Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Flooring products business Victoria said on Friday that it remains focused on delivering improvements to underlying earnings and cash‑generation, with productivity upgrades to its V4 ceramics line in Spain completed over the summer and Balta's rug‑weaving equipment now fully relocated from Belgium to Turkey. Victoria noted rival Headlam's move toward administration and said it would assess any opportunities arising, while stressing that its UK operations continued to trade well and that it had no credit exposure to the competitor. Across other regions, the AIM-listed firm said conditions remained volatile, with energy, diesel and input costs rising further since July, prompting additional mitigation measures.
Oil and gas explorer Arrow Exploration said corporate output had climbed to a record 6,000 barrels of oil per day following recent drilling success, strong workovers and its recent Thorsby acquisition, with the group holding $21.8m in cash after the deal. Arrow said its Icaco‑6 well was converted into a water‑disposal well after encountering a fault, though logs still showed net pay in the C7 and Guadalupe formations, while the Icaco‑7 well was spud on 1 September targeting multiple zones, with the company also continuing "constructive discussions" on its proposed Tapir block extension under Colombia's new pro‑business administration.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
The car company Volkswagen has announced it will shed 100,000 jobs by the end of the decade after being hit by US tariffs and fierce competition from Chinese rivals. The German manufacturer said management and unions had agreed as part of a sweeping cost-cutting plan to cut a further 50,000 positions by 2030, bringing total job losses in the pipeline to 100,000. – Guardian
The climate crisis, disease and cyber-attacks pose growing risks to the UK's food supplies and the government needs to act to make the system more resilient, according to the public spending watchdog. The National Audit Office is urging the Department for Food, the Environment and Rural Affairs to work more closely with households, communities and businesses to ensure the flow of crucial food into the country can withstand supply shocks that are becoming increasingly common and severe. – Guardian
An auction of the retail empire formerly owned by the Barclay family is set to be shelved after bidders failed to meet the £2bn asking price. Very Group, the online retailer that also owns the Littlewoods brand, was bought by US private equity firm Carlyle for a nominal £1 sum last year and subsequently put up for sale. – Telegraph
A rogue financial adviser acting for one of Britain's biggest wealth managers faces being fined and banned for allegedly taking almost £174,000 in fees by "recklessly" giving unauthorised pensions advice. The Financial Conduct Authority said on Thursday that it was planning to take action against Daniel Thomas, who was working on behalf of Quilter, for allegedly advising 53 clients who went on to swap their valuable defined benefit retirement pots for less generous pension schemes between 2014 and 2019. – The Times
Suppliers of Harvey Nichols are expected to receive less than 15p in the pound after the luxury department store group was acquired by Frasers through a controversial pre-pack administration. New filings at Companies House reveal the group's primary trading entity, Harvey Nichols and Company, fell into administration owing £270.5m to unsecured creditors. Of that, only a maximum of 15% is expected to be returned, according to early-stage estimates from the administrators, FTI Consulting. – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices closed sharply higher on Thursday after snapping a three‑day losing streak in the prior session, with easing Treasury yields offering some relief following renewed fighting between the US and Iran.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.18% at 53,686.11, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.06% to 7,747.71 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.40% firmer at 26,584.06.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com