A smorgasbord of mixed earnings releases made for a tentative opening for the UK’s main index.
The FTSE100 was 20 points higher to 6,384, with BT Group (LON:BT.A) as its £12.5bn takeover of EE was approved by Britain’s competition watchdog.
The review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that there was limited overlap between the two companies’ business categories.
Shares climbed 3.7%, or 17p, to 469p.
Conversely, shares in engineering firm Meggitt (LON:MGGT) plummeted as it warned weak demand in the civil and military aviation markets means profits will likely be “meaningfully” below expectations.
The company also blamed a slump in its energy operations, pushing underlying sales 1% lower in the third quarter.
Things don’t look any better in the fourth quarter, with slow growth, lower demand for spare plane parts and programme deferrals likely to continue.
Stephen Young, chief executive, called the results “very disappointing” and noted that it could lead to some 300 job cuts in an effort to trim costs. Shares dropped an eye-watering 23.9% to 351p.
Also lower was High Street bellwether Next (LON:NXT), despite being boosted by strong retail sales.
Its Directory growth slowed in the third quarter bringing the growth to 7% for the year to date, from 8.2% at the half way mark.
The company upped the lower end of its profit guidance to £310mln from £305mln but could not stop shares slipping 66p to 7,878p.
Lloyds (LON:LLOY) was another big faller, as the bank put in a mixed performance in its latest quarter ahead of the sale of the remainder of its stake by the UK government.
Profits in the three month to September rose by 28% but the bank was again forced to add another £500mln in provisions for PPI mis-selling.
It is one of the worst performing banks in terms of PPI, and shares dropped 4.4% to 73.9p.
In Europe, the big news surrounded scandal-hit Volkswagen, which released third quarter earnings results.
The results made for grim reading, according to Connor Campbell at Spreadex, as it made a loss of €3.48bn, its first loss in the quarter for 15years.
Investors weren’t shocked, however, with the firm posting healthy gains in early trading, helping the German Dax to register a 78 points gain to 10,772.
In the small cap space, Red Rock Resources (LON:RRR) is to be a new partner of Northcote Energy (LON:NCT) at the Shoats Creek field, in Louisiana.
It is set to cost Red Rock between US$500,000 and US$600,000 in aggregate. Investors backed the move, with the share price gaining 12% to 0.02p.