TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow raised his price target on Unilever to $76 from $67 while maintaining a Buy rating on the shares. Moskow highlighted that Unilever posted a volume-led sales beat of 5.8% in the second quarter, well ahead of the 4.3% consensus estimate.

Earnings per share also topped expectations, coming in at EUR 1.61 versus the EUR 1.59 consensus. According to Moskow, the strength of the results has given Unilever’s management the confidence to raise its sales outlook for the second half of the year.

Later in the morning, BofA analyst Nicolas Ceron also lifted his price target on Unilever, moving it to $76 from $72, while reiterating a Buy rating. Ceron pointed to a 300-basis-point beat on volume/mix in the quarter as a key driver of his more bullish stance. Following the report, BofA raised its EPS estimates for Unilever by 1% for each of 2026, 2027, and 2028.

Both analysts’ revised targets of $76 now align exactly, reflecting a broader convergence of sell-side sentiment toward the stock after the company’s quarterly performance exceeded market expectations on both volume and profitability.

Unilever’s American Depositary Receipts were trading modestly lower in Wednesday’s session, down about 0.75% to near $66.37, even as analysts turned more constructive following the earnings beat. The company’s shares have been buoyed in recent quarters by improving underlying volume trends and management’s efforts to sharpen its brand portfolio and improve execution across its personal care, home care, and nutrition segments.

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Diageo stock dropped 2.3% to 1,634p in early trading, making it one of the session’s weaker large-cap performers, after the German bank downgraded the shares to “hold” from “buy.”

Deutsche Bank analyst Mitch Collett noted that Diageo shares have surged 22% since the bank upgraded the stock at the end of March — outperforming the broader European food and beverage sector by 11 percentage points over that period. Despite the downgrade, Deutsche Bank kept its price target unchanged at 1,700p, implying roughly 4% further upside from current levels, and left its underlying forecasts largely intact.

The move comes just over a week before Diageo, owner of Johnnie Walker whisky, Guinness stout and Smirnoff vodka, reports full-year results for fiscal 2026 on Thursday, August 6. Collett said he expects those numbers to come in broadly in line with consensus.

More significant, however, is an anticipated strategic update alongside the results. Chief executive Dave Lewis, who took the helm roughly eight months ago, is expected to unveil a “reset” plan aimed at sharpening Diageo’s competitiveness as it enters a new financial year.

Collett cautioned that the update carries a “broad range of potential outcomes,” and following the stock’s strong run-up, he sees the risk skewed to the downside. He also flagged that Wall Street’s expectations for fiscal 2027 and beyond look “materially too optimistic,” with Deutsche Bank’s own earnings-per-share estimate sitting roughly 10% below the Bloomberg consensus.

Diageo has faced a prolonged period of pressure on volumes and margins across its spirits portfolio, and investors will be watching closely next week for signs of how Lewis intends to reset growth expectations.

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Shares fell to around 617p by mid-session today, down 6.5% from yesterday’s close of 660p, on volume of roughly 1.33 million shares. That takes the stock well off its 52-week high of 664p, though it remains far above its 52-week low of 485.6p.

Lancashire’s H1 2026 results, released via a stock exchange announcement earlier today, reported profit after tax of $141.7m, up from $109.2m a year earlier, with diluted earnings per share of $0.56 against $0.44. The combined ratio, the cost of claims and expenses as a percentage of premium, improved to 80.7% from 87.4%.

Beneath the headline beat, net investment return fell to $51.3m from $108.2m, with total investment return dropping to 1.2% from 3.7%, a decline the company linked to a negative mark-to-market hit from higher government bond yields. The Group’s Renewal Price Index, which tracks how much premium rates are rising or falling on renewed policies, slipped to 92% from 96%, while gross premiums written edged down 1% to $1,315.0m from $1,356.2m. Group Chief Executive Alex Maloney said: “The Group RPI for the first six months of the year was 92%, which is reflective of some softening – but not soft – market conditions and, importantly, rating adequacy remains across most lines of business.”

