Weekly review
By Josh White
Date: Friday 28 Nov 2025
(Sharecast News) - The FTSE 100 ended the week up 180.79 points, or 1.9%, closing at 9,720.51 on Friday.
Equity view
UK film and TV production facilities group Facilities by ADF has appointed movie-industry veteran Nicola Pearcey as its new chief executive who will start in mid-January. Pearcey, the founder and CEO of media incubator, consultancy and content distribution outfit Picnik Entertainment, was the former president of UK and Europe at Lionsgate, having held various roles at the film studio between 2006 and 2020.
Shares in Mitchells & Butlers surged on Friday as the pub group posted better-than-expected annual profits and kept cost impacts unchanged, despite rising pressures, adding that like for like sales in the last two months had risen by 3.8% amid uncertainty ahead of the UK government's Budget. The upbeat performance came as the company reported a jump in full-year pre-tax profits to £238m from £199m. Group like for like sales in the year to September 27 rose 4.3% as the company became one of the first to provide a picture on the impact of last year's Budgetary increase in wage and employer tax levels.
Shares in Whitbread fell sharply on Friday on a broker downgrade and the Premier Inn owner's forecast that increases in property taxes introduced in the Budget would cost an extra £40m-50m in 2027. The stock was down as much as 9% in morning trade before settling 5% lower at midday after the company held full-year guidance in a trading update. Bernstein cut its rating to 'underperform' from 'outperform' and took a knife to the target price, marking it down to 2,500p from 3,600p.
The UK investment industry's trade body is reportedly urging shareholders to oppose plans that would guarantee a multi-million pound share bonanza to executives at Anglo American as it finalises a $33bn merger with Canada's Teck Resources. The Investment Association's IVIS voting advisory service has issued next month's vote on amendments to Anglo's long-term incentive awards with a 'red-top' alert - its strongest possible warning against the resolution, Sky News reported without citing sources.
Business parks investor Sirius Real Estate said on Thursday that it has acquired a multi-tenant business park in Hamburg for €31.9m. Located in northern Germany's largest continuous industrial area, Sirius said the site has a gross lettable area of 29,448 square metres and was "well connected" to central Hamburg, which is an 11 minute drive away.
Self storage chain Safestore reported a 6.1% rise in fourth quarter revenue year-on-year with positive contributions on a like-for-like and new stores basis. Group revenue for the three months to October came in at £62m. In the year-to-date, sales were up 5% to £234m as Safestore opened two new sites in Paris during the period and two more in the UK post financial year end.
Pennon Group swung back into the black in the first half, the utility confirmed on Thursday, boosted by higher bills and strong demand over the hot summer months. The owner of South West Water saw revenues surge 24.8% in the six months to September end to £658.1m, while underlying pre-tax profits came in at £65.9m. Pennon posted pre-tax losses of £18.6m a year previously.
Student accommodation group Unite's proposed acquisition of smaller rival Empiric has been approved by the Competition and Markets Authority, the regulator announced on Thursday. Following a Phase 1 investigation, the CMA said it had "cleared" the deal just one month after launching a merger inquiry, though a full report on the decision has yet to be published.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Wednesday that its Imfinzi asset has been approved in the US for use alongside standard FLOT chemotherapy in the treatment of adult patients with resectable, early‑stage and locally advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancers. AstraZeneca said the regimen covers neoadjuvant Imfinzi with chemotherapy ahead of surgery, followed by adjuvant Imfinzi with chemotherapy and then Imfinzi monotherapy.
Quality assurance specialist Intertek said it had bought US-based Professional Testing Laboratory, which provides testing services for the flooring industry, for an undisclosed sum. Intertek said the purchase was "highly complementary" to its TQA business in North America and would unlock strong commercial synergy opportunities, such as expanding PTL's services to Intertek's existing clients, including major retailers.
Property developer Harworth Group has secured a new £275m revolving credit facility with a syndicate of existing relationship banks, including NatWest, Santander and HSBC. Harworth said on Wednesday the facility had an improved core margin of 200 basis points over SONIA, with an initial four-year term, which may be extended to a maximum of five years at Harworth's request, subject to bank consent.
