Thomas the Tank Engine may now be a septuagenarian but his popularity shows no sign of running out of steam.
The nation’s favourite locomotive boosted shares at toymaker Hornby by 1.79p to 94p as it revealed plans to relaunch and extend the range of branded railway sets to mark Thomas’s 70th anniversary.
The character was created by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, an Anglican minister.
It also appointed Steve Cooke as finance chief, replacing Nick Stone.
“Thomas the Tank Engine has a broad appeal with younger model enthusiasts and importantly, attracts them into the hobby, from which many go on to enjoy both collecting and creating their own model railways,” Hornby boss Richard Ames said.
The footsie edged towards the 7000-points mark, climbing 21.34 points to 6994.38 on a quiet Friday.
“The UK index is being aided by a mining sector that is continuing to recover from yesterday morning’s Vedanta-inspired losses,” said Connor Campbell at Spreadex.
Drinks bottler Coca-Cola HBC was the biggest riser on the blue-chip index, 38p to 1454p, after a strong performance in Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic boosted first-quarter sales.
Boss Dimitris Lois said: “While there is still some uncertainty ahead, the initiatives we can deploy to mitigate the potential headwinds have been successful and we are encouraged by the results the business has delivered in the quarter.”
Home Retail Group dipped 1.4p to 172p as Argos’s swanky new stores failed to cut the mustard with analysts at Espirito Santo.
“We are not sure whether it is possible to judge the outcome of the modernisation/digitisation programme at Argos meaningfully on the basis of information made available at this relatively early stage,” they said.
“But with the benefit of witnessing past re-invention attempts we feel uneasy about the way this is going.”
Oil giant Shell also fell 6p to 2049p. Peter Ward, dealer at London Capital Group, said: “The shares continue to drift after going ex-div this week, while… two rigs for the newly approved Arctic project have arrived in Seattle in the north-west of the US. The oil major is expecting heavy protests in and around Seattle as environmental activists look to disrupt [the project].”
