5th Sep 2025 08:05
(Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 opened slightly higher on Friday, as a UK retail sales reading outperformed market expectations and UK average house prices reached a new record high.
In early corporate news, Ashmore reports a decline in profit during its most recent financial year, and Tullow Oil taps Ian Perks as its new chief executive officer.
Here is what you need to know before the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: opened 0.1% higher at 9,224.09
GBP: up at USD1.3458 (USD1.3432 at previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS
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UK retail sales accelerated ahead of expectations in July following continued good weather, but fell short of consensus on an annual basis, the Office for National Statistics reported on Friday. Total retail sales volumes are estimated to have risen by 0.6% in July, accelerating from an increase of 0.3% in June and comfortably beating an FXStreet-cited consensus for 0.2% growth in July. Sales volumes improved 1.1% over the year to July, accelerated from 0.9% growth in the year to June, but falling short of an FXStreet-cited consensus for 1.3% growth. Sales volumes fell 0.6% in the three months to July against the three months to April. This followed four months of consecutive quarterly growth, largely due to declines in food stores, sports equipment, games and toys stores, and household goods stores. These were partly offset, however, by an increase in non-store retailing, which are predominantly online retailers, the ONS explained. Food store sales rose 2.5% in July to their highest level since February 2022, boosted by good weather and events such as the Union of European Football Associations Women's Euro 2025 tournament. Food store sales had increased 0.7% in June. The ONS noted that the UK had its fifth warmest July on record this year, according to the Met Office climate summaries. Non-food store sales volumes grew 0.6% during July, speeding up from 0.2% growth in June, in the largest annual rise since January 2023. The ONS said the rise was partly driven by the launch of new products.
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The average UK house price rose for the third consecutive month in August to a record high, though the rate of growth slowed slightly from the month prior, Halifax reported on Friday. The Halifax house price index found that the average UK house price increased by 0.3% to a new record high of GBP299,331, slowed slightly from a 0.4% growth in July to GBP298,237 and slowed against the 0.6% rise reported for August 2024. It was a sharper growth in August than the FXStreet-cited consensus of 0.1%. The average house price is now 2.2% higher over the past year, easing from a 2.5% annual growth rate in July, but above the market consensus of 2.0%. Northern Ireland saw the UK's strongest annual price growth again, with the average house price increasing 8.1% to GBP217,082. Scotland recorded 4.9% annual growth in August to an average of GBP215,594, while property prices in Wales rose 1.6% to GBP227,786. The North East and North West of England, alongside Yorkshire & the Humber, all reported annual growth above 4%. The South West of England, on the other hand, saw prices fall 0.8% over the past year, making it the first UK nation or region to record an annual decline since Eastern England in July 2024. London property prices edged up 0.8% on-year, with an average property value of GBP541,615.
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BROKER RATINGS
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Peel Hunt cuts Admiral to 'sell' (reduce) - price target 2,350 (2,270) pence
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Barclays cuts Apax Global Alpha to 'equal weight' - price target 165 (181) pence
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Goldman Sachs reinitiates Aviva with 'buy' - price target 736 pence
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Berkeley Group says trading in the first four months of its financial year has been "stable", and confirms it is on track to report pretax earnings in line with its GBP450 million forecast for the year ending April 30, 2026. The housebuilder says 85% of its guided pretax earnings is already secured through exchange sales contracts, and the firm remains on target to achieve a similar level of profit in financial 2027. Berkeley anticipates pretax profit to be weighted "broadly evenly" between the first and second half of the year, subject to timing of completions. The company returned GBP121 million to shareholders during the four months to August 31 via the acquisition of 3.3 million shares at an average price of GBP37.20 each. Berkeley has now completed its first target of GBP260 million returned to shareholder under the Berkeley 2035 strategy, which was launched in December. It now targets a further GBP640 million by September 2030, to be made via both share buybacks and dividends. Berkeley targets net cash of around GBP300 million at April 30, 2026. "The government is now increasingly focused on addressing the regulatory and viability challenges facing London's housing industry, which we are confident it can resolve through collaboration with the sector and applying the same single-minded determination to deliver the necessary change that has been so successful in driving its wider planning reforms," says Berkeley.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Ashmore Group reports pretax profit of GBP108.6 million for the year that ended June 30, falling 15% from GBP128.1 million the year before, as total revenue declines 24% to GBP144.4 million from GBP189.0 million. Assets under management as of July 14 total USD47.6 billion, down 3.4% on-year from USD49.3 billion. Net outflows for the year are USD5.8 billion, 32% lower than USD8.5 billion a year prior. The firm maintains its final dividend at 12.1 pence per share, leaving its total dividend for the year unchanged on-year at 16.9p. "Ashmore's active investment processes are delivering outperformance for clients against a positive backdrop for emerging markets, and its distribution team is active around the world with both existing clients and potential investors, emphasising the need to deploy more capital to capture the favourable trends evident across emerging markets," says Chief Executive Officer Mark Coombs. "Ashmore is therefore well-positioned to capture flows as investors shift allocations away from the US, including to the emerging markets that offer superior growth and higher risk-adjusted returns over the medium term."
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Peel Hunt expects to deliver full-year results ahead of market expectations, despite "challenging market conditions". Within its Investment Banking segment, the company has acted on "a number of substantial [mergers and acquisitions] transactions. Peel Hunt notes its corporate franchise now includes five FTSE 100 companies and 53 FTSE 250 companies, and "in recent weeks we have seen nascent ECM activity where we have supported our clients on a number of equity raises and block trades", it adds. Revenue in its Execution Services business are "also encouraging" and "materially ahead" of the year before, the company says. Peel Hunt will provide a further update for the first six months of its financial year on October 1.
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Tullow Oil names Ian Perks as its new chief executive officer, to join the board on September 15. Current Chief Financial Officer & interim CEO Richard Miller will return to his role as CFO. Perks has 30 years of experience in the upstream oil and gas sector. He was formerly the senior vice president for Mozambique liquified natural gas at Anadarko, led divisions of BG Group, and was the president of BG Tunisia. "My near term priority will be to work with Richard, the Tullow team and our stakeholders to put the company on a long-term sustainable financial footing," says incoming CEO Perks. "We will then have an opportunity to grow the company across Africa, leveraging our current assets and reputation on the continent of Africa to add value for our stakeholders."
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By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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Related Shares:
AdmiralApax Global AlphaAvivaBerkeley GroupAshmore GroupPeel HuntTullow Oil