Maloney said the group remains “on track to deliver our guidance given at the start of the year of a high-teens RoE for 2026” and expects rates to “continue to reflect the excess capacity in the industry.” Lancashire also declared an interim dividend of $0.075 per share.

The scale of the fall suggests the market, having priced the stock near record highs on expectations of continued strong returns, appears to have focused on the forward-looking signals of fading investment gains and cooling pricing power rather than the backward-looking profit improvement.

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The stock was down 4.75% at 236.8p by early afternoon, having opened at 244.4p and touched a low of 228p, against Tuesday’s close of 248.6p. Proactive Investors reported an intraday fall of 6.4% to 232.8p.

Aberdeen’s half-year report, published via RNS earlier today, showed adjusted operating profit up 21% year-on-year to £151m, ahead of a £145m consensus forecast, with adjusted diluted earnings per share of 8.2p versus a 7.4p estimate cited by Proactive Investors. The interim dividend was held flat at 7.3p per share, and the group reaffirmed full-year targets of adjusted operating profit of at least £300m and net capital generation of around £300m.

Instead, the market focused on £3.0bn of net outflows, against consensus expectations of roughly £800m of net inflows. The Investments division shed £5.6bn excluding liquidity products, including around £4bn of lower-margin equity withdrawals and a £1bn credit mandate that had been expected in the second quarter but was delayed to early July. Interactive Investor, the group’s direct-to-consumer investment platform, delivered record net inflows of £6.8bn, with profit up 18% to £84m and customer numbers up 14% to 525,000, but that growth could not offset the drag from Investments.

Chief executive Jason Windsor said: “In a dynamic market, the Group produced a strong performance. Adjusted operating profit is up 21% year-on-year and net capital generation is up 47%.” Broker Peel Hunt called the profit performance “excellent” and named Interactive Investor the “star of the show”, keeping a buy rating and 294p price target on the stock.

Peel Hunt’s buy rating and 294p price target were reaffirmed alongside the group’s reiterated full-year guidance of at least £300m in adjusted operating profit and around £300m of net capital generation.

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The stock traded at 1,063p by early afternoon on Wednesday, down 2% from yesterday’s close of 1,085p. It had opened at 1,115p and swung as low as 1,038.75p intraday, before recovering part of the fall as the session progressed.

SJP’s half-year results, released before markets opened on Wednesday, showed Adjusted IFRS profit before tax fell to £278.4m from £307.0m a year earlier. The company said the decline was primarily due to lower initial and ongoing margins following the simpler charging structure it introduced in August 2025, which separated advice, product and investment management charges and scrapped early-withdrawal charges on pensions and bonds.

Net inflows nearly halved to £2.7bn from £3.8bn, even though gross inflows held steady at £10.5bn. SJP attributed the fall to market uncertainty and what it called “impending changes to the retirement savings landscape”. City AM reported the roughly £1.1bn drop in flows as linked to clients withdrawing pension money to avoid pensions becoming subject to a 40% inheritance tax charge from April 2027. The new charging model earns SJP a margin from day one on new business rather than relying on upfront fees, which mechanically depresses reported profit even as new inflows keep coming in.

Despite the profit and flow headwinds, funds under management rose to a record £240.8bn from £220.0bn at the end of 2025, helped by 16.4% annualised investment returns net of charges and improved client retention of 95.4%. Chief executive Mark FitzPatrick said: “I am pleased to report a strong set of results for the first half of 2026.”

SJP kept its interim dividend unchanged at 6.00p per share and carried out £128.1m of share buy-backs in the period. The group has reiterated its ambition to double Adjusted IFRS profit between 2023 and 2030, betting that day-one margins on new business will eventually outweigh the near-term hit from scrapping upfront charges.

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The blue-chip index is bucking weakness on the continent where the DAX has fallen 0.5%, the CAC 40 has dropped 0.7% and the Stoxx 50 has declined 0.9% amid renewed Middle East jitters.

