,848.00p +6.02%Aviva (AV.) 345.00p +5.83%British Land Co (BLND) 418.25p +4.69%Invensys (ISYS) 245.00p +4.26%FTSE 100 - FallersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 306.00p -9.80%Vodafone Group (VOD) 122.10p -4.20%Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,378.00p -3.10%Home Retail Group (HOME) 242.25p -2.91%Next (NXT) 1,520.00p -2.44%Unilever (ULVR) 1,498.00p -2.28%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,191.00p -1.89%Experian Group (EXPN) 480.75p -1.84%