Who were October’s winners and losers on the LSE?

There’s never been a better time to launch BusinessCloud’s new monthly look-back on October’s big winners and losers on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

At the end of every month I’ll be looking at what stock is hot to trot – and what’s not.

The first thing to say is the FTSE 100 hit an all-time high in October, with the FTSE 250 also climbing significantly.

Next was one of the biggest winners. The retail giant rose over 15% and now expects to hit full-year profit before tax of £1.135bn.

NatWest also reported strong results and was up by over 10% after reporting income of £4.2bn in Q3.

Among the other top risers were M&S, Primark’s owner Associated British Foods (ABF) and the London Stock Exchange Group itself.

On the flip side, advertising company WPP slid 22% following a revenue warning. The firm recently appointed Cindy Rose as its new chief exec and she called the recent performance ‘unacceptable’ but said the group was moving quickly to make changes.

Further down in the FTSE 250, one name catching everyone’s attention in October was clean energy technology company Ceres Power – whose shares rose by a whopping 73%.

FTSE October review: Next & THG big winners as index hits record peak

Just around the corner from BusinessCloud in Manchester, Matthew Moulding’s THG marked its return to the FTSE 250 by posting its highest growth in four years, seeing its shares fly by 24%.

Facilities management and professional services firm Mitie spiked 19% and announced a £100m share buyback.

One story that raised a few eyebrows involved gambling software firm Playtech, which saw its share price dip 27%. It followed accusations by rival Evolution AB that it had secretly commissioned a defamatory smear campaign to damage its business. A spokesperson for Playtech told BusinessCloud that it welcomed the court examination of the report.

ITV, Raspberry Pi and Pinewood Technologies Group were more companies losing ground in a hectic month for the biggest names listed in London.

For more updates on the markets visit our site at businesscloud.co.uk of follow me on LinkedIn.