Brent crude has jumped 3.4% to $84.90 a barrel after Iran launched a surprise missile attack on US bases in the region, breaking a days-long lull in fighting.

The US and Saudi Arabia retaliated with joint strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq, while Iran also halted tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The escalation has reignited fears over supply disruption, though spot gold has remained resilient, currently up a modest 0.2% to $4,036.

Corporate news dominated the FTSE tape. Greggs has surged 9% after strong interim results showed total sales up 7.2% and operating profit jumping almost 23% to £86.5m, driven by market-share gains and cost discipline.

Reckitt Benckiser has rallied nearly 5% on its own upbeat half-year figures, making it one of the top FTSE 100 risers.

Among the other FTSE 100 big gainers, Weir Group has jumped 6.9% as it reported 8% order growth and reiterated full-year guidance despite margin pressure. Standard Chartered gained 4.7% on its half-year report.

On the downside, Aberdeen Group has fallen 5.4% even after adjusted operating profit rose 21%, as investors focused on continued outflows in its Adviser and Investments arms.

St James’s Place dropped 2.3% despite a resilient set of interims, and Smiths Group slipped 2.2%.

In the FTSE 250, Greggs leads the gainers, alongside Ceres Power (+6.2%) and Inchcape (+4.5%).

Lancashire Holdings fell 5.5% despite a strong H1 profit, while Breedon Group dropped 3.7% following its interim results and a non-executive appointment, and Renishaw eased 2.8%.

Elsewhere, Aston Martin posted interim results and Metlen Energy signed a landmark gallium supply agreement.

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The stock traded up to an intraday high of 2205p, having opened at 2200p after Tuesday’s close of 2097p, a rise of as much as 5.05%. That leaves the shares just below their 52-week high of 2278p, set on 24 June, and far above their 52-week low of 1256p.

Standard Chartered reported half-year pretax profit of $4.78bn, beating the $4.52bn analyst consensus and up from $4.38bn a year earlier, according to Reuters. The bank raised its full-year 2026 income growth guidance to the middle of its 5-7% target range, having previously guided towards the bottom of that range. It also announced a $1bn share buyback and lifted its interim dividend to 20.4 cents per share, up from 12 cents a year earlier.

The earnings beat was driven by a 38% jump in wealth management income, as clients bought more investment products and opened new accounts during a volatile period for markets. That growth helped push group pretax profit up roughly 9% year-on-year. Alongside the results, management raised guidance and announced the $1bn buyback and higher dividend.

Group Chief Executive Bill Winters said: “Clients continue to turn to us to facilitate trade, investment and wealth flows across the world’s most dynamic markets.”

The shares have now recovered from a 52-week low of 1256p to trade close to their June peak, as the wealth management business becomes a larger contributor to group earnings.

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The maker of Dettol, Durex and Lysol posted first-half like-for-like net revenue growth of 2.6%, with Core Reckitt revenue up 2.7%. Crucially, momentum built through the period, with Q2 like-for-like growth hitting 4.2% for Core Reckitt and 4.7% including Mead Johnson Nutrition — well ahead of the first quarter’s pace.

Growth was broad-based, with all regions and categories improving: Emerging Markets grew 9.4% in Q2, North America returned to growth at 2.8%, and Europe narrowed its decline to -1.5%.

Chief Executive Kris Licht said the results reflected “broad-based acceleration,” crediting strong Powerbrand performance and consumer response to innovations such as Dettol Activ Botany and the new Mucinex 12HR Cold & Fever launch. China delivered its 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.

Adjusted operating margin for Core Reckitt plus Mead Johnson came in at 23.6%, ahead of expectations, aided by the company’s “Fuel for Growth” cost-cutting programme offsetting stranded costs from the Essential Home divestment. Statutory figures were weaker, with IFRS operating profit down 22.2% and diluted EPS falling, largely due to the absence of Essential Home’s prior-year contribution.

