Weekly review
By Josh White
Date: Friday 12 Jun 2026
(Sharecast News) - The FTSE 100 ended the week up 102.67 points, or 0.99%, closing at 10,471.72 on Friday.
Equity view
Infrastructure group Kier on Friday said it had won an extension to continue delivering maintenance and improvements across South West Water's network over the next two years. The framework extension has an indicative value of £140m and runs until March 2028, with Kier being the sole contractor appointed.
Drugmaker GSK said on Friday that its JAK inhibitor momelotinib has been granted orphan drug designation by both the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of VEXAS syndrome, a rare and severe autoinflammatory condition with no approved therapies. GSK said the designations were supported by retrospective case studies suggesting JAK inhibitors may offer clinical benefit, as well as a case report indicating improvements in symptoms, inflammation and haematological markers with momelotinib.
Virgin Wines tumbled on Friday as it said full-year profit and revenue were set to miss analysts' expectations as it cited higher costs and weaker consumer confidence due to the Iran war. In an update for the year to 3 July, the company said it now expects annual revenue of around £61m, an EBITDA loss of £200,000 and pre-tax losses of £1.5m. Market expectations were for revenue of £63.25m, EBITDA of £100,000 and a pre-tax loss of £1m.
McBride tumbled on Friday as the maker of own brand household products warned that full-year profit for this year and the next would fall short of analysts' expectations, citing cost increases due to the Iran war. The company said it now expects FY26 and FY27 adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation to be between 5% and 10% lower than current expectations of £64.2m and £70.6m, respectively.
Low-cost airline Wizz Air said it had suspended guidance for 2027, citing a lack of visibility due to the Iran war, but posted better-than-expected annual earnings driven by higher capacity and cost control. The Hungary-based carrier company reported an operating profit of €139.7m for the year to March 31, down 16.6% but beating consensus forecasts of €88.51m despite the cancellation of routes to the Middle East and Cyprus as the conflict started in February.
Intertek said on Thursday that the 'put up or shut up' deadline for EQT to make a takeover offer has been extended as the Swedish private equity firm needs more time for due diligence. The inspection, product testing and certification group announced last month that it had received a £9.4bn takeover proposal from EQT that it would be minded to recommend. The final offer from EQT was £60 per share, up from £58 in cash. Once the final dividend of 107.7p per share is included, the total value is £61.077 per share.
Investment manager Foresight Group said on Thursday that it has agreed to sell its public markets arm, Foresight Capital Management, to Guinness Global Investors as it continues to streamline the business and sharpen its focus on core areas. Foresight said the deal will see around £1bn of assets under management - roughly 7% of group AUM at 31 March - and 16 employees transfer to Guinness. Completion was expected to take place in the third quarter.
Cyber security and resilience specialist NCC Group ruled out a potential sale on Thursday, as it posted an uplift in half-year earnings. The UK firm first launched a strategic review of the business last April, which led to the sale of all its non-core operations. In January, it agreed to sell escrow and verification business Escode to TDR Capital for net cash proceeds of £263m, leaving it a pure-play cyber security and resilience business.
Vodafone Greece and Public Power Corporation have entered into heads of terms to create a potential 50:50 joint venture made up of their respective fibre to the home and wholesale fibre businesses in Greece. The two firms' fibre businesses currently cover more than a combined 1.6 million homes and the joint venture would intend to provide wholesale open access to internet service providers in Greece.
Flexible office space business Workspace posted a softer set of full‑year numbers on Wednesday, with earnings hit by lower rental income and a further drop in property valuations. Workspace said net rental income fell 7.1% to £113.4m following disposals, while trading profit after interest declined 9.4% to £60.5m in the year ended 31 March. As a result, Workspace reported a £120.5m pre‑tax loss, driven largely by valuation movements across its portfolio, and the group cut its full-year dividend to 26.1p per share from 28.4p a year earlier.
Pennon said on Wednesday that it swung to a full-year profit, as it conceded that it needs to "rebuild trust" following a parasitic outbreak in Devon. In the year to the end of March, the South West Water owner swung to a statutory pre-tax profit of £114m from a loss of £72.7m the year before. The underlying pre-tax profit was £135.1m, versus a loss of £35.1m a year earlier.
