Weekly review
By Josh White
Date: Friday 17 Apr 2026
(Sharecast News) - The FTSE 100 ended the week up 66.18 points, or 0.62%, closing at 10,667.63 on Friday.
Equity view
Shares in Workspace Group slumped at the open on Friday as the office provider said it expected a "substantial step down" in annual trading profit due to inflation, falling rents, higher interest costs and more investment in the business. The company added that it would return its dividend payout policy to cover of 1.2x earnings from fiscal 2025/26 onwards.
Customised electronics manufacturer DiscoverIE said on Friday that trading had accelerated sharply in the fourth quarter, capping off a solid full‑year performance as all operating units saw a strong sequential pickup in demand across both orders and sales. DiscoverIE said Q4 orders rose 16% at constant exchange rates and 15% organically, remaining ahead of sales for a third consecutive quarter as customers increased short‑term demand and extended order periods. Q4 sales were up 6% at constant exchange rates and 5% organically, with acquisitions contributing a further 1%.
ITM Power surged on Friday as it announced a strategic collaboration with German defence firm Rheinmetall. The collaboration will focus on Rheinmetall's Giga PtX project, which aims to establish a Europe-wide network of decentralised synthetic fuel production plants for the Nato armed forces, "designed to strengthen defence energy resilience, sovereign fuel capability and operational readiness".
Essensys reported lower first-half revenue and sharply reduced cash on Friday, as the flexible workspace software provider continued to feel the impact of customer downsizing, slower sales cycles and churn, although it remained marginally EBITDA positive and said a recommended 17p-a-share takeover offer from founder Mark Furness would support the business. For the six months ended 31 January, revenue fell 25% to £7.8m from £10.4m, while recurring revenue declined 24% to £7.0m and run-rate annual recurring revenue dropped 24% to £12.7m.
Morgan Sindall said on Thursday that full-year group pre-tax profits were set to be "significantly ahead" of its previous expectations, pointing to strong trading activity and increased visibility for the remainder of the year from both its Construction and Fit Out divisions. In the Fit Out segment, confidence levels have continued to increase with regards to the conversion of preferred bidder work and future tender opportunities, providing greater visibility for the rest of the year, it said. As a result, profits are now expected to be "significantly ahead" of previous expectations and further exceed the top-end of Morgan Sindall's medium-term target of £80m to £100m.
Pest control and business services firm Rentokil Initial reported a solid start to the year on Thursday, with first‑quarter group revenues rising 4.3% to $1.68bn, supported by 3.4% organic growth. Rentokil said its North America division delivered a strong performance, with revenue up 4.5% to $995m and organic growth of 3.9%, while its international segment generated $682m in revenues, an increase of 4.1% year-on-year, with organic growth of 2.8% despite pockets of regional pressure.
Asset manager Schroders reported a mixed first quarter on Thursday, with group assets under management ending the period at £814.4bn and net new business slipping to -£2.2bn excluding joint ventures, or -£1.1bn including them. Schroders said asset management AUM fell to £599.4bn, reflecting negative market movements and £2.5bn of outflows, with public markets seeing March redemptions outweighing earlier inflows.
Homeware retailer Dunelm reported a rise in third-quarter sales on Thursday but cautioned that full-year profit would be towards the lower end of consensus expectations as events in the Middle East have dented consumer confidence. In an update for the third quarter, the company said total sales rose 2.1% year-on-year to £472m, with digital participation up 2 percentage points to 43%. Total year-to-date sales were up 3.1% at £1.4bn.
Gambling operator Rank on Wednesday forecast a higher-than-expected full year operating profit of at least £68m after a 5% jump in third-quarter net gaming revenue. The owner of Mecca bingo and Grosvenor casinos said NGR for the three months to March came in at £205.4m, with year-to-date NGR up 6% year on year. Analysts were expecting annual operating profits of around £65m.
Barratt Redrow reiterated guidance on Wednesday, but warned that war in the Middle East was making visibility beyond the current year more uncertain. Updating on trading, the homebuilder said the third quarter had been "solid", with reservations underpinned by robust customer demand. The net private reservation rate was 0.67, 6.3% higher year-on-year, while total forward sales stood at £3.54bn as at 29 March. It delivered a total of 3,274 total home completions in the period.
Antofagasta reiterated guidance for growth in copper production over the year on Wednesday, despite lower tonnage in the first quarter. The London-listed miner, which owns mines across Chile, saw copper production fall 8% year-on-year, and 19% quarter-on-quarter, to 143,000 tonnes.
