Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
UK retailer Sainsbury's said on Thursday that it expects annual retail underlying operating profits of more than £1bn and stated that it will add an extra £150m from the sale of its banking unit to share buybacks this year and in 2026/27. The supermarket chain delivered a 0.2% rise in retail underlying profit to £504m for the 28 weeks to 13 September.
Medical products and technologies group Convatec revealed on Thursday that Jonny Mason had been appointed chief executive officer and Fiona Ryder chief financial officer, both with immediate effect. Mason, who joined the FTSE 100-listed firm as CFO in January 2022, stepped into the interim CEO role on 4 August. Ryder also joined the group in early 2022, serving as group financial controller prior to her promotion.
RS Group expects to hit full-year targets after performing as expected in the first half ended 30 September, with both revenues and adjusted profits slipping on the back of continued weak market conditions. The industrial and electrical products group reported a 1% fall in like-for-like revenues for the half, but moved into marginal LFL growth in the second quarter, while adjusted pre-tax profit was down 6% year-on-year due to the impact of cost inflation and increased investments.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
The firm linked to the former Conservative peer Michelle Mone that was found last month to have supplied unusable personal protective equipment during the pandemic owes £39m in unpaid taxes, according to company documents. PPE Medpro, owned by Mone's husband, the Isle of Man-based businessman Doug Barrowman, was put into administration on 30 September, the day before the high court judgment was made public. – Guardian
The deaths from pollution caused by Europe's biggest plastic plant, which is being built in Antwerp, will outstrip the number of permanent jobs it will create, lawyers will argue in a court challenge issued on Thursday. In documents submitted to the court, research suggests the air pollution from Ineos's €4bn petrochemical plant would cause 410 deaths once operational, compared with the 300 permanent jobs the company says will be created. – Guardian
Sir Keir Starmer's former investment minister was accused of exaggerating her career by the late British billionaire Mike Lynch. Baroness Gustafsson, the former chief executive of Darktrace and protégé of Lynch, is claimed to have encouraged "misinformation" about her role at the cybersecurity company. In a letter sent by the tech tycoon before his death, he claimed Darktrace had sought to promote Lady Gustafsson as a co-founder while downplaying his own role in creating the business. – Telegraph
Upmarket tiles retailer Fired Earth has been forced to shut all of its high street stores after collapsing into administration. The group's 20 UK showrooms, in wealthy areas such as London's New Kings Road and Islington, have been closed and 133 employees made redundant following the appointment of administrators at Leonard Curtis on Wednesday. – Telegraph
Nick Candy, the property investor and Reform UK party treasurer, has won a bitter legal battle against the dotcom-era entrepreneur Robert Bonnier over a failed business deal. Bonnier, a Dutch businessman, was found by the High Court to have made fraudulent misrepresentations in order to induce Candy to back Aaqua, a social media start-up. – The Times
The boss of Nvidia, the near-$5trn chipmaker behind the artificial intelligence boom, sought to allay fears over the soaring valuations among big technology companies amid fresh warnings that "bubbles" are building up in global equity markets. Jensen Huang, founder and chief executive of Nvidia, told The Times: "We are all in a bubble, the question is where are you in that phase? I believe we're in the beginning of the build-out. It just happens to be with very large numbers." – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices closed higher on Wednesday as market participants were zeroed in on a Supreme Court hearing on Donald Trump's "reciprocal tariffs" and a pair of fresh PMI readings.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.48% at 47,311.00, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.37% to 6,796.29, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.65% firmer at 23,499.80.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com