Shares in Fuller, Smith & Turner fizzed in early trading on Wednesday, after the 181-year-old pubs group posted above-forecast annual earnings and toasted a strong start to the current year. The group, which owns pubs and hotels across the southern half of England, saw revenues rise 5.7% in the 52 weeks to 28 March, to £397.8m, while like-for-like sales at its managed pubs and hotels jumped 4.9%.
Geotechnical contractor Keller said on Tuesday that it has been awarded a contract variation order in relation to the reconstruction of the I-40 highway in the US. Keller, which started working on the I-40 project in 2025, said the latest agreement followed a series of work packages that it was already undertaking.
Oxford Instruments shares fell more than 6% on Tuesday morning despite the company reporting full-year results slightly ahead of expectations, as investors focused on weaker revenue, lower adjusted profit and pressure in its Advanced Technologies division. The FTSE 250 scientific technology group said revenue from continuing operations fell 4.6% to £423.2m in the year ended 31 March, or 3.0% on an organic constant-currency basis, while adjusted operating profit declined 7.3% to £73.7m.
Molten Ventures reported a sharp rise in annual profit and net asset value on Tuesday, alongside a further valuation uplift from portfolio company ICEYE after the satellite intelligence business completed a major funding round. The FTSE 250 venture capital firm said net asset value per share rose 13% to 760p in the year ended 31 March, from 671p a year earlier, while net assets increased to £1.32bn from £1.24bn.
Shares of LBG Media tumbled on Tuesday as the LADbible owner downgraded full-year guidance, pointing to a decline in Indirect revenues due to changes in Meta's Facebook algorithm. The company now expects FY26 revenue of between £100m and £107m, down from previous guidance of £110m, and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £15m to £20m, down from £22m.
Balfour Beatty said a long-running compliance monitoring of its US subsidiary Balfour Beatty Communities had ended after a fraud scandal involving military housing that resulted in a £49m fine in 2021. The infrastructure firm pleaded guilty after it was found to have falsified data to hit resident satisfaction targets and claim taxpayer-funded performance bonuses. Multi-year monitoring of the unit ordered by the Department of Justice ended on June 6.
Brick merchant Brickability said on Monday that it had agreed to acquire fencing specialist HS Jackson & Son in a deal worth £19.9m. Brickability will acquire Jacksons for an initial £15m consideration on a cash‑free, debt‑free basis, with a further £4.9m payable for the freehold land and property from which the business operates. It said the acquisition would be funded from existing resources.
Tate & Lyle has agreed to be taken over by US peer Ingredion in a £2.7bn deal, it was confirmed on Monday, sending shares in the British firm soaring. The ingredients specialist, which was founded in 1859 and joined the London market in 1935, is being acquired for 595p per share in cash and dividends of up to 20p share. It values the business at £2.7bn, with an implied enterprise value of £3.7bn, and represents a 58.7% premium to the closing share price on 13 May, the last day of trading before the takeover talks were first disclosed.
Cyber-security software firm Acuity RM said it has expanded its work with an existing customer in the nuclear supply chain, securing a new three‑year contract worth more than £100,000. Acuity RM said on Monday that the deal will see the unnamed client migrate its on‑premises STREAM Classic system to the STREAM Classic SaaS platform, while also adding third‑party risk management capability.
Economic news
The UK economy contracted 0.1% in April, according to figures released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics, in line with expectations. This followed growth of 0.3% in March and 0.4% in February. The ONS said the decline was driven by a 0.2% fall in services, which was partially offset by a 0.1% rise in construction. Production showed no growth in April.
Inflation expectations in the UK picked up sharply in May, according to a closely watched Bank of England survey, with consumer perceptions about the current environment and future outlook pointing to rising price pressures at the till. The quarterly survey, which was carried out over the week to 5 May, showed that consumers believe the current rate of inflation to be 5%, up from 4.6% in February.