Robert Walters reported first-quarter trading in line with expectations on Wednesday, with group net fee income declining modestly but showing signs of sequential improvement as growth returned in several key markets. The London-listed recruitment firm said group net fees fell 2% year-on-year on a constant currency basis to £65.2m in the three months ended 31 March, compared with £67.3m a year earlier.
Oxford Instruments said on Tuesday that it expects to deliver a "resilient" full-year performance, in line with market expectations. FY26 consensus estimates are for revenue of £420.7m and adjusted operating profit of £71.3m. In an update for the year to the end of March, the company said full-year order intake is expected to be around 8% higher on an organic constant currency (OCC) basis versus the previous year, with a book-to-bill ratio of approximately 1.07.
Tobacco company Imperial Brands reiterated its full‑year guidance on Tuesday, saying it continued to expect low‑single‑digit tobacco and double‑digit next generation product net revenue growth, alongside 3-5% growth in group adjusted operating profits. Imperial Brands said first half group adjusted operating profits were set to come in slightly ahead of the prior year, with growth expected to accelerate in the second half, in line with previous guidance.
ProCook lifted its full-year profit outlook on Tuesday following solid trading in the fourth quarter. In the 12 weeks to 29 March, total revenue rose 19.2% to £18.5m, with total like-for-like revenue up 9.9%. Retail revenue was ahead 19.4%, reflecting an eleventh consecutive quarter of LFL growth as the retailer benefitted from its focus on "service excellence", with new stores contributing a further 15.5% points of revenue growth.
Shares in materials science and packaging group James Cropper surged by a quarter on Tuesday after a trading update from the firm revealed that annual profits would be 10% ahead of current market forecasts due to a strong end to the year. In an update for the financial year ended 28 March, James Cropper said that it had experienced "positive trading momentum into the year-end".
Energean said its floating platform and storage facility off the coast of Israel was now fully operational after a government-enforced shutdown last month due to the Iran war. The company said production was restored to regular levels within 48 hours, delivering natural gas to customers "in accordance with contractual requirements".
Halma said on Monday that it has bought Surgistar as a bolt-on for its healthcare sector company, MicroSurgical Technology (MST), for $90m (£67m). Founded more than 20 years ago and based in California, Surgistar designs and manufactures ophthalmic surgical instruments and devices.
Vistry Group has appointed company insider Adam Daniels chief executive, the housebuilder confirmed on Monday. The 35-year-old joined Countryside Partnerships - which Vistry acquired in 2022 - in 2016 as a quantity surveyor, but has gone on to hold various leadership roles across the business. He is currently executive chair of Vistry's Yorkshire, North Midlands and West division.
GSK said its gynaecological cancer drug candidate had revealed positive results from early trials and would swiftly move to late-stage five clinical studies globally in the next few months. The company on Sunday said Mocertatug Rezetecan, known as Mo-Rez, shrank or eliminated tumours in 62% of patients with ovarian cancer where chemotherapy had failed, and in 67% of those with endometrial cancer.
Economic news
Shares in UK utilities fell on Friday after the government said it could cut the link between electricity and gas prices. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said she and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband were examining ways to decouple the duo to stabilise prices as electricity becomes a larger part of the energy mix. More than 52% of Britain's electricity now comes from renewables with this number set to grow.
The UK government on Thursday launched its Sovereign Artificial Intelligence Unit to help domestic firms in the sector. Backed by a £500m, the government acted as a state-backed venture capital partner to anchor high-growth AI firms to avoid them relocating outside the UK, officials said.
The UK economy expanded by more than expected in February, official data showed on Thursday, on the back of broad-based growth in the country's dominant services sector. According to the Office for National Statistics, GDP grew by 0.5% in the three months to February, ahead of consensus for a 0.2% uplift. Growth in January was also upwardly revised to 0.3% from 0.2%.
The International Monetary Fund downgraded its UK growth forecast on Tuesday as it said it would be the hardest hit from the Iran war among the developed economies. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF said it now expects the UK economy to grow by 0.8% this year, down from a previous projection for 1.3% growth. The downgrade was put down in part to the war in the Middle East and a slower pace of monetary easing.
UK retail sales shone in March, industry data showed on Tuesday, after shoppers splashed out on food and drink for Easter. According to the latest BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor, total UK sales rose by 3.6% in the five weeks to 4 April, compared to growth of 1.1% a year previously and a 1.1% rise in February 2026.
International events
The eurozone's trade balance with the rest of the world swung to a surplus over the month of February due to a recovery in exports of machineries and vehicles, though total exports were significantly lower than they were the year before. The single-currency region registered a trade surplus of €11.5bn in February, compared with a deficit of €1.0bn in January, according to Eurostat data.