Pets at Home has announced it is taking "action at pace" to address its disappointing retail performance after interim profits at the pet shop and veterinary chain slumped by a third. The company said it has kickstarted a restructuring program to reduce group overheads by £20m, which will incur non-underlying costs of £6-8m this financial year.
B&Q-owner Kingfisher upgraded its full-year outlook on Tuesday, despite market conditions softening in the UK and Poland during the third quarter. Updating on trading, the FTSE 250 retailer - which also owns Screwfix, Castorama and Brico Depot, among others - said underlying sales rose 0.9% in the three months to 31 October, to £3.3bn.
Food producer Cranswick backed its full-year outlook on Tuesday as it reported a jump in interim profit, with revenue growth across all categories. In the 26 weeks to 27 September, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 9.7% to £105.1m on revenue of £1.5bn, up 10.4% on the same period a year ago.
Catering giant Compass reported strong underlying sales growth in the fiscal year to 30 September, driven by a solid performance in North America and good client retention. Revenues totalled $46.1bn, up 9.7% on a statutory basis but 8.7% higher on an organic basis, with North American organic sales up 9.1% and international organic sales up 7.7%.
Retailer Next said on Tuesday it had sold non‑operational land at Waltham Abbey in Essex, generating net cash proceeds of £54.1m and an exceptional profit of £16.3m, leading it to hike its previously announced special dividend by 45p. Next acquired the site in 2021 with plans to consolidate two of its regional distribution centres, but later changed its network strategy and said it no longer requires the land.
Infrastructure investment firm International Public Partnerships said on Monday that it has tapped Sarah Whitney to take over from Mike Gerrard as chair following the conclusion of its annual general meeting in 2026. Whitney, who will join INPP as non-executive director and chair designate on 24 November, will work closely with Gerrard and the board to ensure a smooth transition.
IMI has signed a deal to sell its Truflo Marine business to US-based Fairbanks Morse Defense for an enterprise value of £225m. The sale of Truflo Marine, which provides valves and actuators to naval submarine programmes worldwide, "reflects our role as active managers of the business and further aligns IMI to three powerful growth trends - energy, automation and healthcare" the company said on Monday.
Martin Sorrell's advertising firm S4 Capital warned on Monday that full-year profit was set to miss consensus expectations, pointing in part to client caution. Following a third-quarter trading update earlier in the month, the company said it has now reviewed its financial results for October and the third-quarter revised forecast for 2025, which show a drop in net revenue versus the forecast and therefore impact the fourth-quarter performance.
Economic news
UK vehicle production fell sharply in October as the sector continued to reel from a major cyber incident, according to fresh figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Friday. A total of 62,116 cars and commercial vehicles rolled off production lines during the month, down 30.9% year on year.
Underlying UK retail sales jumped last week, according to a closely watched retail indicator published on Friday by accountancy firm BDO, with all categories experiencing "healthy" results online. Total like-for-like sales were up 6.89% over the week to 23 December, compared with a negative base of -18.32% on the same week last year.
House prices across southern England edged lower in the four weeks to 23 November for the first time in 18 months in the run-up to the Budget, according to Zoopla. Zoopla said market activity has cooled slightly since the summer as budget speculation encouraged many to "pause and reassess".
The head of Britain's Office for Budget Responsibility said he would resign over an embarrassing leak of the government's Budget if he no longer commanded the support of Finance Minister Rachel Reeves. Richard Hughes said an investigation was now underway after the unprecedented leak of the document around 40 minutes before Reeves stood up to deliver her speech in the House of Commons.
Wealth manager St James's Place and online trading platform IG Group rallied on Wednesday after Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed a stamp duty holiday for newly-listed London shares and ISA reforms to encourage investment in UK equities, and announced plans for new investing hubs. In her long-awaited Budget, Reeves said there would be no stamp duty on newly-listed shares for up to three years, versus the 0.5% that applies to all UK stock purchases currently.
