By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
U.K. stocks rose Friday, with brewer SABMiller PLC gaining on a
move into craft beers, but the benchmark FTSE 100 index was still
on track for a weekly loss.
The FTSE 100 picked up 0.3% at 6,992.98, with consumer-goods and
services and financial shares among the advancers.
Topping the blue-chip index was Coca-Cola HBC . Its stock was up
2.7% after the bottler posted first-quarter volume growth of 7.2%,
aided by in part by performance in Nigeria, Poland, Romania,
Hungary and the Czech Republic.
SABMiller shares rose 0.2% after the maker of Peroni and Miller
Genuine Draft said it's moving into the U.K. craft beer market by
purchasing Meantime Brewing Company. The terms of the deal for
Greenwich, London-based Meantime weren't disclosed.
Decliners Friday included energy-engineering firm Weir Group PLC
and miner Fresnillo PLC , with shares down 0.8% and 1.1%,
respectively.
The FTSE 100 was facing a 0.7% pullback for the week, which
would be the second weekly loss in three.
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