Double-digit profits at Admiral as dividends rise for shareholders March 5, 2026 FTSE 100 listed insurer Admiral reported double-digit profit growth over the last financial year, as the group pivots itself toward high-tech commercial insurance. The group profit before tax rose 16 per cent to £958m – up from £827m in 2024 – as its UK motor division surpassed the £1bn profit mark. Its other UK personal [...]
UK economy held back by ‘rationing’ of energy, land and capital March 4, 2026 The government must focus on “ending the rationing” of the UK’s energy, land and capital if it wants to reinvigorate the economy, according to a leading City analyst. In a research note published this morning, Simon French, head of research at Panmure Liberum, argued that policies from successive governments had effectively created a rationing system [...]
Wood Group hit with £13m fine as engineering titan set to exit City March 4, 2026 Scottish engineering titan John Wood Group has been slapped with a hefty fine after it produced inaccurate information in its financial results. The London-listed firm will cough up £13m following an investigation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) concluding its “accounting judgements were inappropriately influenced by its desire to maintain previously stated financial results”. The [...]
Profit slides as Beazley eyes Bermuda amid Zurich £8bn takeover March 4, 2026 One of the UK’s biggest listed insurance firms suffered a slide in profit as the company prepares to be acquired by Swiss giant Zurich. FTSE 100 insurer Beazley posted pre-tax profit of $1.14bn (£870m) for the year to end December 2025, a fall of around a fifth compared to the previous year amid a softening [...]
Greggs ‘working hard’ to stop investors betting against Britain’s most-shorted stock March 3, 2026 Battling to convince investors to stop shorting her bakery chain, Greggs boss Roisin Currie insisted “evolution” away from the steak bake purveyor’s key offering is the path to ever higher growth. But it is this rampant expansion which has spooked enough investors to bet against Greggs, making it the most shorted company in the UK, [...]
Inchcape shares slide amid Asia market ‘challenges’ March 3, 2026 Shares in Inchcape tumbled on Tuesday after the car distribution business warned of challenges in Asian markets. The London-listed firm was the worst performer on the FTSE 250 index amid a wider stock sell-off, with its shares sliding almost 9 per cent to 793p – though the stock remains up by 3 per cent since [...]
Spring Statement Live: UK growth cut for 2026 but Reeves touts future forecasts March 3, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Rachel Reeves delivered her Spring Statement today, as the Office for Budget Responsibility published its updated forecasts for the years ahead. The Chancellor was handed quite a hefty blow with the UK’s growth estimate for 2026 slashed to 1.1 per cent from 1.4 per cent the year prior. [...]
Zurich to leverage Beazley’s Lloyd’s platform for global expansion March 2, 2026 Zurich Insurance Group has reached a formal agreement to acquire FTSE 100 giant Beazley, aiming to create a global leader in speciality insurance. Under the terms of the deal, Beazley shareholders will be entitled to receive a total of 1,335p per Beazley share, which puts the cost of the deal at around $10.9bn (£8.14bn). The [...]
Pearson boss shrugs off investor AI fears after share jitters February 27, 2026 The boss of Pearson has shrugged off shareholder concerns that the company’s services could be usurped by the rising use of AI chatbots. Earlier in the year the education giant was one of a number of London-listed data and software-led stocks, including the likes of Sage and Relx, that suffered steep selloffs amid investor anxieties [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Pound hits two month low after byelection, Flutter shares tumble February 27, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. We were treated to a whole host of corporate updates yesterday and investors in some of the City’s biggest blue-chips were handed plans for bumper returns. Aerospace giant Rolls-Royce revealed ambitions to dish out up to £9bn to shareholders through from 2026 to 2028. The [...]