Reckitt reiterated full-year guidance of 4-5% like-for-like revenue growth for Core Reckitt and an adjusted operating margin of 24.9-25.6%. It also announced a new £500 million share buyback and lifted its interim dividend by 5% to 88.6p, reinforcing investor confidence in the turnaround.

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The stock traded at 2,524p, up 0.3% from Tuesday’s close of 2,516p after opening at 2,530p. That leaves it well below its 52-week high of 3,181p and closer to the 2,046p low reached in May, when activist pressure weighed on the shares.

Whitbread said on Monday that its 89 Brewers Fayre sites will shut after dinner service on 7 September, with 106 Beefeater restaurants following on 10 September. Its other brands, Bar+Block, Table Table and Cookhouse+Pub, close on 3 September, taking total closures across the estate to roughly 200 sites.

The move operationalises the five-year strategy Whitbread set out on 30 April to become a pure-play hotel business, exiting all branded restaurants and cutting around 3,800 jobs in the UK and Ireland to target £250m in savings, a plan it attributed to rising business rates and employer National Insurance costs. Restaurants are being replaced by food and drink service inside Premier Inn hotels, which management says carries margins roughly 10 percentage points higher than sites served by standalone branded restaurants.

Chief executive Dominic Paul said in April that: “this plan will transform Whitbread into a higher-margin, higher-returning pure-play hotel business.” The company is also targeting growth to 96,000 UK and Ireland hotel rooms by its 2031 financial year, partly by converting closed restaurant sites into extension rooms.

The plan has faced pushback from activist investor Corvex Management, which holds an approximate 7% stake in Whitbread and called in May for a full sale of the company, describing the restaurant closures and capital spending plans as value-destructive.

With the closure timetable now confirmed, the next real test for the shares is Whitbread’s FY2027 trading updates, which will show whether the shift to a hotel-only model is delivering the promised margin gains.

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The FTSE 250 group posted total sales of £1.1 billion for the 26 weeks to 27 June 2026, up 7.2% year-on-year, driven by company-managed like-for-like sales growth of 2.1%, franchise like-for-like growth of 1.3%, and continued estate expansion. Operating profit jumped 22.9% to £86.5 million, while pre-tax profit rose 19.7% to £76.0 million. Diluted earnings per share climbed to 54.9p from 45.3p a year earlier.

Chief Executive Roisin Currie CBE said Greggs “continued to outperform the market,” crediting improved sales and strong cost control for the profitable growth, while confirming the Board’s full-year expectations remain unchanged.

The value bakery chain continues to take market share in a tough consumer environment, with its share of visits rising 0.3 percentage points to 8.7% over the 12 months to June. Management pointed to menu innovation—including Iced Matcha Lattes and a new Chicken Roll—plus growing traction in grocery retail via Tesco and Iceland partnerships, and rising loyalty app usage, now scanned in 31% of company-managed transactions, up from 25.7%.

Greggs added 34 net new shops in the period, taking its estate to 2,773, and reiterated plans for 100-110 net openings this year, alongside new formats such as “bitesize Greggs” and “Greggs Express” convenience trials.

Capital expenditure guidance was trimmed to around £180 million from £200 million, while structural cost savings of £11 million remain targeted for 2026, with £7 million already delivered. The interim dividend was held at 19.0p per share.

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The firm has a six-month target price of 2,394 pence on the stock, implying 22.1% upside from Monday’s close.

Analyst Abhishek Raval said second-quarter sales and core operating profit came in about 2% and 6% ahead of consensus, respectively.

Sales reached £8.4bn, up around 5% at constant exchange rates, driven mainly by HIV, respiratory, immunology and inflammation, oncology and vaccines. Core earnings per share rose 9% to 50.5 pence, and management reaffirmed full-year guidance for sales, core operating profit and core EPS.

AlphaValue highlighted momentum in specialty medicines, with long-acting injectables Cabenuva and Apretude driving the HIV franchise, and said GSK expects ultra-long-acting treatments to “cushion the blow from the patent expirations of dolutegravir products” over 2028-30.

