More than £100billion was wiped off the value of Meta as fears mount over the Facebook owner’s huge spending on artificial intelligence (AI).
Shares in the company, which also owns Instagram and Whats- App, fell 10.6 per cent in New York after it said expenses would be higher than previously forecast.
That wiped £105billion off Meta’s value. In an update on Tuesday, the group said it will fork out as much as £32billion in 2024 – up from a previous forecast of £30billion.
Boss Mark Zuckerberg said the group ‘should invest significantly more to build even more advanced models and the largest-scale AI services in the world’.
The FTSE 100 topped 8100 for the first time, rising as high as 8102, before it eased back slightly.
AI drive: Shares in Facebook-owner Meta, which also owns Instagram and Whats App, fell 11.1% in New York after it said expenses would be higher than previously forecast
However, it remained up by 0.5 per cent, or 38.48 points, to 8078.86. The FTSE 250 was down 0.6 per cent, or 117.39 points, to 19,601.98.
Housebuilder Persimmon is on course to build between 10,000 and 10,500 homes this year.
It built 1,027 between January and March, 10 per cent below the same period last year, while sales rose as did enquiries. But shares fell 0.7 per cent, or 9.5p, to 1282.5p.
Travel retailer WH Smith’s high street sales, which fell 4 per cent to £256million in the first half to February 6, took the shine off an otherwise strong set of results.
Shares dropped 6 per cent, or 76p, to 1182p. Ad giant WPP slid 0.9 per cent, or 7.4p, to 796.4p due to a poor performance in North America, its largest market.
There, sales fell 5.2 per cent to £1.06billion in the first three months of the year as tech clients cut spending and contracts ended.
That led to revenues falling 1.6 per cent to £2.7billion.
Schroders reported £760.4billion of assets under management – up from £750.6billion in the previous quarter.
Its update came a day after the investment firm said its chief executive Peter Harrison will retire next year. Shares retreated 5.5 per cent, or 20p, to 347.2p.
British engineer Senior will be paid £104million to work with Spirit Aerosystems for another five years to supply components for Boeing aircraft. It saw stock rise 2.4 per cent, or 3.8p, to 163.8p.
Hikma rose 2.3 per cent, or 41p, to 1854p after the pharma group hiked its dividend for last year and had a strong start to 2024.Biotech firm Destiny Pharma is to review how it can ‘maximise value’ for its nasal gel.
It hopes a trial will lead to a licensing deal for a treatment to prevent post-surgical infections, and narrowed losses to £6.4million last year, down from £7.7million in 2022. It fell 22.1 per cent, or 4.75p, to 16.75p.
Business was tough for Travis Perkins after sales fell 3.7 per cent in the first quarter – but the builders’ merchant’s shares increased 1 per cent, or 7p, to 719,5p.
Brick maker Ibstock had a sluggish start to the year as construction activity was weak and sales were worse than hoped due to rain. It fell 1.9 per cent, or 2.8p, to 147p.
Durham tech group Kromek, which makes products to identify cancer and ‘dirty bombs’, will get £2.3million from a US federal agency for its nuclear security kit. It rose 7.1 per cent, or 0.5p, to 7.5p.
