Weekly review
By Josh White
Date: Friday 04 Jul 2025
(Sharecast News) - The FTSE 100 ended the week up 24 points, or 0.27%, closing at 8,822.91 on Friday.
Equity view
Roadside, the AIM-listed real estate company focused on UK roadside and convenience retail, has purchased a former Sainsbury's petrol station in Coventry that offers "strong redevelopment potential". The site, situated alongside a former Sainsbury's supermarket at Austin Drive just outside the city centre, was bought for £1.25m from Roadside Retail, a joint venture the company has with investment firm Meadow Partners.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Friday that its Imfinzi asset has been approved in the EU as the first and only perioperative immunotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer. AZN said the European Commission's approval of Imfinzi was based on positive Phase III trial results, which showed a 32% reduction in the risk of recurrence and a 25% reduction in the risk of death when used in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin as neoadjuvant treatment, versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone.
Shares in MJ Gleeson fell on Friday after the low-cost, affordable housebuilder delivered a cautious outlook and announced a "reorganisation" of Gleeson Homes, which included the exit of its divisional chief executive and organisational changes. The company, which said it expects pre-tax profits for the year to 30 June to be in line with market forecasts of £21m-22.5m, said the housing market "lacks confidence and remains subdued".
Hydrogen power generation firm AFC Energy said on Friday that it has agreed to form a joint venture with British chemical manufacturing and distribution company Industrial Chemicals Group. Once established, the 50/50 joint venture will initially acquire AFC Energy's pilot ammonia cracking plant and hydrogen compression system in Q425, with initial revenues expected in early 2026.
Property developer Great Portland Estates said on Thursday that "strong leasing momentum" experienced in FY25 had continued in Q126, with the group signing £20.6m of new leasing deals, 6.7% ahead of enterprise rental value. GPE said new deals included "a significant pre-let" of all the offices at its 30 Duke Street, St James's development, well ahead of both ERV and underwrite.
Electricals and tech retailer Currys resumed dividend payments on Thursday, following a spike in annual sales and profits. The FTSE 250 firm said group revenues rose 3% in the year to 3 May, to £8.7bn, or by 2% on a like-for-like basis. Within that, sales in the UK and Ireland were 4% stronger on an underlying basis, and flat in the Nordics.
Mike Ashley's Frasers Group said on Thursday that it has secured a new £3bn loan and credit facility. The highly-acquisitive owner of Sports Direct, Game and Evans Cycles, as well as Frasers, among others, said it had entered into a new term loan and revolving credit facility with its banks.
Watches of Switzerland shares fell sharply as the luxury brands seller reported a fall in annual profits and warned products exported to the US would be hit by tariff increases. Pre-tax profit for the year to April 27 fell 18% to £76m, while revenue grew 7% to £1.65bn. WoS said it was still too early to comment on the potential impact of any US tariff changes. Shares in the firm were down 6% in early London trade.
Bakery chain Greggs warned on Wednesday that FY25 operating profits may be "modestly below" FY24 despite H1 sales growth. Greggs saw total H1 sales grow 6.9% to £1.02bn, with like-for-like sales up 2.6% year-on-year. Greggs said it had made "good progress" in May but noted this was followed by "slower growth" in June as high temperatures affected the UK, increasing demand for cold drinks but reducing overall footfall.
Hospitality group SSP has said its joint-owned Indian operations will be worth up to £1.23bn in a proposed stock market listing in Mumbai as it announced the purchase of an additional stake to give it majority control. SSP, which operates convenience food stores and restaurants in travel gateways across 40 countries, plans to list the Travel Food Services joint venture with K Hospitality Corp on 14 July.
KKR said it had agreed a deal to buy precision instrument maker Spectris for £4.7bn, trumping an offer from rival Advent. The private equity giant will pay £40.00 a share made up of £39.72 in cash from and an interim dividend of 28p each. Advent offered £37.63 a share, or £4.4bn. KKR had already made two prior bids for London-listed Spectris.
Low-cost carrier Wizz Air said on Wednesday that passenger numbers had increased during June, as did seat capacity and load factor. Wizz Air said it had carried 5.88m passengers in June, up 10.8% year-on-year, while seat capacity increased 10.4% to 6.38m, resulting in a load factor of 92.1%, up 0.4 percentage points on last year.
