Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Bakery chain Greggs said on Wednesday that total H1 sales had grown 6.9% to £1.02bn, with like-for-like sales up 2.6% year-on-year. Greggs said it had made "good progress" in May but noted this was followed by "slower growth" in June as high temperatures impacted consumer purchasing patterns. Looking forward, Greggs expects H1 operating profits to be lower year-on-year, due to both its strong comparative trading performance in H124 and the phasing of refurbishments and cost recovery initiatives in FY25.
KKR said on Wednesday that it has agreed to a deal to buy precision instrument maker Spectris for £4.7bn, trumping a potential offer from rival Advent. The private equity giant will pay £40.00 per share for Spectris, made up of £39.72 in cash and an interim dividend of 28.0p each.
Hospitality group SSP has said its joint-owned Indian operations will be worth up to £1.23bn in a proposed stock market listing in Mumbai as it announced the purchase of an additional stake to give it majority control. The company, which operates convenience food stores and restaurants in travel gateways across 40 countries, plans to list the Travel Food Services joint venture with K Hospitality Corp on 14 July.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
The married couple behind the Prax Lindsey oil refinery awarded themselves at least $15.9m in pay and dividends in the years leading up to its collapse, it has emerged, as the government urged the company's boss to "put his hand in his pockets" to help workers. Winston Soosaipillai, who goes by his middle names Sanjeev Kumar, jointly owned the refinery with his wife, Arani, until it plunged into insolvency on Monday. – Guardian
The Spanish bank Santander is buying the British high street lender TSB for £2.65bn, raising fears of job cuts and branch closures across the combined group. The proposed deal, announced on Tuesday evening, is the result of a takeover tussle in Santander's home base of Spain, with the lender Sabadell having decided to sell TSB as it faces an €11.0bn hostile approach from a rival, BBVA. - Guardian
Britons face working until they are 74 unless the Government scraps the triple lock on pensions, according to a leading think tank. The Institute for Fiscal Studies issued the warning amid concerns that an ageing population will mean the country cannot meet its ballooning state pension bill. – Telegraph
Australian airline Qantas has been targeted in a major cyber attack, with millions of customers affected. The airline said it detected "unusual activity" on Monday and the personal data used by Qantas's contact centre had been compromised. This platform stores records of 6.0m customers. – Telegraph
The long-serving chief executive of AstraZeneca, Britain's most valuable public company, would like to move the stock market listing to the United States, according to multiple sources. Sir Pascal Soriot has spoken privately of his preference to move the FTSE 100 company's listing on a number of occasions and has even discussed moving AstraZeneca's domicile, according to a source familiar with his thinking. – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices delivered a mixed performance on Tuesday after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank would have already eased monetary policy by now if not for Donald Trump's so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.91% at 44,494.94, while the S&P 500 lost 0.11% to 6,198.01 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.82% softer at 20,202.89.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com