Sainsbury's Q1 sales rise, Drax taps Frank Lemmink for CFO
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Tuesday 01 Jul 2025
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open just 0.3 points higher ahead of the bell on Tuesday after wrapping up the previous session 0.43% lower at 8,760.96.
STOCKS TO WATCH
UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's reported a sharp jump in first-quarter like-for-like sales as consumers tucked into its new range of 'Taste the Difference' products. Sales for the period rose 4.7% compared with 4% in the final quarter of 2024 and 2.9% a year ago. Sainsbury's also said it continues to expect to deliver retail underlying operating profit of around £1.0bn and retail free cash flow of more than £500.0m.
Energy firm Drax has tapped Frank Lemmink to take over from Andy Skelton as chief financial officer, with effect from 1 September. Lemmink will join Drax from Shell, where he has served as executive vice president of its flagship Integrated Gas and Upstream business since 2023. Skelton will continue to support Drax in the succession process until 4 December.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
King Charles is set to receive official annual income of £132.0m next year, after his portfolio of land and property made more than £1.0bn in profits thanks to a boom in the offshore wind sector. Profits at the Crown Estate - which partly funds the monarchy - were flat at £1.1bn in its financial year to the end of March but more than double their level two years ago, at £442.6m. - Guardian
A wave of big-name acts including Taylor Swift, Charli XCX and Bruce Springsteen helped to attract a record of more than 23.0m live music fans in the UK last year, leading to an unprecedented £10.0bn of spending across the UK economy. A report from the industry body UK Music estimates that 23.5m "music tourists" attended concerts and festivals last year, up almost a quarter on the 19.2m in 2023. - Guardian
Google will start harnessing power from a cutting-edge nuclear fusion company as it seeks to use cleaner energy for its artificial intelligence data centres. The search giant has agreed to buy 200 megawatts of power starting in the 2030s from US fusion start-up Commonwealth Energy Systems, which is planning a nuclear fusion plant. Google will also take part-ownership of the business, which previously raised $1.8bn in 2021 from investors including Bill Gates and Tiger Global, making it the best-funded private fusion business. - Telegraph
Six years ago, Alexander Darwall was a master of the universe, a star stockpicker so admired that his former employer Jupiter Fund Management blamed him for £4.3bn of client defections when he left to set up his own shop. Today, Darwall threw in the towel, announcing plans to give up his independence and sell his business Devon Equity Management to a group headed by the Aberdeen Asset Management co-founder, Martin Gilbert, for up to £2.46m. - The Times
Offshore companies which made more than £100.0m when a technology business floated on the London Stock Exchange have said they were run for the benefit of the founder who allegedly previously claimed she had no connection to them. The companies, which owned 39% of Big Technologies before its initial public offering in 2021, have said in court filings that they were "an asset of" a trust whose beneficiaries are Sara Murray, Big's founder and former chief executive, and her daughter, Rowena. - The Times
US CLOSE
Wall Street stocks closed higher on Monday as major indices wrapped up an impressive month with a bang.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.63% at 44,094.77, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.52% to 6,204.95 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.47% firmer at 20,369.73.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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