Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Construction industry supplier Grafton has bought Irish timber frame maker Cygnum Holdings for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 1997 and based in County Cork, Cygnum delivers made-to-order offsite timber frames to developers and contractors in the Irish market. Its unaudited 2025 revenue and adjusted operating profits were €45.6m and €7.9m respectively. Grafton said the deal was expected to be earnings-enhancing in its first full financial year following acquisition and should "deliver an attractive return on invested capital".
Spirax Group posted improved annual earnings on Tuesday, and forecast further organic growth this year, despite market conditions remaining difficult. The engineering blue chip saw organic revenues rise 5% to £1.7bn in the year ended 31 December, while adjusted operating profits were 6% stronger at £339.9m. Chief executive Nimesh Patel said the company had made good progress during the year, despite a "volatile and uncertain" macroeconomic backdrop.
Water utility firm Pennon said on Tuesday that underlying earnings had grown 55% year‑on‑year in the six months ended 9 March, despite ongoing weather‑related cost pressures and higher early‑cycle regulatory costs. As a result, Pennon said underlying profitability was now expected to be within the range of market expectations, albeit at the lower end of forecasts. Pennon said it was targeting a 7% return on regulated equity over K8, the five-year price control period running to 2030, with financing and capital expenditure efficiencies in FY26 partly offset by net outcome delivery incentive (ODI) penalties.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Rural households that rely on heating oil to warm their homes and provide hot water are facing a "sudden and frightening" surge in their bills, with prices almost trebling since the start of the Iran war. The cost of heating oil is not covered by Ofgem's energy price cap and varies between suppliers. In examples seen by the Guardian, customers who were typically paying 62p a litre before the war are now being quoted about £1.73. – Guardian
A proposed ban on social media for under-16s has been rejected by MPs. Parliamentarians voted 307 to 173, majority 134, against the proposed change to the children's wellbeing and schools bill, which was brought forward by Conservative peer and former minister John Nash. The age limit had been backed by peers earlier this year after growing calls from campaigners including the actor Hugh Grant. – Guardian
More than 700 staff at the Bank of England applied to leave their roles in return for a pay-out as it experienced overwhelming demand for the resignation scheme. The Bank said 446 people will leave their roles – equal to around 8% of its employees – after they came forward to take part in its voluntary resignation scheme. – Telegraph
Sir Nick Clegg has joined the board of Nscale, the British developer of data centres for powering artificial intelligence technologies, as it completed a fundraising round that values it at $14.6bn. The former UK deputy prime minister and former president of global affairs at the social media group Meta became a director of Nscale alongside Sheryl Sandberg, Meta's former chief operating officer. – The Times
Yorkshire Water is to have a new major shareholder, brought in to help pay off £600m in loans due next year. EQT, a Swedish investment firm best known in the UK for rescuing FirstGroup by taking its failing US businesses off its hands, has taken a 42% stake in Kelda, the parent company of the privatised regional monopoly, for an undisclosed sum. – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices closed higher on Monday, clawing back earlier losses, after Donald Trump suggested the conflict with Iran may be nearing its end.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.44% at 47,710.22, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.75% to 6,790.90 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.38% firmer at 22,695.95.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com