Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Pets at Home has appointed former Waitrose managing director James Bailey as chief executive officer, replacing Lyssa McGowan who stood aside in September after a profit warning. Bailey was MD of Waitrose for more than five years, steering the business through the Covid-19 pandemic and high inflation that followed. He also relaunched Waitrose.com after the company moved off the Ocado platform.
Software developer Alfa Financial Software said on Tuesday that chief financial officer Duncan Magrath had informed the board of his intention to retire at the end of 2026. Alfa Financial will now proceed with a search for a successor.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Keir Starmer's government has been told a closer EU trade deal is a "strategic necessity" for companies in Britain as growing numbers of exporters find it tougher to do business under the UK's post-Brexit agreement. Calling on Labour to accelerate its reset with Brussels, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the UK's existing trade and cooperation agreement (TCA) was failing to help them grow their sales in the EU. – Guardian
The Post Office made a confidential deal with Fujitsu 19 years ago to fix errors in post office operators' accounts, a document has revealed. The document casts doubt on claims made by the postal service that they were not aware of bugs that could cause accounting shortfalls. The 26-page agreement, made in 2006, shows both parties had authorisation to alter post office operators' branch accounts, despite claims that it was not possible to remotely alter their balances. – Guardian
Nelson Peltz, the Wall Street billionaire, has spearheaded a $7.4bn (£5.5bn) deal for one of the City's biggest fund managers. The activist investor's Trian Fund Management has taken over UK-based Janus Henderson alongside General Catalyst, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital group that has previously backed the likes of Deliveroo and Monzo. The Qatar Investment Authority and Sun Hung Kai, a Hong Kong-based financial institution, were also part of a group of investors helping to bankroll the deal. – Telegraph
More than half of British businesses are struggling to expand their sales in Europe, where trade frictions appear to be worsening, research from a leading business group has found. A survey from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) found 54% of exporters say the trade and co-operation agreement with the EU has failed to help them increase sales in the UK's largest market — a 13 percentage-point increase on last year. – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices closed higher on Monday in quiet pre‑holiday trade ahead of this week's Christmas break.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.47% at 48,362.68, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.64% to 6,878.49 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.52% firmer at 23,428.83.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com