Source: Sharecast
Equity view
Revolution Beauty has terminated its sale process and announced a proposed fundraising to raise £16.5m, as it brings back its co-founders to lead a "strategic reset" to turn the business around – which includes sweeping redundancies. The news comes as the loss-making makeup, skincare and hair products manufacturer reported that sales over the year to 28 February were down by a quarter due to a lack of revenues from discontinued products amid a planned rationalisation of its product and brand portfolio.
Metal flow engineering group Vesuvius has announced the acquisition of foundry products firm Molten Metal Systems from Morgan Advanced Materials for an enterprise value of £92.7m in a cash-and-shares deal. The deal will increase Vesuvius's foundry business exposure to the faster-growing non-ferrous market, expanding the foundry division's share of revenue from non-ferrous sales from 21% to an estimated 27%.
Standard Chartered shares rose on Friday after the bank welcomed what it described as a favourable filing from the US Department of Justice in a long-running civil case involving allegations of sanctions breaches. The bank said the DoJ’s latest position in the so-called ‘Brutus’ case confirmed that the claims, first brought by a former employee and his associates more than a decade ago, were “false” and repeatedly dismissed by US courts.
No changes are expected to the roster of blue chips on the FTSE 100 as part of index provider FTSE Russell's quarterly reshuffle of UK equity benchmarks, though fast fashion retailer ASOS is set to be kicked out of the FTSE 250. FTSE Russell, which rejigs the makeup of the main stock indices every quarter, will use valuations at the close of play on Friday to produce a list of indicative changes to the names on each list, with the final decision expected on 2 September.
Premier Foods said it had bought healthy meals brand Merchant Gourmet for an enterprise value of £48m on a cash and debt free basis. Merchant, which makes ready-to-eat meals from pulses and grains, is expected to generate revenue of £28m in the year to March 2026. Premier said the company had a “broad consumer base, exceptionally strong repeat rates and established track record of new category expansion”.
United Utilities has announced a £3bn deal to refurbish the Haweswater aqueduct, which carries water from Cumbria to 2.5m customers across Greater Manchester and Lancashire. The Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP), which includes replacing six tunnel sections of the 110km pipeline, will be delivered by consortium Cascade Infrastructure and begin in 2026.
Recruiter Hays has more than halved its annual dividend after delivering a big drop in profits as expected over the year to 30 June, saying job markets have yet to recover in the new financial year. Hays, which delivered a profit warning in mid-June, proposed a final dividend of 0.29p per share, down from 2.05p last year, equating to a full-year payout of just 1.24p or £19.8m, down from 3.00p or £47.5m previously.
British retailer Marks & Spencer has unveiled plans for a major expansion of its food logistics network, committing to the largest supply chain investment in its history as it sharpens its focus on becoming a weekly grocery destination. M&S will invest £340m in a new 1.3m square foot automated National Distribution Centre at Daventry, set to open in 2029, with the facility significantly enhancing operational efficiency and reducing long-term costs, with advanced automation expected to streamline throughput and bolster margins.
B2B tech firm Computacenter has promoted its head of group commercial finance to the chief financial officer position following a nine-month internal and external search. Keith Mortimer, who has been with the company since 1999 and has held various senior finance and commercial roles, will be appointed CFO on 1 September, some nine months after the exit of former CFO Christian Jehle who stepped down at the end of 2024 by mutual agreement.
Mortgage lender OSB Group said on Wednesday that profits had fallen in the six months ended 30 June, with rising funding costs and a competitive mortgage market weighing on profitability. Statutory pre-tax profits dropped 31% to £226.7m, hit by a 59% surge in impairment charges to £54.6m, while underlying pre-tax profits fell 25% to £260.6m, and operating income slipped 3% to £398.6m.
Lion Finance Group posted a sharp rise in profit for the first half of 2025 on Tuesday, supported by robust growth in Georgia and Armenia, while announcing both an interim dividend and a share buyback programme. The FTSE 250 company, formerly known as the Bank of Georgia Group, reported consolidated profit before one-off items of GEL 513.2m (£141.21m) in the second quarter, up 19.4% from a year earlier, with return on average equity at 27.2%. For the first half, profit before one-offs climbed 28.4% to GEL 1.03bn, with ROAE at 27.9%.
