Weekly review
By Josh White
Date: Friday 17 Jul 2026
(Sharecast News) - The FTSE 100 ended the week up 102.32 points, or 0.97%, closing at 10,600.37 on Friday.
Equity view
Luxury brand Burberry on Friday reported a 5% rise in first-quarter sales driven by strong performances in the Americas and China which offset a decline in Europe and the Middle East due to the Iran war. Sales in the 13 weeks to June 27 came in at £455m. Burberry said Gen Z customers in China helped increase revenues by 9% year on year, while the Americas grew 12% as the brand attracted new customers.
Investment manager Ninety One said on Friday that assets under management had hit £184bn as of 30 June, up from £139.7bn a year earlier and £171.8bn at the end of the previous quarter on 31 March. Ninety One's first quarter update comes a little over a month after the FTSE 250-listed group reported higher full-year earnings and a return to annual net inflows, but only modest growth in statutory profits.
Peel Hunt said Friday that TA Associates has sold 30 million shares in Eurowag in a placing. The shares, representing a stake of around 4.3%, were sold at £1 each. On completion of the placing, TA Associates will hold just over 88.5m shares in the payments processor, or a stake of 12.7%.
Bridgepoint reported record first-half results as strong fundraising and investment performance drove a 78% increase in underlying EBITDA to £227.3m, while fee-paying assets under management rose 32.7% to $58.4bn. Underlying management fee income increased 22.8% to £254.4m, performance-related earnings more than doubled to £120.7m and assets under management grew 12.4% to $97.3bn, with the private markets group saying it had now raised €26bn towards its recently increased €28bn fundraising target by the end of 2026.
Sports Direct owner Frasers Group withheld guidance for the current financial year due to its bids for German fashion brand Hugo Boss and Australia's Accent group which mate it difficult to provide accurate forecasts. The Sports Direct owner on Thursday reported annual adjusted pre-tax profit of £538m, down 4% on the previous year, despite retail trading profit surging 22% to £912.5m.
Data and technology firm Experian posted 8% total revenue growth and 7% organic growth for the first quarter on Thursday, with strong B2B momentum across major markets offsetting softer trends in parts of consumer services, but disappointing organic revenue guidance came in below market expectations and weighed on the stock in early trade. Experian said it had delivered broad‑based growth across its regions in the three months ended 30 June, with North America, Latin America and the UK & Ireland all posting solid performances, while EMEA and Asia Pacific remained more subdued.
Dunelm said on Thursday that full-year profit was set to be in line with its guidance and consensus, as it reported a rise in fourth-quarter sales. In the 13 weeks to 27 June, sales ticked up 2.9% on the year to £428m, with digital participation up three percentage points to 45%. The homeware retailer said its Summer Living category traded particularly strongly, both at full price and on promotion, with good sell-through across the range.
UK online grocery and warehouse tech group Ocado on Thursday said it still expected to be cash-flow positive by the end of this financial year, although investors were unimpressed, marking the shares down 10% in early London trade. The company added that it was talking to "mutliple" retailers in the US after Kroger in the US, and Sobeys in Canada announced the closure of automated customer fulfilment centres last year, citing weak demand.
Barratt Redrow has launched a new share buyback programme as part of a new £400m capital return, following a "solid performance" over the financial year to 28 June, with profits in line with market expectations. The housebuilder on Wednesday commenced a share repurchase programme of up to £386m, in addition to £14m being paid as an ordinary dividend, in line with its commitment to return 50% of adjusted net income to shareholders.
Galliford Try said on Wednesday that full-year pre-tax profit was set to be at the top end of analysts' forecasts as momentum from the first half of the year continued through the second half. Analysts are expecting full-year pre-tax profit of £51.4m to £53.4m. In an update on trading for the year to 30 June, the construction company said it expects to report a sixth consecutive year of revenue, profit and cash growth. Full-year revenue is expected to have grown around 3%, with "commercial discipline and quality project execution" across both building and infrastructure, it said.
Shares in medical device group Convatec dipped on Wednesday after the FTSE 100 firm revealed that a hunt for a new chief financial is underway following the exit of Fiona Ryder after just eight months in the role. Ryder, who joined Convatec in early 2022 as group financial controller, was appointed as interim CFO in August 2025 before stepping into the permanent position in November.
Iconic bootmaker Dr Martens backed its full-year guidance on Wednesday ahead of its annual general meeting, and said it was on track with its strategic objectives. In a brief statement, the company said trading since the start of this financial year has been in line with expectations and its outlook and guidance for FY27 are unchanged.
Gambling operator Rank Group on Tuesday said it expected annual earnings to be ahead of expectations after a 6% jump in net gaming revenue. The Mecca bingo owner said also said the Gambling Commission had accepted a £5m payment instead of a fine for regulatory misdemeanours including anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings.