Rachel Reeves upped taxes and scrapped the two-child welfare cap on Wednesday, as she unveiled her long-awaited and much-leaked Budget to Parliament - less than an hour after it was accidentally published by the government's fiscal watchdog. The chancellor unveiled a package of tax-raising measures, many of which had been trailed in the Budget's long run-up, worth £26bn. Last year's Budget raised taxes by £40bn.
UK inflation expectations fell in November, research showed on Wednesday, adding further weight to the prospect of another interest rate cut. According to a YouGov survey of the British public's expectations for inflation, carried out for US bank Citi, both short-term and long-term forecasts were lower.
The government has selected Heathrow Airport's expansion plans, it confirmed on Tuesday, including a £33bn third runway at the west London hub. Officials had been reviewing two proposals, one from Heathrow itself and another from Arora Group, which is led by hotel tycoon Surinder Arora.
Retail sales continued to disappoint in November, an industry survey showed on Tuesday, as nervous consumers held back on spending ahead of the Budget. According to the latest distributive trades survey from the Confederation of British Industry, retail sales volumes fell in the year to November, with the weighted balance down five points at -32.
UK bank shares rallied on Tuesday following a report that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to spare the sector from a tax raid in the Budget. According to the Financial Times, the Treasury has asked banks to make public and prominent endorsements of the Budget this week.
International events
Germany's unemployment rate edged down in November, according to the Federal Employment Agency, though officials warned the labour market remained sluggish. Germany's jobless rate slipped to 6.1% in November, down 0.1 percentage point from October, as the number of unemployed fell by 26,000 to 2.855m. However, compared with the same time a year earlier, 111,000 more people were out of work, leaving the rate 0.2 points higher than November 2024.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange was forced to halt trading on Friday after a cooling failure at one of its data centres disrupted access to key derivatives and foreign exchange platforms. The outage brought activity on CME's Globex futures and options markets, its EBS FX venue and BMD markets to a standstill in the early hours of US trading.
German retail sales unexpectedly fell in October, according to the Federal Statistical Office on Friday, marking the fifth decline over the past seven months. Retail sales volumes were 0.3% lower last month, reversing a revised 0.3% increase in September and missing the 0.2% increase expected by analysts.
Business confidence across the eurozone was more or less steady in November, though the European Commission's monthly sentiment survey still inched up to its highest level in two and a half years. The EC's Economic Sentiment Indicator, which tracks business attitudes across a variety of sectors, rose just 0.2 points to 97.0 this month.
Consumer confidence in Germany ticked higher in November, a closely-watched survey showed on Thursday, although it remained subdued. GfK's latest consumer sentiment index for December came in at -23.2, a modest uplift on the previous month's -24.1 and in line with expectations.
In its global equity outlook for 2026, JPMorgan said on Wednesday that the S&P 500 could surpass 8,000 next year. "We are constructive on the S&P 500's outlook both in terms of price target (7,500 by YE26) and above-trend earnings growth of 13-15% for at least the next two years (2026 and 2027 EPS of $315 and $355 versus consensus of $309 and $352, respectively)," the bank said.
US durable goods orders rose modestly in September, according to the Census Bureau. New orders for manufactured durable goods increased 0.5% month‑on‑month, following an upwardly revised 3% gain in August and topping consensus estimates for a 0.3% rise.
Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace last week, according to fresh data from the Department of Labor. Initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 216,000 in the week ended 22 November, below market expectations of an increase to 225,000, while continuing claims, which track those still receiving benefits, increased by 7,000 from the prior week's downwardly revised figure to 1.96m.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut interest rates on Wednesday by 25 basis points to 2.25%, as widely expected, but signalled the easing cycle was coming to an end. The Committee voted 5 to 1 in favour of the cut. The Bank said in a statement: "The case for a further reduction in the OCR emphasised significant excess capacity in the economy.
New car registrations across the European Union rose to a four-month high in October, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), as strong demand for electric cars continued to make up for falling sales of petrol and diesel models. Some 916,609 cars were delivered last month, up 5.8% over last year and the highest number since June, following a 10.0% surge in September.
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