Stocks end the week victorious despite hit to Premier Inn owner Whitbread

FTSE 100 shaken by heavy fall Premier Inn Owner Whitbread to end the week in positive territory, with gains elsewhere Europe And America too.

The FTSE 100 index rose 26.58 points, 0.3%, to 9,720.51. The FTSE 250 rose 52.44 points, 0.2%, to 22,143.91 and the AIM All-Share rose 5.09 points, 0.7%, to 754.08.

For the week, the FTSE 100 was up 1.9%, the FTSE 250 climbed 3.8% and the AIM All-Share rose 2.6%.

The session got off to a chaotic start as a technical glitch halted trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), one of the world’s leading trading operators.

“Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers, our markets are currently halted,” CME said in a statement.

Joshua Mahoney of Scope Markets said the outage affected trading in several major commodities, Treasuries and index futures.

For example, market participants rely heavily on CME platforms to manage risk through futures contracts tied to stock indices, interest rates and currencies.

The outage also halted pricing on the US benchmark crude contract, WTI, for several hours, although normality was restored as the trading day wore on.

Whitbread fell 11% on the FTSE 100 after warning of changes to business rates on Wednesday. BudgetThere will be a material increase in costs in the next financial year, driven by higher rateable prices for many hotels.

The owner of the Dunstable, Bedfordshire-based Premier Inn chain now expects to make a loss of £40-50 million in the year to February 2027 as a result of the business rates change.

Chief executive Dominic Paul said the company was “extremely disappointed” with the budget outcome, warning that it would have a “significant impact on our business and the wider hospitality industry”.

Additionally, Bernstein analysts downgraded Whitbread by doubling from “outperform” to “underperform” and slashed their share price target.

Elsewhere, Weir Group shares were up 0.9% after Exane BNP restated the stock with an “outperform” rating and a price target of 3,450 pence.

Similarly, IMI shares rose 1.6% after Exane BNP reassessed the firm with an “outperform” rating and a 3,100p price target.

But Burberry fell 2.9% as JPMorgan downgraded the luxury goods maker to “underweight”, suggesting consensus forecasts may be too optimistic.

At the close of the stock market in London on Friday, the pound fell to 1.3236 US dollars, compared to 1.3251 dollars on Thursday.

The euro fell to $1.1593 on Friday from $1.1599 on Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 156.19 yen compared with 156.27 yen.

The yield on US 10-year Treasuries was reported at 4.03% on Friday, up from 4.01% on Wednesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was reported at 4.67%, up from 4.66% on Wednesday.

In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed 0.3% higher, as did the DAX 40 in Frankfurt.

In a brief trading session in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5%, the S&P 500 traded 0.3% higher, as did the Nasdaq Composite.

In London, budget airline easyJet rose 3.0% after holding a seminar on its leisure business.

on analysts City EasyJet is said to be targeting pre-tax profits of £450 million in the division by fiscal 2030, up from £250 million in fiscal 2025 and compared to the £370 million market consensus.

Citi said that although the target is “ambitious”, easyJet’s “strong track record in recent years means it needs to be taken seriously”.

Taking its holiday pre-tax profit forecast to £450m, City’s share price target would rise by 60p to 560p “all else equal”.

“This is clearly encouraging, but the airline’s increasing cost challenges seen this week prevent us from being more positive on the name at the moment,” it added. Citi’s rating on easyJet is “neutral”.

On the FTSE 250, investors praised Mitchells & Butler as it reported strong profit growth, as like-for-like sales helped offset pressure from rising labor and food costs.

Shares in the Birmingham, England-based restaurant and pub operator rose 13% after it said pre-tax profit rose 20% to £238 million for the 12 months ended September 27, from £199 million a year earlier, with basic earnings per share rising 19% to 29.7 pence from 25.0p.

Revenue rose 3.9% to £2.71 billion from £2.61 billion a year earlier, with like-for-like sales up 4.3%.

The firm also reported a “solid start” to fiscal 2026 with like-for-like sales up 3.8% in the first eight weeks of the new fiscal year, up from 3.2% in the recently concluded fourth quarter of the year.

Dan Coatsworth of AJ Bell commented: “Mitchell & Butler’s brands, including Harvester and Toby Carvey, may seem like faded names of the past, yet they are still resonating with the public as a reliable place to get food. It’s simple, reliable bait and sometimes that’s what people want.”

But it was another sad day for William Hill owner Evoque, capping a tough week.

The betting operator dropped another 9.6% as Berenberg downgraded its rating from “buy” to “hold” in the wake of gambling duty changes on Wednesday.

Berenberg believes Evoque is in a “difficult position” and that increased UK taxes have left “very little margin for error”. This means that the Evoque must execute “flawlessly” to successfully traverse difficult terrain. “With this in mind, we see little scope for re-rating the multiple.”

Evoque shares have fallen nearly 60% since the end of July.

But SolGold jumped 13% after Jiangxi Copper rejected a second bid approach.

The new tilting price was 26p per share, down from 23p previously.

But Ecuador-focused gold and copper miner SolGold said it has “unanimously decided to reject the offer,” adding that it “remains confident” in its standalone prospects.

At the time of closing of the London Stock Exchange on Friday, the price of Brent oil was US $ 63.19 per barrel, which is less than $ 63.28 late on Thursday.

Gold rose to $ 4,208.13 an ounce from $ 4,153.66.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were: easyJet, up 14.4p to 499.4p; Antofagasta, up 68.0p to 2,758.0p; Fresnillo, up 50.0p to 2,634.0p; British American Tobacco, up 81.0p to 4,421.0p; and BP, up 7.2p at 454.2p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were: Whitbread, down 322.0p at 2,490.0p; Burberry Group, down 34.0p at 1,139.5p; J Sainsbury’s, up 7.0p to 322.2p; Mondi, down 12.0p at 868.0p; and 3i, down 38.0p at 3,158.0p.

Monday’s global economic calendar also includes manufacturing PMI readings as well as UK mortgage approvals. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Chairman jerome powell There is a reason to speak.

Monday’s UK corporate calendar features broker Peel Hunt’s half-year results.

Contributed by Alliance News