Drugmaker Astrazeneca said on Tuesday that it has signed an exclusive licensing deal with Dizal Pharmaceutical for Zegfrovy, its non‑small cell lung cancer treatment, securing global rights to develop and commercialise the drug. Zegfrovy has already received approval in the US and China for adults with locally advanced or metastatic non‑small cell lung cancer whose disease has progressed after platinum‑based chemotherapy. Around 80-85% of lung‑cancer patients globally have NSCLC.
BP confirmed on Tuesday that higher commodity prices were set to boost second-quarter earnings, despite a fall in upstream production. Updating on trading, the British energy major said it expects oil production and operations to come in between 1.42m to 1.45m barrels of oil equivalent per day in the three months to June end, below the first quarter's 1.54m boe/d. Gas and low carbon energy forecasts were 750m to 770m boe/d, down from 798m boe/d.
Emerging markets asset manager Ashmore reported a jump in fourth-quarter assets under management on Tuesday as it said investors looked through the uncertainty over the conflict in the Middle East. In the quarter to 30 June, AuM rose 7% to $54bn. This comprised a positive investment performance of $2bn and net inflows of $1.3bn. AuM in fixed income increased to $42bn from $40bn, while equities saw a rise to $10bn from $8.8bn.
Derwent London on Monday said it has signed a £100m unsecured revolving credit facility with Handelsbanken, marking the Swedish bank's first lending relationship with the FTSE 250 developer. The facility runs for an initial five‑year term and includes two one‑year extension options, as well as a £50m accordion subject to lender consent.
A treatment for rectal cancer being developed by GSK has shown positive results in interim testing, the pharma giant announced on Monday. Jemperli, the brand name of immunotherapy drug dostarlimab, met its primary objective in an interim analysis of a registrational phase II trial in patients with stage II and III mismatch repair deficient/microsatellite instability-high (dMMR/MSI-H) locally-advanced rectal cancer.
Fintech group Plus500 slipped in early trade on Monday despite the group posting record first‑half revenues and customer income, with limited profit growth, heavier acquisition spending and FX headwinds weighing on margins. Revenues rose 12% to $462.9m, a three‑year high, supported by broad‑based strength across business lines and heightened market volatility, which Plus500 said its proprietary trading platforms were well positioned to capture, while EBITDA ticked up just 1% to $187.5m, leading to a margin of 41%. On a constant‑currency basis, however, underlying performance was stronger, with reported results affected by FX‑related cost headwinds.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies warned on Monday that half-year trading had missed expectations, sending shares in the biotech sharply lower, on the back of difficult conditions in China and the Middle East. The company, which has developed nanopore-based sensing technology for use in DNA and RNA analysis, said revenues in the six months to 30 June were set to come in around £116.5m, up 10% or 12% on a constant currency basis. However, it acknowledged that was below internal expectations.
Economic news
The UK economy grew 0.1% in May, official data showed on Thursday, in line with expectations. The country's dominant services sector drove the growth, rising 0.3% and helping to reverse April's 0.1% dip. It also offset weakness elsewhere in the economy, with production easing 0.5% and construction 0.8%.
Incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has decided to make home secretary Shabana Mahmood chancellor, it was reported on Thursday. A spokesperson for Burnham declined to comment on "speculation", and said cabinet positions would be announced on Monday when the former Greater Manchester mayor is due to move into Downing Street.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has recommended the UK government reform its pension system, urging a review of the triple-lock pensions promise which it called "unusually generous in international comparison". In its UK economic survey released on Wednesday, the OECD said that rising long-term spending pressures mean that pension reforms are needed to "contain fiscal risks while preserving adequacy".
Retail sales across the UK improved year-on-year in June despite strong comparators, with a jump in online sales outweighing declines in-store as customer footfall was affected by the heatwave. Total retail sales increased at an annual rate of 1.9% over the five weeks to 4 July, according to the British Retail Consortium's monthly retail sales monitor, easing from the 3.7% growth registered in May.
Cutting business energy costs could unlock an additional £130bn in economic activity over the next two decades, according to a new report from the CBI and Energy UK, who have called on the new prime minister to implement reforms to reduce the current strain facing British businesses. The report, which has been put together alongside Cornwall Insight and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), argues that persistently high energy prices are an "anchor weighing down productivity and competitiveness across the whole economy".
The government announced on Monday that it has selected former Virgin Money boss Jayne-Anne Gadhia as its preferred candidate for chair of the Financial Reporting Council, succeeding Jan du Plessis, who is due to step down at the end of September. A chartered accountant by training, Gadhia built her career across insurance, retail banking and fintech, most notably as CEO of Virgin Money from 2007 to 2018, where she led the acquisition of Northern Rock and the subsequent listing of the combined business. More recently she has been a founder and innovator in the fintech sector, the government said.
