Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Tobacco giant British American Tobacco said on Tuesday that it was firmly on track to deliver full-year guidance, driven by continued US delivery and new category momentum. British American Tobacco said revenue growth in its new categories division was accelerating, led by strong performances in its modern oral and vapour units, adding that it now expects to see mid‑teens growth for both the first half and the full year. Looking ahead, BAT reiterated confidence in its mid‑term revenue growth target of 3% to 5% revenue and its adjusted diluted EPS growth target of 5% to 8%, but said it expects FY26 figures to land at the lower end of those ranges.
British Land has named Joanne McNamara as its next chief executive, the FTSE 100 property owner confirmed on Tuesday. McNamara will join the firm from Oxford Properties, where she currently serves as executive vice president, Europe. She will replace Simon Carter, who announced in January he was stepping down to head warehouse developer P3 Logistics Park. She was expected to take up the role by November at the latest, after serving out her notice period.
UK defence company Chemring said on Tuesday that it had a record order book at the half-year stage and held full-year guidance as governments continued to ramp up military spending. Chemring said orders at the end of April stood at £1.4bn, a rise of 8%, while underlying core earnings, on the other hand, fell 2% to £38.2m.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
More than a million jobs, higher wages, nearly half a trillion pounds in investment in the pipeline – the UK's green economy is powering ahead, according to research by the country's leading business organisation. The net zero economy, which is worth more than £100bn a year, benefits all of the UK, according to the CBI Economics analysis commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, despite critics who want to abolish the UK's net zero targets. – Guardian
Anthropic has filed confidentially for an initial public offering on the US stock market, the company announced on Monday. The AI firm makes the Claude chatbot, popular with software engineers and other business clients, and has seen a meteoric rise this year. The company did not disclose the valuation it will target on the stock market, nor did it make public other terms of the offering. The startup announced on Thursday that it had raised $65bn in funding to value the company at $965bn post-money. Anthropic was valued at $380bn in February.- Guardian
Unemployment will jump by 400,000 under Labour, according to new analysis which shows joblessness is set to hit its highest level in more than a decade. The British Chambers of Commerce warned young people would be most likely to struggle to find work as tax raids by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, and AI destroy thousands of entry-level jobs. The BCC now expects the overall unemployment rate to peak at 5.5% – its highest level since 2014 – with joblessness set to keep on rising in the next 18 months. – Telegraph
Estate agents are facing a backlash for using "misleading" AI-generated pictures of rooms in property listings. London-listed Winkworth, which has more than 100 offices across the UK, has used AI to enhance photographs of a number of its properties in the capital. However, the estate agent has been accused of using the technology to make rooms appear larger or in better condition and, in one instance, of removing an entire chimney breast. – Telegraph
The government has been urged to rethink business rates for small businesses, with more than 100,000 companies now having to pay the property tax for the first time. The Federation of Small Businesses has written to the Treasury and asked the government to reconsider lifting the threshold at which buildings become eligible for business rates, and also to change how the tax is calculated for companies in shared offices. – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices hit new record highs on Monday on the back of the ongoing AI trade, though gains were modest as oil prices rose amid heightened uncertainty regarding US-Iran relations.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.09% at 51,078.88, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.26% to 7,599.96 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.42% firmer at 27,086.81.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com