UK housing demand bounced back at the start of June following a temporary dip due to last month's heatwave, according to figures out on Friday from Rightmove. The housing platform said that buyer demand had dropped 8% over the week commencing 22 May, as unseasonably hot weather coincided with school holidays, prompting potential buyers to hold off from viewings.
UK airport Heathrow on Thursday reported a drop in passenger numbers last month as the US-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon hit travel demand. The airport posted a 1.2% year-on-year decline in passengers to 7.1 million, including a 31% slump in travellers to the Middle East as airlines cancelled flights and suspended routes to the region. There was also a 1.9% drop in the UK.
The UK housing market remained under pressure in May, a closely-watched industry survey showed on Thursday, as geopolitical tensions continued to subdue consumer confidence. According to the latest residential market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, house prices remained in negative territory with a net balance of -35 last month.
Consumer spending on debit and credit cards sparked in the UK in May, industry data showed on Tuesday, despite heightened geopolitical volatility and rising costs. According to research by Barclays, spending returned to growth, with the total value up 0.8% year-on-year, following April's 0.1% decline. Transaction growth - which refers to the number of card transactions - eased 0.4%.
The Confederation of British Industry trimmed its UK growth forecasts on Tuesday while sharply revising inflation expectations upwards, on the back of the ongoing war in the Middle East. Publishing its latest Economic Forecast, the employers' organisation expects GDP to grow by 1.1% in 2026 and 0.9% in 2027. In December, it predicted GDP growth of 1.3% for this year and 1.5% for the next.
International events
Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at an accelerated clip in the week ended 6 June, according to the Department of Labor, hitting the highest initial claim count since February. Initial jobless claims rose by 4,000 to 229,000, firmly ahead of market expectations of a decrease to 219,000.
The European Central Bank lifted interest rates to 2.25% on Thursday, as widely expected. This marked the first increase in rates since September 2023. "The Governing Council is committed to setting monetary policy to ensure that inflation stabilises at its 2% target in the medium term," the ECB said in a statement.
US inflation accelerated in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with headline CPI rising 0.5% on the month and 4.2% over the year. The monthly increase eased slightly from April's 0.6% gain, while the annual rate picked up from 3.8% and moved above the 4% threshold for the first time since May 2023. Consensus estimates had annual CPI rising 0.5% on the month and 4.2% year-on-year.
US mortgage applications rose in the first week of June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, with overall volumes increasing by 10.8% week-on-week. The increase followed a 2.5% drop in the prior week and snapped a three-week run of decreases. It was also the highest rise since late February and came despite rising benchmark mortgage rates.
Improving affordability pushed US existing home sales to a five-month high last month, according to figures out on Tuesday from the National Association of Realtors. Existing home sales rose by 3.2% in May, also rising 3.2% over 12 months earlier, to 4.17m. That was up from 4.04m in April and well ahead of the 4.07m consensus forecast, marking its highest level since December.
Talks on a peace agreement with Iran were in their "final throes" US President Donald Trump claimed, even as Israel continued to attack Lebanon and ordered residents out of the city of Tyre. Fears of an escalation rose over the weekend as Iran fired missiles into Israel in response to Tel Aviv's strikes on Beirut.
Chinese exports surged in May, official data showed on Tuesday, boosted by bumper demand for artificial intelligence and a sharp rebound in sales to the US. According to the country's General Administration of Customs, exports grew by 19.4%, up notably on April's 14.1% rise and comfortably ahead of consensus for 15% growth.
German industrial production and exports rose more than expected in April, according to official data published on Tuesday. Industrial production increased by 0.4% month on month, the federal statistics office said. Analysts had forecast a 0.5% rise.
Oil prices came off highs on Monday, after Iran announced the end of military operations against Israel. The two countries breached a fragile ceasefire and exchanged fire in a flurry of attacks over the weekend and into Monday.
Negative sentiment among investors across the eurozone has eased for the second straight month, according to the latest confidence survey from behavioural finance research firm Sentix, though the mood remains firmly downbeat as geopolitical tensions continue to weigh on risk appetite. The headline economic index from the Sentix survey, which polls institutional investors and analysts from across the single-currency region each month, rose 3.0 points to -13.4 in June as concerns about a significant economic slowdown "eased noticeably".
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