Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
EasyJet said it has agreed to be taken over by private equity firm Apollo in a £5.7bn deal, taking Castlelake out of the running. The budget airline announced on Monday that it was ready to accept a sweetened £5.5bn takeover offer from Castlelake after the private equity group tabled a fifth offer at 690p a share. However, it has now agreed in principle on the terms of a possible cash offer by Apollo at 715p per share.
Recruiter Hays said it expected full-year earnings to be at the top end of consensus as the pace of decline in fee income slowed in the fourth quarter. Hays said FY26 pre-exceptional operating profits would be at the top of the £37m to £46m consensus range. "Although we have limited forward visibility, we are mindful of heightened global macro-economic uncertainty and expect near term market conditions to remain challenging, with greater resilience in temp & contracting than in permanent," the company said.
Textile services provider Johnson Service Group said on Friday that it still expects to deliver "another year of progress" in FY26, despite a drop in first‑half HORECA revenue, as margin improvement and cost discipline continue to support performance. Johnson Service said revenues for the six months ended 30 June were broadly unchanged at £258m, with workwear revenue up from £72.1m in FY25 to £74m and HORECA revenues easing from £185.4m to £184m amid ongoing weakness across UK and Irish hospitality. Organic revenues slipped 0.7%, with workwear up 2.6% and HORECA down 2%, though the firm expects normal summer seasonality to lift volumes in the second half.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to announce a new City "skills compact" that will commit firms such as Barclays and Lloyds to retraining thousands of financial sector workers for the AI revolution. The financial services skills compact will be launched on Tuesday, during what is likely to be Reeves's final Mansion House speech to City bosses before Andy Burnham's expected takeover of No 10. The government-backed initiative will commit employers to improving workers' skills and helping them "keep pace" with significant technological changes that have prompted fears of mass redundancies. – Guardian
Police are investigating donations worth £500,000 made to Reform UK by the mother of a convicted fraudster and ally of Nigel Farage. The investigation concerns two donations of £250,000 made by Fiona Cottrell, whose son George has often accompanied Farage to Reform events and media appearances. The May 2024 donations are under investigation over whether they were intended to conceal a donation by an impermissible donor. – Guardian
Drivers are braced for higher diesel prices after Russia triggered a global supply crunch by halting exports. The wholesale price of diesel jumped by almost 14% in the wake of the Kremlin's announcement on Wednesday, which threatens to drive up costs at the pump. Diesel prices in the UK are already up by 8% since the start of the month, pushing the average cost of a litre to 164.8p. – Telegraph
The City regulator says it has slashed the time it takes to handle some cases from hours to a matter of minutes after bringing in artificial intelligence technology. The Financial Conduct Authority is turning to AI to boost the efficiency of its staff, like many of the tens of thousands of financial services businesses that it oversees. – The Times
A British defence start-up whose uncrewed vessels support military and defence operations has secured unicorn status after raising $175m from investors including the British Business Bank. Kraken Technology, based in Fareham, Hampshire, has been valued at $1bn in an investment round led by Digital Transformation Capital Partners, a German investor, which also included backing from the Nato Innovation Fund and Rheinmetall, the German defence group. – The Times
US CLOSE
Wall Street stocks rose on Thursday, with the tech sector outperforming on the back of strong gains by chipmakers, as a drop in oil prices eased concerns about the renewed conflict in the Middle East.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.27% at 52,487.41, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.81% to 7,543.64 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.30% firmer at 26,206.89.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com