In respiratory, Nucala gained from its COPD indication, while the firm flagged oncology drugs Jemperli and Ojjaara as expanding “at an exciting pace.”

The firm highlighted CEO Luke Miels’ intent, noting three major acquisitions in 2026 and a new cost savings plan targeting £1.9bn annually from 2029. AlphaValue said his background at Roche and AstraZeneca “should come in more than handy here.”

Still, the firm cautioned that GSK “doesn’t have the pipeline strength of the likes of AstraZeneca” to absorb multiple late-stage setbacks, referencing the recent failure of chronic cough candidate Camlipixant. Shares rose 3.5% on Tuesday, closing at 2,029p.

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With the index having gained in three of the last four sessions, attention now turns to whether Wednesday’s session can finally deliver a fresh record close.

Why the FTSE got so close on Tuesday

Tuesday’s advance was powered by a blistering earnings-driven rally in consumer stocks. Unilever surged 8.58%—its best one-day performance in four years—after the consumer goods giant upgraded its annual guidance and reported its strongest quarterly volume growth in more than a decade. Man Group shares touched their highest level since 2010 on stronger-than-expected assets under management, while thread maker Coats jumped 9.6% to lead the FTSE 250.

Not every sector shared in the gains. Energy stocks slid 1.43% as oil prices eased on hopes of a resolution to the US-Iran conflict, while banks fell 1.37%; Barclays dropped 4.79% even after beating profit expectations, suggesting investors had already priced in robust results from UK lenders. That the index still pushed higher despite drags from two heavyweight sectors underlines how strong the earnings-led buying in consumer names has been.

The index has now climbed in three of the last four sessions, building on Monday’s move above 10,800—its highest level since the February record—as markets shrugged off the spring’s sharp pullback triggered by US-Iran tensions and the accompanying oil-price shock.

What could tip it over the record on Wednesday

Clearing the 10,910.55 mark would require only a modest further advance of around 0.3%, well within a single session’s typical range for the index—but several cross-currents will decide whether buyers get there.

• The Federal Reserve. The FOMC’s rate decision lands on Wednesday, with markets split on whether Chair Kevin Warsh’s committee holds steady or delivers a surprise given the recent oil-driven inflation scare. A dovish tone or a clear signal that policymakers see the oil spike as transitory would likely support risk appetite globally, including London. A hawkish surprise, or any suggestion rates could rise further, risks reigniting the kind of volatility that hit equities in the spring.
• The Bank of England. The BoE’s own policy decision this week (Thursday) is squarely in view after Tuesday’s comments from Pantheon Macroeconomics suggesting the MPC will likely hold rates for an extended period, with the rate path “depending heavily on the oil shock.” Any dovish shift in tone—or a benign inflation read—could extend the domestic buying that has driven the index over the past week.
• More earnings momentum. Tuesday’s rally showed how sensitive the FTSE 100 is right now to standout corporate results. With UK companies continuing to report through the week and US megacaps including Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Amazon also due, strong numbers—or another Unilever-style upgrade—could provide the final push, while a disappointment from a heavyweight constituent could just as easily cap the advance.
• Oil and the banks/energy drag. Energy and banking stocks were the biggest brakes on Tuesday’s gains. A further easing in oil prices, if the US-Iran de-escalation continues, would remove some of that drag on energy majors, though it also softens the sector’s earnings outlook. Conversely, a bounce in banking shares—which have lagged despite generally solid results—could add fresh support if sentiment around the sector improves.
• Broader risk appetite. Wall Street’s mixed tone this week, with chip stocks under pressure after South Korea’s Kospi tumbled sharply on semiconductor selling, is a reminder that global sentiment can move quickly. A calm session in the US and Asia would make it easier for the FTSE to hold its gains into the close.

Taken together, Wednesday’s session looks finely balanced: the technical path to a new record is short, but the outcome will likely hinge on how central banks and big-name earnings land through the day. A break above 10,910.55 would mark London’s first fresh closing high in exactly five months.

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