(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN

The FTSE 100 was expected to open 64.9 points lower ahead of the bell on Tuesday, after wrapping up the previous session 0.36% firmer at 10,269.43.


STOCKS TO WATCH

Bakery chain Greggs held annual guidance and said like-for-like sales in the first 19 weeks of the year had improved against what remained a challenging market hit by weak consumer confidence and the Iran war. LFL sales rose 2.5% during the period, with cost inflation still expected to be 3%, it said. However, it warned that should the war become prolonged the food retail industry "will likely see higher overall cost inflation through the end of 2026 and into 2027".

Telecommunications giant Vodafone posted a solid set of full year results on Tuesday, with revenue and earnings both improving as the consolidation of Three UK and continued service‑revenue momentum underpinned performance. Vodafone said total revenues rose 8% in FY26 to €40.5bn, supported by an 8.8% increase in service revenue to €33.5bn and contributions from the Three UK deal. Adjusted underlying earnings increased 4.5% on an organic basis to €11.4bn after leases, while operating profits of €2.8bn were a marked improvement on the prior year's €400m loss.

NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP

Households cut back on their spending in April at the fastest pace in 18 months, as the conflict in the Middle East provoked fears of another cost of living crisis, a report from one of the UK's biggest banks has suggested. Barclays, which processes nearly 40% of the UK's credit and debit card transactions, said its data showed there had been a 0.1% fall in card spending last month compared with a year earlier. This was the first year-on-year fall since November 2024. - Guardian

BuzzFeed, the digital media pioneer that was once valued as high as $1.7bn amid a private equity-funded wave of interest in websites that generated massive amounts of online traffic in the 2010s, has finally changed hands for $120m. On Monday, the company announced that a controlling stake in the company has been sold to media entrepreneur Byron Allen. Allen, who often makes large, sometimes unsolicited bids for media companies, is also an on-screen personality in addition to controlling his Allen Media Group conglomerate, which owns networks including The Weather Channel. Allen's show, Comics Unleashed, will replace the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS's schedule starting later this month. - Guardian

An alleged fraudster has been accused of buying a fleet of supercars with money stolen from a British "shadow bank" he founded that collapsed. Paresh Raja stands accused of buying "a vast number of cars", including three Aston Martins, two Mercedes, six Ferraris and three Rolls-Royces, using funds taken from Market Financial Solutions before it collapsed this year. - Telegraph

The UK's largest chicken supplier put up prices by £70m to cushion the blow from Labour's tax raids on businesses. 2Sisters, which supplies poultry to Tesco, Sainsbury's and M&S, said it had been hit by Rachel Reeves's move to raise National Insurance contributions for employers and minimum wages last year. The company, which was founded by the so-called "chicken king" Ranjit Boparan, said it offset the extra £70m in labour costs by pushing up prices for customers. - Telegraph

Profits at Grant Thornton UK fell by almost 80% in the accounting group's first year under private equity ownership. One-off bonus awards linked to Cinven's buy-out just over a year ago, plus fees related to the deal and an enduring slowdown in the consulting market all ate into Grant Thornton's profits last year. - The Times

Sales of used pure electric cars reached a record high in the first three months of the year, according to new figures. Some 86,943 electric vehicles changed hands between the start of January and the end of March, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said, marking a 32% increase on the same period last year and the best for any quarter on record. Pure electrics also touched a new high in market share at 4.3%. - The Times

US CLOSE

Major indices traded higher on Monday despite Donald Trump's rejection of Iran's latest proposal to end their conflict.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were up 0.19% at 49,704.47 and 7,412.84, respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.10% firmer at 26,274.13.







Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

• News Channel