International events
Inflation across the eurozone slowed as initially expected in June, according to unrevised figures from Eurostat on Friday, with price growth hitting a three-month low as a spike in energy costs eased. The annual change in the harmonised consumer price index for the single-currency region was 2.8% last month, final estimates showed, in line with the preliminary reading released two weeks ago and down from 3.2% in May.
Streaming giant Netflix traded lower in extended trading after its third‑quarter outlook came in shy of Wall Street expectations, with softer‑than‑hoped engagement trends also weighing on sentiment. Netflix said second‑quarter earnings had come in at $0.80 per share, a single cent ahead of estimates, while revenues of $12.56bn were up 13.4% year‑on‑year but just short of the $12.58bn consensus and short of the 16.2% pace seen in Q1.
Swedish defence giant Saab reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Friday as accelerating European defence spending drove record orders and rapid sales growth. Order bookings surged 141% to SEK 68.4bn, ahead of market expectations, including a SEK 47bn Polish submarine contract, while the order backlog reached SEK 317.7bn from SEK 197.6bn a year earlier.
Shares in UnitedHealth Group advanced in New York on Thursday after the healthcare insurance and health services group lifted its full-year guidance following a strong second quarter. Revenue edged up to $112.0bn, up from $111.6bn a year earlier and ahead of the $110.8bn consensus forecast.
US homebuilder confidence softened in July, while pending home sales also pointed to cooling conditions across the housing market. The NAHB/Wells Fargo housing market index slipped to 34 from 36, missing expectations for 35. Current sales conditions eased to 37, sales expectations for the next six months fell to 43, and buyer traffic dropped to 23, underscoring weaker demand.
Eli Lilly said on Thursday that it has agreed to buy AtaiBeckley, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for mental health conditions, for $2.8bn. AtaiBeckley's lead asset, BPL-003 (mebufotenin benzoate), is a synthetic form of 5-MeO-DMT administered intranasally for treatment-resistant depression, which affects millions of people in the US.
Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace in the week ended 11 July, according to the Labor Department, with initial claims dropping by 8,000 to 208,000. Last week's numbers came in well under expectations for an increase to 217,000, marking the lowest initial claim count in over two months and indicating that the labour market remains robust.
Wall Street futures were mixed prior to the open on Thursday, giving back part of the prior session's gains as semiconductor stocks came under pressure. As of 1225 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.24%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.14% and 0.56% weaker, respectively.
French media giant Publicis Groupe boosted full-year guidance on Thursday, despite a weak macroeconomic backdrop, following a bumper end to the first half. The Paris-based advertising, marketing and communications specialist said organic revenues rose 4.8% in the three months to June end to €3.8bn, helping left interim sales 4.7% to €7.2bn. Growth had been strong throughout its regions, Publicis noted, but especially in its two biggest markets, the US and Europe.
Irish energy group DCC confirmed on Thursday it had received a sweetened £5.81bn takeover offer from its American suitors. London-listed DCC, which is changing its name to DCC Energy, first received a takeover approach from Energy Capital Partners and KKR in April.
The eurozone recorded its largest trade deficit in over three years in May, according to data out on Thursday from Eurostat, as export growth stalled while imports jumped. The trade balance for the single-currency region dropped to -€7.8bn during the month, down from -€1.2bn in April and well below the -€1.6bn expected by economists.
Second-quarter results from semiconductor giant TSMC on Thursday reflected a continued boom in demand for AI infrastructure, with profits rising by nearly 80% year-on-year, as the company raised its outlook for the year. The company, officially known as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, reported dollar revenues of $40.2bn for the three months to 30 June, up 34% from the year before and 12% from the previous quarter. That was ahead of the $39.9bn expected by analysts.
Germany's Delivery Hero is to be taken over by Uber Technologies in a deal valued at €13bn, it was announced on Thursday. Under the terms of the acquisition, the US ride hailing app has agreed to pay €41.50 per share in cash for the food delivery business, a 34% premium to the three-month volume-weighted average share price prior to the announcement.
Johnson & Johnson raised its full-year outlook on Wednesday after second-quarter sales rose 6.6% to $25.31bn, ahead of market expectations, while adjusted earnings increased 4.7% to $2.90 per share. Innovative Medicine sales grew 7.8% to $16.38bn, driven by strong demand for Tremfya, Darzalex, Carvykti and Caplyta, offsetting declines in older products including Stelara, while MedTech sales rose 4.5% to $8.93bn.
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