Reckitt sells majority stake in Air Wick and Cillit Bang arm July 18, 2025 Reckitt Benckiser has agreed to sell its Essential Home business to private equity investor Advent International for $4.8bn (£3.6bn). Essential Home includes the brands Air Wick, Calgon, Woolite and Cillit Bang. The FTSE 100 giant, which will retain a 30 per cent equity stake in the business, has been reshaping its business to focus on “11 high-growth, high-margin [...]
Ocado shares spike as grocer boosted by £750m M&S joint venture gain July 17, 2025 Online grocer Ocado has reported significant growth in the first half of 2025, while stating its major goal is to turn cash-flow positive next year. Its share price spiked more than 13 per cent in early trades. Ocado told markets this morning that revenue rose 13.2 per cent to £674m, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation [...]
Galliford Try ‘well-positioned’ to benefit from government spending July 9, 2025 Galliford Try has stated that it “welcomes” the government’s ambitions for affordable housing and infrastructure and expects to report a profit ahead of expectations this year. The construction giant, which has 4,300 employees across the UK, operates across the public and regulated sectors – including water, transport and building projects. The company told markets it [...]
Serco appoints new chair amid better than expected performance June 26, 2025 Serco has appointed Keith Williams as chair amid a period of strong growth boosted by government spending on defence and immigration. The Halfords chair will take over from John Rishton, who will have completed a nine-year tenure by the time he steps down in December. Williams said it was an “honour” to have been selected [...]
WH Smith nears sale of high street chain as revenue rises June 4, 2025 WH Smith has confirmed it remains on track to sell its high street division to the owner of Hobbycraft by the end of the month. In March, the FTSE 250 company announced it had agreed to offload the arm to private equity firm Modella in a deal which valued it at £76m. When complete, the [...]
MJ Gleeson: Shares plummet after profit warning as property market struggles June 3, 2025 Housebuilder MJ Gleeson has warned of a 15-20 per cent hit to its profit this year due to a slow housing market recovery and the collapse of a land sale in Yorkshire. The company told markets this morning that the pace of housing market recovery in the UK has “not been sufficient” to offset the [...]
Rolls-Royce: How high could FTSE 100 giant’s shares go? May 24, 2025 Rolls-Royce, the British icon which has become a darling of the FTSE 100 post-pandemic, is showing no signs of disappointing investors as its market capitalisation passed the £70bn mark for the first time in its history. The milestone means that long-term investors are also guaranteed a huge return if they ever decided to sell, but [...]
Rolls-Royce now worth over £70bn as FTSE 100 shares climb May 23, 2025 Rolls-Royce is now worth more than £70bn after shares in the FTSE 100 giant continued their remarkable comeback. Shares in the Derby-headquartered group ended Thursday, 22 May, priced at 839p which has given it a market capitalisation of £71bn. This is the first time in Rolls-Royce’s history that it has passed the £70bn valuation mark [...]
IWG: Workspace platform reports record March and ups share buybacks May 6, 2025 International Workspace Group (IWG) has reported a flat first quarter and record March as it fended off macroeconomic uncertainty. The company told markets this morning that revenue was stable at $909m (£683m) in the first quarter of the year. IWG, which provides flexible workspaces for businesses and individuals, upped its share buyback programmed from $50m [...]
Kingsmill-owner ABF confirms merger talks with Hovis May 6, 2025 Kingsmill-owner ABF has confirmed it is in talks to merge with Hovis in what would become Britain’s biggest bread maker. ABF said the talks had been prompted by a “very challenging” market for its products. Rising prices of wheat and lower demand for high-calorie goods like bread have made it tougher to make a profit [...]