News & Insight • Weekly Newsletters

13 June 2025 | Charlie Todd | William Buckhurst

That Was The Week That Was

MACRO

• Middle Eastern tensions increased again as Israel launched a sophisticated strike on Iranian nuclear facilities and missile bases on Friday. Both the oil and gold prices traded higher on the news.
• The UK unemployment rate increased slightly on the prior month to 4.6%, a four-year high. Weekly earnings were also below estimates. Reports noted that the leisure and hospitality sector has shed around 150,000 jobs since the budget. GDP data was also worse than expected as April’s figure declined 0.3% month on month versus the 0.1% expected decline. Chancellor Rachel Reeves called the figures “clearly disappointing”; but argued that recent trade deals, and planning reform, would boost growth.
• Another busy week for President Trump. He commented that he could raise US auto tariffs from their current 25% to boost domestic production, signed an order terminating California regulations that would have banned the sale of petrol cars in 2035, and mentioned he would pick his nominee to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair soon and repeated his complaints that the US had not cut rates fast enough.

COMPANY NEWS

• Oracle rose over 20% on the week after giving better than expected guidance in its cloud business, with expectations that the 24% annual growth seen in that division last year could rise to as much as 40% next year. 
• One of the best UK listed compounders, Halma, had another set of good results – but they had to as the shares trade on a rich multiple. Pre-tax profit increased 16% to £459.4m with revenue rising 11% to £2.25bn, both above consensus. Margin guidance was also at the high end as management commented that they had made a strong start to the year with a strong order book and order intake ahead of last year.
• Not even Zara owner, Inditex, could lift the retail gloom as it fell around 4% on announcing in-line results, mainly due to the 3% currency hit to revenues.
• Following the devastating aircraft crash in Ahmedabad, India, Boeing shares fell 5%. The Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off in India.
• Uranium experts, Cameco, who own 49% of Westinghouse Electric Company, jumped on the news that they anticipate an $170m increase in their share of Westinghouse’s profits for the next reporting period.
• Shares in CVS Group and Pets at Home continue to trade under a cloud as the Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the veterinary sector will be extended by another six months citing the complexity of the issues raised in the investigation.
• The renaissance of diabesity/obesity experts Novo Nordisk continues as it retook the position of the largest company in Europe. It was also reported that activist investor Parvus Asset Management had built a stake in the business. Parvus has previously taken stakes in Ryanair and UniCredit.
• Shares in the UK’s largest brick manufacturer, Ibstock fell sharply after the brickmaker flagged a spike in fixed costs and weaker than expected selling prices. It warned that the more competitive market backdrop had made passing on cost inflation more challenging.

POUNDLAND

It could not have been sold for anything else.

Poundland has 825 UK stores and around 16,000 staff and has been struggling to compete with other discount stores, and smaller shops from the supermarkets, with sales down this year. Its owner, Polish firm Pepco, confirmed it had sold the brand for a "nominal" sum – we believe £1 – to US investment firm Gordon Brothers.

Some discount retailers are finding life tough due to the competition for consumers in the cost-of-living crisis but also the increased employer National Insurance contributions which started in April. Pepco Group has owned Poundland since 2016, but the firm had to auction the brand off after sales fell.

Following the sale, a proposed restructure, including the closing of 100 shops, will be put to the High Court.

UK ACQUISITIONS

As we expected at the beginning of the year, corporate activity in the UK is increasing with several deals announced this week and we expect many in the pipeline.

The largest was for measurement specialist, Spectris, who confirmed that it had received a conditional proposal from private equity group Advent International (after rejecting fellow private equity firm KKR days earlier) which included a cash consideration of 3,735p per share along with an interim dividend of 28p per share valuing the company at £3.7bn, an 85% premium to the previous day’s closing price.

Next cab off the rank was chip designer Alphawave, as it agreed to a £1.8bn takeover by US semi-conductor group Qualcomm for 183p per share in cash, which was a 96% premium to its closing price before the takeover.

There was also a 430p per share all-cash offer for UK listed engineering and consultancy firm, Ricardo, valuing the company at £281m, a 28% premium to the previous day’s closing price by Canadian WSP Group. WSP also agreed to purchase the 19.99% stake held by Science Group who had been pushing for a breakup of the business.

Manchester-based private rented sector housing group, PRS REIT, announced talks with London-based real estate investment management firm, Long Harbour, over a potential takeover for 115p. It did put itself up for sale late last year following a strategic review and in February it said it had received several potential non-binding offers for the group, within a price range of 109.2p (Price) and 133.2p (NAV) per share.

THE WEEK IN HISTORY

1977: Apple releases the Apple II, designed by Steve Wozniak and the first mass-produced personal computer (PC) with a colour display and expansion slots.

2019: the first large-scale demonstrations in Hong Kong to push for a complete withdrawal of the 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill.