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UK stocks extended early gains on Wednesday as a deterioration in Brexit negotiations kept the pound under pressure, assisting exporters.
At 1200, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 33.65 points, or 0.47%, at 7.176.8.
Home improvement company Kingfisher added 0.24% to 189.15p after it appointed Bernard Bot as its chief financial officer.
Bot was most recently CFO of travel technology platform Travelport Worldwide.
Gambling group GVC rallied 3.36% to 775.2p as it lifted its earnings outlook on the back of strong online revenue growth.
Auto retailer Vertu Motors rallied 1.97% to 32.3p despite reporting a 7.1% fall in first-half profit, as challenging trading conditions put pressure on car margins.
Tube manipulation specialist Tricorn tumbled 37.78% to 11.2p after it warned of a full-year result 'materially below' expectations, amid a UK demand slump and margin pressure owing to the US-China trade war.
Industrial and healthcare sector manufacturer Scapa was up 2.55% at 102p despite guiding for a 17% fall in first-half profit, owing to the loss of a key contract with ConvaTec.
Specialist engineering group Pressure Technologies jumped 11.79% to 109p after subsidiary Chesterfield Special Cylinders secured a contract worth more than £3m to supply nitrogen storage solutions to EDF Energy.
Advanced materials group Versarien added 0.73% to 97.2p on signing a collaboration agreement with Spanish industrial furnace manufacturer Refractory Solutions Insertec.