Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Barratt Redrow said on Friday that it had appointed former Britvic and British Airways executive Rebecca Napier as chief financial officer with effect from 3 August. Most recently CFO of Britvic until its acquisition by Carlsberg Group in 2025, she previously spent 17 years at IAG, including as CFO of British Airways. Napier began her career at Deloitte, having qualified as a chartered accountant, the housebuilder said on Friday.
Hospitality business PPHE Hotel Group said on Friday that its independent committee had concluded that the £22 per share indicative offer from Fattal Hotel Group would not proceed after major shareholder Euro Plaza Holdings signalled its opposition. Fattal submitted an indicative cash proposal in May, which the board judged to represent fair value. However, an independent committee was formed and consulted shareholders representing around 83% of the register, with Euro Plaza, which owns a roughly 33% stake in PPHE, telling the committee it opposed the deal. PPHE added that it received a separate early‑stage approach from another party on 31 May, which was now being assessed.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
The Japanese tech company at the centre of the Post Office IT scandal is facing calls from a parliamentary committee to make an "immediate" payment towards the compensation bill for victims. Fujitsu supplied the faulty Horizon software to the UK Post Office, which led to branch operators being wrongly prosecuted over discrepancies in their business accounts. – Guardian
Telegram is facing questions from Ofcom over how it detects and prevents illegal incitement after a Ukrainian man was found guilty of carrying out arson attacks on a car and property associated with Keir Starmer. A spokesperson for the regulator said it had contacted the messaging app "to seek further clarification" because the arsonist had been directed on Telegram by a handler linked to Russia. – Guardian
Historic Northamptonshire shoemaker Grenson is to be taken over by sportswear brand Castore. Corporate filings show Castore has taken a controlling interest in the company, which has handmade its leather shoes in England for 160 years. The deal will hand control of one of Britain's oldest shoemaking brands to an upstart company founded roughly a decade ago. – Telegraph
Labour has opened the way for Surinder Arora, the hotel magnate, to build Heathrow's third runway after suggesting that it could be constructed in phases to minimise risk and spread the cost. In a key document aimed at accelerating planning approval for the scheme, the Government said it still favoured the runway proposed by airport bosses. However, it said the £49bn plan – which would require the runway to span the M25 motorway – was so challenging that a staged approach may be the best way to proceed. – Telegraph
Millions of British consumers have been left empty handed after a £480m legal action over smartphones was dropped — although the lawyers involved have earned £18m in fees. A "drop hands" settlement in a claim brought by the Consumers' Association, the publishers of Which? magazine, has been signed off by the Competition Appeal Tribunal. No damages will be paid and the claimants' legal team will not be able to recover some of its costs. – The Times
US CLOSE
US stocks mostly bounced back on Thursday, recovering much of the prior day's losses after Washington and Tehran signed a deal to end their months-long conflict.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.14% at 51,564.70, while the S&P 500 shot up 1.08% to 7,500.58 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.91% higher at 26,517.93.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com