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.
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 including Spanish jamón croquetas. Sales, excluding fuel, for the 16 weeks to June 21 rose 4.7% compared with 4% in the final quarter of 2024 and 2.9% a year ago, driven by warmer weather which lifted customer spending in food, clothing and the Argos catalogue brand.
Supermarket Income REIT said it had completed a new £215m loan for its joint venture with funds managed by Blue Owl Capital. The interest-only facility has a maturity of three years, with two further one-year extension options at the lenders' discretion and is priced at a margin of 1.5% above the sterling overnight average index and the joint venture intends to hedge the drawn amount for the three-year initial term, the company said on Tuesday.
Property investment firm CLS Holdings said on Tuesday that it has disposed of two properties in Germany for a total of €41.3m. CLS has completed the sale of Techno Centre in Munich, an 8,527 sqm mixed-use office and industrial building, and has also unconditionally exchanged contracts on the sale of Jarrrestrasse 8-10 in Hamburg, a fully let 5,488 sqm office building, with completion set to take place in early August.
Aerospace and defence products business Chemring has acquired Hampshire-based software-defined radio systems manufacturer Landguard Nexus in a deal worth as much as £20.0m. Chemring said on Monday that the consideration will be satisfied by a £14.0m cash payment on completion, funded from existing bank facilities, and cash earnouts totalling up to £6.0m, subject to certain performance targets.
Suburban housing investment trust PRS REIT confirmed it was still in talks on a potential sale worth £631m with real estate management firm Long Harbour. PRS put itself up for sale last year and received "several" non-binding proposals, with none beating Long Harbour's 115p-a-share proposal.
Real estate investment trust Tritax Big Box said on Monday that it has the potential to grow adjusted earnings by 50% before the end of 2030. Tritax Big Box said potential growth was supported by its three key growth drivers - "record" rental reversion within its investment portfolio of both big box and urban logistics assets, its "significant" logistics development pipeline, and "exceptional" returns from large-scale pre-let data centre opportunities.
Wood Group has requested another extension to the takeover deadline, giving Sidara an extra month to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or walk away. The so-called 'put up or shut up' deadline, which now stands at 28 July, has already been extended two times since Sidara's initial proposal was made public in mid-April. The current deadline was due to expire on Monday.
Economic news
UK construction output remained in contractionary territory in June, albeit to a lesser extent, according to a survey released on Friday. S&P Global's construction purchasing managers' index ticked up to 48.8 from 47.9 in May. A reading above 50 signals expansion, while a reading below indicates contraction.
New car registrations surged in June, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, hitting their highest level since 2019. New car registrations increased by 6.7% in June to 191,316 units, but still accounted for less than 40% of new cars on the road, while private sales were up 5.9% at 71,616 and fleet sales grew 8.5% to 114,841. Business sales, on the other hand, slumped 15.8% to 4,859.
The UK service sector rebounded modestly in June, a closely-watched survey showed on Thursday, boosted by a pick-up in consumer and business sentiment. The final S&P Global UK services PMI business activity index was 52.8, up from 50.9 in May and the highest since August. It was also ahead of the preliminary print of 51.3.
The Bank of England's Alan Taylor called on Wednesday for three more interest rate cuts this year, warning that the UK's soft landing was now at risk. Taylor is one of the Monetary Policy Committee's most dovish members. The BoE has so far cut rates twice this year, by 25 basis points in both February and May, to 4.25%. Taylor backed the February reduction, but wanted a bigger 50bps cut in May and a 25bps trim in June.
Ofgem announced the provisional approval of £24bn in funding to upgrade Britain's energy infrastructure on Tuesday, in a major step toward securing energy supply and enabling the transition to cleaner power. The draft decision covered the 2026-2031 period and marked the first phase of a wider £80bn investment programme aimed at delivering the largest expansion of the electricity grid since the 1960s.
The downturn in UK manufacturing eased slightly in June as rates of decline in output, new orders and employment all slowed, while business optimism rose. According to S&P Global, the UK manufacturing purchasing managers' index increased to 47.7 last month, in line with the flash reading released a week earlier and the highest print in five months.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said that the central bank is carefully assessing the extent to which a weakening of the labour market and subdued economic growth may help drive down inflation. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Bailey said: "I do see some underlying weakening, particularly in the labour market - and the labour market is softening."