Shares in Costain plummeted on Wednesday despite the construction and engineering firm hiking its dividend, as revenues in the first half dropped by almost a fifth. The company reported revenues of £525.4m for the six months to 30 June, down 17.8% over last year, as growth in the Natural Resources division was outweighed by falls in Transportation from expected road project completions and a rephased schedule from HS2.
Fintech group Plus500 has announced its first strategic expansion into Latin America after establishing a representative office in Colombia. The company, which operates online CFD trading platforms, said the new office will allow it to deliver a localised and more tailored service to Colombian customers in the OTC market.
Mining giant BHP said on Tuesday that full-year profits had fallen to a five-year low, with sluggish demand from China weighing on iron ore prices. BHP posted a 26% drop in underlying profits to $10.16bn, below consensus estimates of $10.22bn and the lowest since 2020's Covid-impacted trading year, while revenues dropped 8% to $51.26bn due to the impact of lower iron ore prices and weakness in steelmaking coal markets.
Diversified mining company Power Metal Resources has sold its remaining stake in Guardian Metal Resources for £13.6m, marking an 11.8 times return on its original investment. Both stocks jumped more than 10% in early deals on Tuesday, with Power Metal up 10.7% at 15.5p and Guardian Metal up 11.3% at 64.56p. Power Metal said on Tuesday it had entered into a legally binding sale and purchase agreement with an investment fund managed by the Duquesne Family Office to sell its 24.7m shares at a price of 55p each.
Education software firm Tribal Group reported a solid first-half performance on Tuesday, underpinned by continued momentum in its shift to a full-service software as a service model. Tribal said revenue had risen 2.3% to £45.3m in the six months ended 30 June, while adjusted underlying earnings jumped 18.4% to £8.3m, lifting margins from 15.9% to 18.4%., and statutory post-tax profits skyrocketed 323.6% to £3.9m, aided by lower exceptional costs.
Property developer Great Portland Estates said on Monday that it had secured three new fully managed leasing deals, totalling 11,720 square feet of "premium, refurbished office space". Great Portland said the new leasing deals, which were across its SIX St Andrew Street, EC4 and 31/34 Alfred Place, WC1 properties, had provided it with a further £2.5m in annual rent at an average of £212 per square foot, 2.8% ahead of March's estimated rental value.
Land Securities on Monday said it had exchanged contracts for the sale of its Queen Anne's Mansions office block in London to Arora Group for £245m. The disposal is part of the property firm’s plan to release £2bn of capital from offices by 2030, as it focuses its portfolio on assets which can deliver sustainable income and EPS growth over the long term.
Infrastructure investor HICL Infrastructure said on Monday that it had agreed to dispose of a portfolio of seven UK public private partnership assets to Dutch pension services provider APG, for a total consideration of roughly £225m. HICL said the portfolio made up 50% of its investments in Southmead Hospital, and Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospitals, as well as its entire equity interest in four UK LIFT projects and Edinburgh Schools.
Asset protection technology and offshore energy services group Tekmar said on Monday that it had secured "two significant offshore grouting contracts" in Qatar. Tekmar said the total value of the awards was approximately $1.6m, with the combined scope including the provision of pipeline support remediation works, utilising its grouting services in conjunction with bespoke ROV-deployed grout bag technology.
Economic news
Improved confidence about personal finances pushed UK consumer sentiment higher in August, though concerns about rising inflation and unemployment continued to dampen the overall mood. The GfK consumer confidence index rose by two points to -17 this month, its highest level this year, with four of the five components of the gauge improving from July.
Manufacturing output volumes fell in the three months to August, having been broadly flat in July, according to the latest industrial trends survey released on Thursday by the Confederation of British Industry. The CBI's balance for manufacturing new orders fell to -33 from -30 in July. Meanwhile, the gauge for the volume of output expected in the next three months declined to -13 in August from -6 the month before.
UK private sector business activity accelerated to its fastest pace in a year in August, according to a preliminary survey released on Thursday. The S&P Global flash UK PMI composite output index - which covers both the manufacturing and services sectors - rose to 53.0 from 51.5 in July, coming above the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion.
UK government borrowing was lower than expected in July, according to data released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics. Borrowing came in at £1.1bn, down £2.3bn on July 2024 and marking the lowest July figure for three years following tax rises in April. Analysts were expecting £2.6bn and the Office for Budget Responsibility had forecast £2.1bn.
