Hikma CEO to step down, Amigo launches retail offer
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Monday 15 Dec 2025
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 34.2 points higher ahead of the bell on Monday after wrapping up the previous session 0.56% softer at 9,649.03.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Hikma Pharmaceuticals chief executive Riad Mishlawi has stepped down, it was announced on Monday, just over a month after the blue chip warned on profits. Hikma said Mishlawi - who has been with the business for 35 years, the last two of which as chief executive - was leaving by mutual agreement. He will be replaced by former incumbent and current executive chair Said Darwazah.
Sub-prime lender Amigo Holdings will launch a retail offer via the Winterflood Retail Access Platform as part of an effort to raise up to £188,100. Amigo said the offer would see up to 62.7m new ordinary shares of 0.25p each issued at 0.3p per share, available to existing UK shareholders. It added that the fundraising formed part of its wider capital plans, with proceeds to be used to support the group's ongoing strategy.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Cryptocurrencies will be regulated in a similar way to other financial products under legislation coming into force in 2027. The Treasury is drawing up rules that will require crypto companies to meet a set of standards overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority. Ministers have sought to overhaul the crypto market, which has ballooned in popularity as a way of investing money and making payments. Cryptocurrencies have not been subject to the same regulation as traditional financial products such as stocks and shares, which means that in many cases consumers do not enjoy the same level of protection. - Guardian
Young people are bearing the brunt of Britain's jobs downturn, according to a report, before official figures this week that are expected to show the UK unemployment rate rising to 5.1%. The Resolution Foundation thinktank said a "jobs deficit" was pushing a growing number of graduates and non-graduates into unemployment as employers reduced hiring. City economists expect the unemployment rate to have edged up from 5% in September to 5.1% in October, in Tuesday's update from the Office for National Statistics. - Guardian
Some of Britain's biggest banks are under fire for relying on a flawed net zero study that could have influenced which companies they lend to. Lloyds, NatWest and HSBC are among the lenders to have used research that exaggerated the impact of climate change on businesses and the global economy. - Telegraph
Coffee drinkers should get used to high prices, the boss of Caffe Nero has said. Gerry Ford, the American founder and managing director of Caffe Nero, said prices were unlikely to fall in the foreseeable future - even if bean costs finally begin to drop after two years of unprecedented rises. - Telegraph
A privately owned rare diseases drugs company has rescued a US-listed competitor that was valued at more than a $1bn a year ago. Cycle Pharma, based in Cambridge, which has previously targeted another struggling American pharmaceutical company, has agreed to pay about $15m, plus potential future milestone amounts, for Applied Therapeutics, a Nasdaq-listed company. - The Times
US CLOSE
Major US indices closed lower on Friday as investors rotated out of artificial intelligence stocks, just a day after the Dow and S&P 500 finished at record highs.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.51% at 48,458.05, while the S&P 500 shed 1.07% to 6,827.41 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.69% weaker at 23,195.17.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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