Associated British Foods, Bovis and Reckitt Benckiser

Blue-chips were slightly lower in early deals thanks to the drag of multiple ex-dividend stocks, with sterling marginally down on the US dollar,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

Associated British Foods led the FTSE100 board in early trading on a marginally improved full-year outlook. The group has been buoyed by higher profits from Primark while revenues for the first three quarters of the year have been boosted by the fall in sterling since the EU referendum. This, though, will be significantly less in its final quarter at current exchange rates. ABF’s shares were up by more than 5.6%.

Housebuilder Bovis Homes’ first half trading was in line with its forecasts with the group focusing on rebuilding its customer service reputation following complaints about the quality of some properties. Bovis has set aside an extra £3.5m to resolve problems and it has slowed its production. Completions this year are likely to be 10-15% down on 2016.  Bovis’s shares were up by 1.5%.

Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser’s shares were down in early trading as it continues to assess the full impact of a ransomware attack on 27 June. Reckitt has made good progress in getting key applications and systems back on track but the attack disrupted its ability to manufacture and distribute products to customers in multiple markets across the group. Reckitt Benckiser’s shares were down by over 2%.

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