BA owner has a bumpy ride as Qatar flies in to sweep up share bargains

Clare Hutchison

its influence over IAG. Qatar Airways has already ruled out seeking a board seat at IAG and today reiterated its interest was “purely financial”.

Boss Akbar Al Baker also reassured with an expression of support for IAG’s strategy and management and said there were no plans to hike the stake further unless there were “material changes to the current situation”.

Still, IAG shares tumbled 4.2p to 401.8p, making it one of the blue-chip index’s top fallers.

The FTSE 100 was 13.54 points higher at 6737.97 as traders shrugged off Goldman Sachs’ gloomy assessment on equities. The investment banking giant cut its three-month rating on equities to underweight after its risk-appetite indicator turned neutral, suggesting markets are more vulnerable to slower growth and policy disappointments. Leading the Footsie gainers was

up 35.7p at 866.2p, after UBS upgraded its earnings forecasts. T-shirts-to-sugar manufacturer

which was reclassified as a buy rather than hold by Deutsche Bank, was close behind with a 78p gain to 2769p. Testing group

was on the losing side after failing to impress with first-half organic revenue growth of just 0.5%. Its shares sank 57p to 3568p.

Likewise, supermarket fell 4.5p to 181.3p following a fresh round of price cuts. It dragged rivals and

with it, dropping 2.45p to 153.6p and 1.8p to 222.4p. Elsewhere in retail, clothing chain

withstood growing pressure from activist investor Gatemore Capital Management and the shares edged up 0.75p to 42.3p.

The shareholder, which owns 8%, wants French Connection to ditch its FCUK brand and to shake up management to catch up with the likes of Ted Baker and SuperGroup’s Superdry. On AIM, bakery and ingredients firm

slipped 3.5p to 31.98p despite returning to profit after selling its sugar division.