28th Nov 2025 17:03
(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 shook off hefty falls in Premier Inn owner Whitbread to end the week in positive territory, with gains elsewhere in Europe and the US too.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 26.58 points, 0.3%, at 9,720.51. The FTSE 250 gained 52.44 points, 0.2%, at 22,143.91, and the AIM All-Share ended 5.09 points higher, 0.7%, at 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 Cboe UK 100 closed up 0.4% at 973.94, the Cboe UK 250 ended 0.5% higher at 19,271.77, and the Cboe Small Companies climbed 1.1% at 17,633.67.
The session got off to a chaotic start as trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, one of the world's major trading operators, was halted by a technical outage.
"Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centres, our markets are currently halted," the CME said in a statement.
Joshua Mahony at Scope Markets said the malfunction impacted trade across a number of key commodities, treasuries, and index futures.
Market participants rely heavily on CME platforms to manage risk through futures contracts tied, for example, to stock indices, interest rates and currencies.
The outage also froze pricing on the US benchmark crude contract, WTI, for several hours, although normality was restored as the trading day wore on.
On the FTSE 100, Whitbread slid 11% after warning that changes to business rates in Wednesday's budget, driven by higher rateable values for many hotels, will materially increase costs in the next financial year.
The Dunstable, Bedfordshire-based owner of Premier Inn chain now expects the changes to business rates to result in a GBP40 million to GBP50 million hit in the year to February 2027.
Chief Executive Officer Dominic Paul said the company was "extremely disappointed" by the budget outcome, warning it would have "a significant impact on our business and the wider hospitality industry."
In addition, analysts at Bernstein double-downgraded Whitbread to 'underperform' from 'outperform' and slashed their share price target.
Elsewhere, Weir Group shares were up 0.9% after Exane BNP reinitiated the stock with an 'outperform' rating and a price target of 3,450 pence.
Similarly, IMI shares climbed 1.6%, after Exane BNP restarted the firm with an 'outperform' rating and a 3,100p price target.
But Burberry fell 2.9%, as JPMorgan downgraded the luxury goods manufacturer to 'underweight', suggesting that consensus forecasts may be too optimistic.
The pound was quoted lower at USD1.3236 at the time of the London equities close on Friday, compared to USD1.3251 on Thursday.
The euro stood lower at USD1.1593 on Friday, against USD1.1599 on Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JPY156.19 compared to JPY156.27.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.03% on Friday, stretched from 4.01% on Wednesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.67%, widened from 4.66% on Wednesday.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 0.3%, as did the DAX 40 in Frankfurt.
In a shortened 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.
Back in London, budget airline easyJet rose 3.0% after hosting a seminar around its Holidays business.
Analysts at Citi said easyJet is aiming for a pretax profit of GBP450 million in the division by financial 2030, up from GBP250 million in financial 2025 and compared to the GBP370 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."
Moving its Holidays pretax profit assumption to GBP450 million, Citi's share price target would rise 60p to 560p "all else equal."
"This is clearly encouraging, but rising cost challenges at the airline seen this week keep us from turning more positive on the name for now," it adds. Citi has a 'neutral' rating on easyJet.
On the FTSE 250, investors toasted Mitchells & Butler as it reported strong profit growth as higher like-for-like sales helped offset pressures of rising labour and food costs.
Shares in the Birmingham, England-based restaurant and pub operator shot up 13%, after it said pretax profit jumped 20% to GBP238 million for the 12 months that ended September 27 from GBP199 million the year prior, with basic earnings per share up 19% to 29.7 pence from 25.0p.
Revenue climbed 3.9% to GBP2.71 billion from GBP2.61 billion a year ago, with like-for-like sales growth of 4.3%.
The firm also reported a "solid start" to financial 2026 with like-for-like sales of 3.8% in the first eight weeks of the new financial year, picking up speed from 3.2% in the fourth quarter of the year just ended.
AJ Bell's Dan Coatsworth commented: "Mitchells & Butlers' brands including Harvester and Toby Carvery might seem like faded names of the past, yet they are still resonating with the public as a trusted place to get a meal. It's simple, reliable fodder and sometimes that's all people want."
But it was another grim day for William Hill owner Evoke, ending a torrid week.
The betting operator fell a further 9.6% as Berenberg downgraded to 'hold' from 'buy'' in the wake of Wednesday's gambling duty changes.
Berenberg believes Evoke is in a "tricky position" and the rise in UK taxes leaves it "little room for error". It means Evoke must execute "flawlessly" to successfully navigate the tough backdrop. "With that in mind, we see little scope for the multiple to rerate."
Shares in Evoke have fallen around 60% since the end of July.
But SolGold bounced 13% after it rejected a second bid approach from Jiangxi Copper.
The new tilt was priced at 26p per share, lifted from 23p before.
But Ecuador-focused gold and copper mining firm SolGold said it has "unanimously decided to reject this proposal," stating it "remains confident" in its standalone prospects.
Brent oil was quoted at USD63.19 a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Friday, down from USD63.28 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted at USD4,208.13 an ounce, up against USD4,153.66.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were easyJet, up 14.40p at 499.40p, Antofagasta, up 68.00p at 2,758.00p, Fresnillo, up 50.00p at 2,634.00p, British American Tobacco, up 81.00p at 4,421.00p and BP, up 7.20p at 454.20p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Whitbread, down 322.00p at 2,490.00p, Burberry Group, down 34.00p at 1,139.50p, J Sainsbury, down 7.00p at 322.20p, Mondi, down 12.00p at 868.00p and 3i, down 38.00p at 3,158.00p.
Monday's global economic calendar has a slew of manufacturing PMI readings, as well as UK mortgage approvals. Also, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak.
Monday's UK corporate calendar has half-year results from broker Peel Hunt.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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