Coca-Cola bottler bubbles away as City swallows ‘exceptional’ claims

Shares in Sky rose 34p to 1095p and BT climbed 3p to 229p.

Elsewhere, education publisher Pearson was also scaling the leaderboard, up 13p to 666p. Yesterday it said it was partnering with littleBits, a maker of hands-on electronic-focused classroom products, giving pupils the ability to “invent anything” from alarms and robots to digital instruments.

Overall the FTSE 100 was up a healthy 48.05 points at 7216.06, but the real action was taking outside the blue-chip index.

Tool hire company HSS rose 1.2p to 25.4p after it reaffirmed that full-year performance was in line with guidance and that it had reached an agreement with Unipart to make changes to the business’s supply chain.

HSS also said it has agreed with its lenders to extend its £80 million revolving credit facility, which will now mature in July next year.

On AIM, Iofina, a specialist in the exploration and production of iodine, announced the completion of construction of its plant in Oklahoma.

Iofina’s boss Dr Thomas Becker said: “The start of production at the plant is a proud achievement for the Iofina team as it demonstrates the successful execution of our long-term strategy — to increase iodine output while lowering production costs.

“Completing this project within time and budget further showcases the strength of the workforce at Iofina. Iodine prices continue to strengthen, and the group is well placed to advance its position in the global iodine market.” The market, however, didn’t share his enthusiasm and shares dropped 0.2p to 19.35p.

Keystone Law rose 9p to 256p after the challenger law firm reported significant growth. It said: “Keystone is well-positioned to establish itself as one of the leading UK mid-market law firms with a clear and simple growth strategy enabling it to take advantage of the significant addressable market.”