FTSE 100 movers: Smiths Group tumbles on outlook; Unilever gains

20th Mar 2026 14:22

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 1.3% at 9,936.63 in afternoon trade on Friday.

Smiths Group tumbled despite a "solid" first-half performance, after the engineer's outlook underwhelmed.

The company saw headline group revenues rise 2.2% in the six months to January end to £1.4bn, or by 4.0% on an organic basis. Operating profits were 7.2% stronger at £248m, with total group basic earnings per share up 8.4% at 62p.

Smiths also announced plans to return a further £1.5bn to shareholders through a special dividend and share buyback throughout 2027. However, looking to the current full-year and Smiths' outlook disappointed.

Updated to reflect continuing businesses only, the group now expects organic revenue growth of between 3% and 4%, with stronger momentum in the second half.

Defence firms BAE Systems and Babcock were both weaker, along with Antofagasta. The Chilean copper miner was downgraded to 'underperform' from 'sector perform' by RBC Capital Markets, which slashed its price target to 2,800p from 3,600p.

The downgrade was part of a broader sector note in which RBC also cut its stance on three other miners, saying that war with Iran has "no end in sight" and it is "very difficult to see how long the 'buy the dips' mentality will last as global growth estimates begin to get downgraded".

The bank said it sees the most risk in copper, from both a commodity price and multiple perspective.

On the upside, budget airline easyJet flew higher as oil prices fell.

Unilever was also in the black as after confirming it had received an offer from US spice maker McCormick for its food business, which owns the Hellman's, Bovril and Marmite brands.

If successful, the deal would see brands such as Unilever's Hellmann's mayonnaise and US-based McCormick's Cholula hot sauce brought together. The UK-Dutch conglomerate also reportedly held talks recently with Kraft Heinz about a potential megamerger of their food units.