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UK stocks opened lower on Wednesday as the coronavirus death toll approached 500 and tobacco giant Imperial Brands sank on a profit warning.
At 0820, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 27 points, or 0.4%, at 7.412.82.
Imperial Brands dropped 8.8% to £17.8193 after warning of annual adjusted earnings 'slightly lower' than last year following a US ban on vaping products.
Telecom group Vodafone rose 0.4% to 151.82p as it reiterated its full-year earnings guidance after it grew its revenue by 6.8% in the third quarter.
Packaging company Smurfit Kappa rallied 4.7% to £28.46 as it swung to a full-year profit, having recovered from a big writedown on its Venezuelan assets in the previous year.
Dominos Pizza gained 5.8% to 314.3p as it reported a 3.7% rise in sales in the fourth quarter.
The pizza-delivery company, however, also warned of a £20m loss across its Nordic businesses.
Residential property investor Grainger firmed 0.3% to 298.4p on a rise in rental growth, amid improving housing market sentiment following the UK general election in December.
House builder Redrow was flat at 822p as it posted a 15% fall in first-half profit, having completed a smaller number of homes.
Redrow also announced that executive chairman John Tutte would step down to the role of non-executive chairman in July and retire ahead of the company's 2021 annual general meeting.
Defence contractor Babcock International shed 0.5% to 599.4p on news that chief executive Archie Bethel had decided to retire after 16 years at the helm.
Bethel would remain as CEO until a successor had been put in place.
UK motor retailer Lookers advanced 0.3% to 54.74p, even as new car sales fell 6.6% in the fourth quarter, though used cars sales remained steady.
Payments company PCI-PAL added 1.2% to 42.99p after it forecast annual revenue growth of more than 70% after it won new contracts.
Enterprise mobile computing group Touchstar jumped 20% to 52.75p after it upgraded its profit expectations thanks to a bounce in shipments to customers.