UK consumer confidence improved marginally in August but remains "in the doldrums", according to a survey from the British Retail Consortium on Thursday, with accelerating food inflation continuing to dampen sentiment. The net balance of consumer expectations for the economy over the coming three months came in at -32%, up from -33% in July, BRC reported.
House price inflation the UK picked up in June, according to data out on Wednesday from the Office for National Statistics, as falling mortgage rates and stamp duty changes spurred demand. The average price of a house in the UK increased by 3.7% to £269,000 in the 12 months to June, compared with a 2.7% year-on-year rise in May, ONS said.
UK supermarkets experienced a big slowdown in sales growth between July and August as rising food prices led to a drop in average spend per visit, according to data out on Wednesday from NielsenIQ. The market research firm reported that total till sales grew by 3.7% year-on-year over the four weeks to 9 August, down from the 5.8% rate recorded the preceding four weeks.
UK consumer price inflation rose more than expected in July, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics. Consumer price inflation rose at an annual rate of 3.8%, mainly due to transport and in particular air fares. This was up from 3.6% in June, above analysts’ expectations of 3.7% and the highest recorded since January 2024, when it was 4.0%.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has postponed the release of its July retail sales figures, marking the latest in a series of disruptions to the country’s official economic data, Reuters reported. July’s figures, originally due on Friday, would reportedly now be published on 5 September “to allow for further quality assurance,” the ONS said on Tuesday.
Grocery price inflation edged lower in August but still remains significantly elevated, according to data from market research firm Worldpanel on Tuesday, with consumers adapting their shopping behaviour as the cost of living continues to rise. The year-on-year change in grocery prices slowed to 5.0% over the four weeks to 10 August, down from 5.2% in July, while take-home sales at supermarkets were 4.0% higher than last year.
International events
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell opened the door to rate cuts on Friday as he delivered his keynote address at the central bank's annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Powell acknowledged signs of fragility in the US labour market, suggesting it may no longer be the bedrock of resilience it once appeared to be. He also downplayed the inflationary impact of Donald Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs, indicating they are likely to exert only modest pressure on consumer prices.
Shares of AkzoNobel shot higher on Friday as it emerged that activist investor Cevian Capital has taken a 3.02% stake in the Dulux owner. According to a regulatory filing, Cevian bought more than 5 million ordinary shares through its portfolio Cevian Capital II Master Fund LP on Wednesday.
Retail giant Walmart reported a rare quarterly earnings miss on Thursday despite delivering solid top-line growth and operational gains. Walmart posted second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.67, falling short of expectations of $0.73, largely due to a $0.11 net investment loss.
Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at an accelerated pace in the week ended 16 August, according to the Labor Department. Initial jobless claims rose to 235,000, up from the prior week's unrevised print of 224,000 and well ahead of market expectations of a more modest increase to 225,000, while continuing claims increased by 30,000 to 1.97m, ahead of the 1.96m print expected by economists and the highest level since November 2021.
Construction output across the eurozone declined for the second month in a row in June, according to statistics out on Thursday from Eurostat. Seasonally adjusted production in construction decreased by 0.8% following a 2.1% slump in May, Eurostat reported.
Sweden's central bank kept interest rates on hold, but said there was still the possibility of a cut later in the year with inflation running above target. The Riksbank kept its key interest rate at 2.00%, in line with expectations.
US mortgage applications fell 1.4% in the week ended 15 August, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, trimming the prior week's 10.9% surge. Applications to refinance a mortgage, which are more sensitive to short-term rate changes, fell by 3.1%, while applications to purchase a home were broadly flat week-on-week.
Wholesale prices in Germany unexpectedly fell in July, with the annual rate of deflation picking up to a 13-month high, according to data out on Wednesday from Destatis. The producer price index (PPI) fell 0.1% last month, pulling back after a 0.1% increase in June, the Federal Statistical Office reported. The consensus forecast was for another 0.1% gain.
US building permits fell by 2.8% to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 1.35m in July, according to the Census Bureau, the lowest reading since June 2020 and below market expectations of 1.39m. Permits for buildings with five or more units dropped by 9.9% to an annualised rate of 430,000, while single-family permits increased by 0.5% to 870,000.
S&P Global Ratings has said that "meaningful tariff revenues" from Donald Trump's trade war should balance the fiscal damage linked to the president's massive tax and spending bill. The comments came as the ratings agency kept an AA+ credit rating on the US with a stable outlook.