Streaming giant Netflix posted first‑quarter revenues that came in just ahead of expectations on Friday as it also announced a major governance change, with co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings set to step down from the board. Netflix said revenues had risen 16% year‑on‑year to $12.25bn in Q1, ahead of the $12.18bn expected by analysts, while net income jumped to $5.28bn, nearly double the $2.89bn reported a year earlier, helped by stronger‑than‑expected operating income and a $2.8bn termination fee from its collapsed Warner Bros Discovery deal.
Donald Trump said on Thursday that Lebanon and Israel have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire. In a post on Truth Social, the US president said that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese president Joseph Aoun have agreed the ceasefire will begin at 5 PM EST (10 PM BST). "On Tuesday, the two Countries met for the first time in 34 years here in Washington, D.C., with our Great Secretary of State, Marco Rubio," Trump said.
Manufacturing conditions in the Philadelphia region strengthened sharply in April, with the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing index rising to 26.7 from 18.1 in March - its highest reading since January 2025 and well above expectations for a drop to 10. Shipments increased by 12 points to 34 and new orders jumped 24 points to 33, while the employment index weakened, slipping six points to ‑5.1, and price pressures continued to build, with both the prices paid and prices received indexes rising for a second month and reaching their highest levels since August - climbed 15 points to 59.3 and 12 points to 33.5, respectively.
The head of the International Energy Agency said on Thursday that Europe could run out of jet fuel in six weeks. In an interview with the Associated Press, Fatih Birol said Europe has "maybe six weeks or so (of) jet fuel left" as he warned of possible flight cancellations "soon" if oil supplies remain blocked by the US war on Iran.
Eurozone inflation was revised upwards slightly for March after the impact of the Iran war on energy prices was taken into account, according to official data published on Thursday. Consumer prices were up 2.6% year on year last month, compared with 1.9% in February and the flash estimate 2.5% published on March 31.
China's economy grew by more than expected at the start of the year, official data showed on Thursday, despite the impact of war in the Middle East. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, GDP rose 5.0% year-on-year in the three months to March end, up on February's 4.5% and ahead of consensus for growth of 4.8%.
US president Donald Trump has threatened to fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell if he doesn't resign from the Fed's board of governors when his term ends next month. "If he's not leaving on time - I've held back firing him, I've wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial, you know. I want to be uncontroversial, but he will be fired," Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
Oil prices remained under $100 on Wednesday, despite reports of the US sending more troops to the Middle East, after talks between Washington and Tehran looked to have resumed. Speaking to Fox Business, Donald Trump reiterated his demand that Iran gives up its nuclear programme. But asked if the war was over, he said: "I think it's close to over. I view it as very close to over...I think they want to make a deal very badly."
US mortgage applications increased 1.8% in the week ended 10 April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, the first rise in five weeks following a 0.8% drop in the prior week. Applications to refinance a mortgage, which are generally more sensitive to weekly interest rate moves, jumped 5.1%, while applications to purchase a home fell 1%.
Industrial production across the eurozone rebounded in February after two months of declines, though the output of powerhouses Germany and France both weakened. Seasonally adjusted industrial production increased by 0.4% in the single-currency region in February, following a 0.8% drop in January and a 0.6% fall in December.
US producer prices rose more than expected in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the producer price index for final demand increasing 0.5% on the month, matching February's gain and following a 0.6% rise in January. On an unadjusted basis, final demand prices were up 4.0% in the year ended 31 March - the strongest annual increase since February 2023.
The International Energy Agency downgraded its forecast for global oil demand on Tuesday, as it highlighted "the largest disruption in history" amid the conflict in the Middle East. The organisation now expects global demand to decline by 80,000 barrels per day this year, versus a previous forecast for growth of 640,000 bpd.
China's export growth slowed sharply in March, falling to a six‑month low as the conflict in the Middle East weighed on the global demand outlook, while imports recorded their strongest rise in more than four years. Data released by the General Administration of Customs on Tuesday showed that exports had risen 2.5% year‑on‑year in US dollar terms, well below expectations for an 8.6% increase and easing from the combined 21.8% jump seen in January and February.
Flag carriers Qantas and Lufthansa on Tuesday both warned of a hit to profits from higher fuel costs due to the Iran war. Australia's Qantas said its jet fuel bill would surge by 32% more than expected while Lufthansa forecasts higher costs for the rest of the year due to supply constraints. Qantas now expects fuel costs for the six months through June to be between AUD $3.10bn - 3.30bn compared with the carrier's forecast of AUD $2.50bn less than two months ago.
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