Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Frasers Group said it had launched a bid to buy Australia's Accent Group for £166m. The company, which already owns a 23% stake in the retailer, is offering AUD $0.65 a share. Shares in Accent surged to a high of AUD $0.75 after the bid was tabled and the board advised shareholders not to take action on the offer, noting that the price was equal to Accent's closing price on 12 June, with the deal offering no premium.
Drugmaker Astrazeneca said on Monday that its cancer drug Truqap, used together with abiraterone and prednisone, has been approved in the US as the first targeted treatment for a specific form of advanced prostate cancer driven by a fault in the PTEN gene. Astrazeneca approval from the US Food and Drug Administration was based on strong results from its Phase III CAPItello‑281 trial, which were presented at last year's ESMO cancer conference and published in Annals of Oncology.
Big Yellow said it has sold its industrial estate in Harrow, London for £38.4m, subject to a £2m retention from the sale price, which will be released on the satisfaction of certain conditions. Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund the build out of 11 new stores and one replacement store in the development pipeline on land owned by the group. On a proforma basis, the 12 pipeline stores were expected to generate £35m net operating income - representing an income return of 16.5% on the £212m total cost to complete.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Britain's industrial sector is at risk of collapse as thousands of companies warn that they could face bankruptcy within the next year because of high energy prices, according to an industry survey. The manufacturers' body Make UK said the latest feedback from its members found that many would not be able to cope for much longer with energy costs that were twice the average in continental Europe and four times higher than in the US. – Guardian
The UK government is poised to water down its 2030 targets for electric vehicle sales after intensive lobbying by the car industry and unions. The government is preparing to consult on less ambitious targets for the transition to fully battery-powered electric cars over the rest of the decade after carmakers and unions warned that they would penalise manufacturers and put jobs at risk. - Guardian
Rishi Sunak is believed to be among those unable to use Anthropic's most powerful AI models, despite his role as an adviser to the company. Anthropic has disabled access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5, its most advanced systems, under orders from the US Department of Commerce. It extends to Anthropic employees who are not US citizens. The company is also understood to have imposed restrictions on many of its US employees, not just on foreign citizens. – Telegraph
Johnson & Johnson has warned it may stop supplying free medicines under new early access schemes in Britain, in an escalation of an industry dispute with HM Revenue & Customs. The government is facing a backlash from drugs companies, charities and MPs over VAT bills for firms that provide medicines at no cost to patients through post-clinical trial continuity of care or compassionate use schemes. – The Times
Britain risks losing more high street shops and becoming a dumping ground for unsafe imports unless ministers move faster to close a tax loophole being exploited by overseas businesses, retailers have warned. Andrew Murphy, chief executive of The Entertainer, a toy shop chain with more than 150 stores, has expressed "grave concern and profound frustration" over plans to wait until 2029 before abolishing the £135 "de minimis" customs threshold. – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices closed higher on Friday as global stock markets were helped higher by a drop in the price of oil after Donald Trump called off further strikes on Iran and said a peace deal between the two countries could be signed in the coming days.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.70% at 51,202.26, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.50% to 7,431.46, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.31% firmer at 25,888.84.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com