FTSE 100 shares round-up: Centrica, Relx, Howden Joinery, 3i

British Gas van. Photo: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images.

Dividend growth at Centrica (LSE:CNA) and RELX (LSE:REL) today failed to revive shares as “good value” Howden Joinery Group (LSE:HWDN) and 3i Group Ord (LSE:III) instead made headway at the start of the FTSE 100 reporting season.

The blue-chip benchmark posted a steady overall performance, aided by BP (LSE:BP.) and Shell (LSE:SHEL) after the price of Brent crude oil topped $98 a barrel and by Anglo American (LSE:AAL) as shares lifted 198p to 3,727p on the back of a well-received production update.

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The risers board also included Tesco (LSE:TSCO), which rallied 4.5p to 481.9p after Bank of America highlighted the scope for a re-rating with a move to a Buy stance alongside a 540p price target.

The bank said Tesco’s scale, execution and financial flexibility should drive further share gains in a fragmented UK grocery market. It added that Tesco still traded at a discount to global retail leaders despite similar growth, cash generation and returns on capital.

BofA added: “The market continues to value Tesco as a mature food retailer rather than a business creating sustainable economic value.”

Private equity group 3i Group rose 125p to 2,677p after it reported an encouraging set of sales figures by European discount chain Action, which accounts for 75% of the entire portfolio.

Like-for-like sales growth of 3.6% in both the second quarter and the first half of the calendar marked an acceleration from the 3.3% reported at last month’s AGM.

UBS, which has a price target of 2,900p, pointed out that growth in the second quarter was against the strongest comparative period of last year as it backed Action’s ability to meet or exceed its target 4%-5% growth.

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The shares have rallied from the three-year low near 2,000p seen after May’s annual results, when 3i highlighted consumer caution in France and Germany and underperformance of seasonal categories.

The group, whose other investments include Royal Sanders and Audley Travel, today reported an improvement in net asset value per share to 3,131p from 3,030p at the end of March.

Kitchens supplier Howden Joinery got a positive response as one of the first FTSE 100 companies to report interim results, with its half-year sales up 3.3% to more than £1 billion and underlying profit 4.3% higher at £122.2 million.

Shares rallied 4% to 807p at the opening bell before settling at 783.5p, representing a fall of 7% so far this year amid the impact of subdued conditions across the builders merchant sector.

The shares trade on 15 times forecast calendar year earnings, which broker Peel Hunt said was too low for this point in the cycle. It moved to a Buy recommendation with an unchanged target price of 970p, adding that it continues to expect the company to take market share.

In today’s results, Howden highlighted an improved underlying operating profit margin and said it was well prepared for its peak trading period in the autumn.

City firm Berenberg, which has a price target of 1,075p, made no change to the forecasts it last updated after June’s acquisition of DIY Kitchens for £390 million.

On the FTSE 100 fallers board, Centrica shares continued their recent slide as the British Gas owner dropped by another 15.85p to 163.95p. Having traded at 219p in early April, the shares are now below where they started the year.

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The latest drop was driven by 2027 guidance for broadly flat earnings in the Centrica Energy optimisation business, where planning assumptions have been influenced by market volatility and measures to reduce some exposures.

UBS described the half-year figures as a “mixed bag” after Retail earnings of £346 million came in £20 million below its forecast and the Optimisation trading arm also missed expectations.

Centrica’s Infrastructure unit beat hopes as group-wide earnings per share of 6.8p fell from 7p but met UBS’s estimate. Underlying earnings dropped from £900 million to £737 million, which Centrica said was driven by Spirit Energy asset disposals and production outages.

Chief executive Chris O’Shea said volatility across energy markets created challenges in some parts of its business, and that “some of our delivery has been slower than we would like”.

However, he hailed progress towards “a higher quality, more valuable Centrica”, adding: “Our operational foundations are strong, commercial performance is improving, and we continue to progress our transformation programme as we drive efficiency through the organisation.”

An interim dividend of 2p a share is due to be paid on 22 September, representing an increase of 9% on a year earlier. Last year’s final dividend of 3.67p a share was paid on 14 May.

Relx lifted its interim dividend by 7% to 20.9p after the analytics and decision tools business posted a 9% rise in adjusted profit to £1.7 billion and 11% uplift in earnings per share to 68.6p.

The shares edged 26p higher at 2,480p but are 17% lower so far in 2026 after AI disruption fears led to a de-rating for a broad range of FTSE 100 technology stocks.

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Chief executive Erik Engstrom pointed out today that the ongoing evolution of AI was enabling Relx to develop and launch higher value-add products at a faster pace, as well as to keep cost growth below revenue growth.

He added: “This evolution has been a key driver of our business for well over a decade, and will remain a key driver of customer value and growth in our business for many years to come.”

Relx has already announced or launched 15 products driven by generative AI, with tools such as Lexis+ AI with Protégé helping the legal business LexisNexis to accelerate from 2% revenue growth to 10% over the past six years.

LexisNexis’ margins have also continued to expand to record levels, even as the business has invested in the latest technologies. Other well-known brands include ScienceDirect, where leading AI products include the research-grade AI workspace Leapspace.

Relx has been one of the best-returning FTSE 100 stocks of the past four decades but shares have fallen from last August’s 3,700p after confidence in the sector was shaken by the weak full-year revenues guidance of business information provider Gartner.

Sentiment then took a further hit earlier this year when Anthropic launched an AI-driven legal tech services tool.

Deutsche Bank believes the AI worries are overplayed and that shares are good value given the company’s consistent record of like-for-like revenue growth.

The bank, which has a price target of 3,050p, added recently: “Relx looks well positioned to leverage its high-quality proprietary content and big model playbook, sitting on well-invested big data infrastructure that LLMs (large language)/open market models would fail to access or replicate.”