Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Luxury brands seller Watches of Switzerland reported a fall in annual profits but posted record revenue as the UK returned to growth driven by domestic buyers. Pre-tax profit for the year to 27 April fell 18% to £76.0m, while revenue grew 7% to £1.65bn. WoS also noted that it was still too early to comment on the potential impact of any US tariff changes.
Property developer Great Portland Estates said on Thursday that "strong leasing momentum" experienced in FY25 had continued in Q126, with the group signing £20.6m of new leasing deals, 6.7% ahead of enterprise rental value. GPE said it was now "in an enviable position" to deliver "premium, sustainable spaces" into a market "starved of supply".
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Nearly 1,000 British workers will adopt a permanently shorter working week, after the latest trial of a four-day week and similar changes to traditional working patterns. All 17 British businesses in a six-month trial of the four-day week said they would continue with an arrangement consisting of either four days a week or nine days a fortnight. All the employees remained on their full salary. - Guardian
The UK competition watchdog has written to Ticketmaster threatening legal action over the way it sold more than 900,000 tickets for Oasis's reunion tour, days before the start of what is expected to be the most popular, and profitable, run of gigs in British history. In March, the Competition and Markets Authority published concerns that Ticketmaster may have misled fans, some of whom paid more than £350 for tickets with a face value of £150, in the way it priced tickets for the band's comeback gigs when they went on sale last August. – Guardian
Mortgage costs will surge under Rachel Reeves's plan to cut the tax-free cash ISA allowance, Britain's largest lenders have warned. The Chancellor is considering lowering the amount of money that savers can put into a cash ISA without paying tax from the current rate of £20,000 to as low as £5,000. – Telegraph
Microsoft is cutting 9,000 jobs as executives order staff to delegate more work to artificial intelligence. The $3.6trn technology giant will shed 4% of its workforce, it confirmed on Wednesday, with redundancies hitting divisions including its Xbox arm and King, its mobile games studio. – Telegraph
EY is facing a seven-figure fine after failing to realise that one of its senior partners had been leading its audits of Shell, the energy giant, for longer than regulators allow. The Big Four firm notified Shell's directors that it had fallen foul of independence rules set by the UK's accounting industry watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council, and its US counterpart, the Securities and Exchange Commission. – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices delivered a mixed performance on Wednesday as investors thumbed over a key jobs report and looked ahead to a final House vote on Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill".
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down just 0.02% at 44,484.42, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.47% to 6,227.42 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.94% firmer at 20,393.13.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com