Lacklustre start for FTSE

The London market made a lacklustre start to the week today as a deal by bookie William Hill to buy a chain of betting shops failed to cheer investors.

William Hill was the heaviest FTSE 100 Index faller – off 12p to 513p – after saying it had struck a £504m (€735m) agreement to buy 624 sites from rival Stanley Leisure.

Downbeat sentiment from global markets also affected trading, contributing to the Footsie’s 2.9 point fall to 4883.6 by mid-morning.

A drop of nearly 50 points by New York’s Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday was among the negative factors, while one trader said news of slowing Chinese economic growth also took its toll.

Back in London, a number of companies went ex-dividend, meaning new investors are no longer entitled to dividends, hitting their shares. They included energy group Centrica, falling 3.25p to 229p, and leisure firm Hilton, down 3.5p to 265.5p.

Supermarket group Morrisons, which issued another profits warning on Friday, fell a penny to 186.5p as it also went ex-dividend.

On a brighter note, a string of retailers were in the black after an upgrade from JP Morgan lifted Boots. The stock was the fifth highest climber, up 7.5p to 599.5p, while Next added 20p to 1496p and Dixons cheered 1.75p to 145.25p.

Outside the top flight, Stanley Leisure was lifted by the William Hill acquisition, rising 5p to 527p.

But food producer Dairy Crest weakened a penny to 462.5p after confirming details of a £20m (€29m) deal for the UK’s largest regional dairy operator, Midlands Co-operative Dairies

As expected shares in Manchester United were unchanged at 300p as investors awaited the latest news on US sports tycoon Malcolm Glazer’s holding. Mr Glazer was thought to have seized enough shares to take the team private.