Croda International PLC

The FTSE 100 rose 0.8% on Tuesday, lifted by strong earnings and a drop in oil prices that offset concerns from a chip-sector sell-off in Asia. The blue-chip index closed up 89.27 points at 10,871.02, while the FTSE 250 added 0.5% and the AIM All-Share fell 0.5%. Unilever and Croda both surged 8.0% after well-received results, and GSK advanced 3.5% on better-than-expected second-quarter profit, but Barclays dropped 4.8% following what analysts called a messy set of numbers. Brent oil fell to 84.87 dollars a barrel from 89.71 dollars, and the pound was little changed at 1.3306 dollars ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.

The UK's FTSE 100 index rose 0.59% on Tuesday, driven by a strong rally in Unilever shares after the consumer goods giant reported better-than-expected earnings and raised its full-year guidance. The benchmark was up 63.90 points at 10,845.65 nearly half an hour past noon. Unilever climbed nearly 8% as it upgraded its full-year underlying sales growth guidance to the 4% to 6% range from its previous expectation of growth at the bottom end of the range, supported by around 3% underlying volume growth, and reported its best quarter of sales volume growth in 16 years. Other notable gainers included Admiral Group up over 4%, Relx up 3.6%, and Compass Group, Diageo, Imperial Brands, Croda International, Babcock International, Reckitt Benckiser, The Sage Group, and Experian climbing between 2.5% and 3%. Barclays Group shed more than 5% after reporting increased second-quarter operating costs, while Natwest Group and Lloyds Banking Group both eased about 1.3%. In economic news, UK shop price inflation rose 0.9% year-on-year in July 2026, missing expectations of 1.2% and marking the slowest increase since December 2025.