UK house prices unexpectedly fell last month, according to figures released on Tuesday by Nationwide. House prices declined by 0.8% on the month in June, following 0.4% growth in May. Analysts were expecting a 0.2% jump. On the year, house price growth slowed to 2.1% last month from 3.5% in May.
Shop prices returned to inflation in June on the back of a big jump in food prices, fuelled by high wholesale prices and rising wage bills. According to the British Retail Consortium-NIQ Shop Price Index released on Tuesday, prices at UK tills were up 0.4% compared with last June, following a 0.1% year-on-year decline in May. The annual rate of food inflation surged to 3.7% from 2.8%, while non-food deflation eased to -1.2% from -1.5%.
The UK competition regulator has said that fuel margins still remain high despite the recent falling in prices at the pump. The Competition and Markets Authority has found that fuel margins - the difference between what a retailer pays for fuel and what it sells it at - are still at similar levels to when it launched its road fuel market study in 2023.
International events
Eurozone construction activity declined at its sharpest pace in three months in June, as falling new orders and renewed pessimism among builders weighed on the sector. The latest HCOB construction purchasing managers' index (PMI) data showed the total activity index falling to 45.2 from 45.6 in May, signalling a steeper contraction in overall output.
Services sector activity in the US rebounded a tad more than anticipated last month on the back of increased output and stronger order flow. The Institute for Supply Management's services sector purchasing managers' index improved slightly, rising from a reading of 49.9 for May to 50.8 in June. Economists' forecasts had been for a print of 50.5.
US non-farm payrolls rose by 147,000 in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, following May's upwardly revised 144,00 print and well ahead of forecasts of 110,00. June's reading was also in line with the average monthly gain of 146,000 over the last 12 months and continued to point to a fundamentally resilient labour market.
Growth in China's services sector eased in June, according to data released on Thursday. Caixin's services purchasing managers' index fell to 50.6 from 51.1 in May. This was below expectations for a reading of 51 and marked the slowest growth in nine months. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below signals contraction.
Private sector employment in the US unexpectedly fell in June, according to figures released on Wednesday by ADP. Employment declined by 33,000 from May, versus expectations for a 100,000 increase. Meanwhile, May's gain was revised to 29,000 from 37,000. Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees shed 47,000 jobs, while medium businesses with between 50 and 499 employees shed 15,000.
US mortgage applications rose 2.7% in the week ended 27 June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, extending the previous week's 1.1% increase. Last week's increase came alongside another drop in benchmark mortgage rates, with 30-year fixed mortgage rates dropping nine basis points to a near three-month low of 6.79%.
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has repeated calls for patience with regards to interest rate cuts, saying that more data is needed to assess the impact of trade tariffs on inflation and economic growth. Speaking at the European Central Bank conference in Portugal, Powell said that the "prudent thing to do" was to wait, adding that the Fed could have cut rates sooner if it wasn't for the launch of Donald Trump's sweeping protectionist measures in early April.
The number of job openings rose unexpectedly in May, as did the number of people confident enough to leave their job and look for alternatives. According to the US Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the number of job openings increased by 5.1% month-on-month to reach 7.769m (consensus: 7.3m). Hiring on the other hand slipped by 1.7% to reach 5.503m.
Factory activity in the US continued to slow last month, due to the drag from the ongoing tariff uncertainty, the results of a closely followed survey revealed. The Institute for Supply Management's purchasing managers' index inched up from a reading of 48.5 for the month of May to 49.0 (consensus: 48.8) in June. The 50.0 point mark was the threshold separating between a contraction and an expansion in the sector.
Confidence in the eurozone's troubled manufacturing hit its highest level in 34 months despite a slowing in output, according to a survey published on Tuesday. The HCOB manufacturing purchasing managers index hit 49.5 in June, up from May's 49.4 p - the highest level since February 2022, although still below the 50 mark which separates expansion from contraction. Meanwhile the output Index fell to 50.8 from 51.5, a three-month low.
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