Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.
We were treated to a whole host of corporate updates yesterday and investors in some of the City’s biggest blue-chips were handed plans for bumper returns.
Aerospace giant Rolls-Royce revealed ambitions to dish out up to £9bn to shareholders through from 2026 to 2028. The move followed the £1bn buyback just wrapped up in the last year.
Rolls-Royce said it expects up to £2.5bn to be delivered this year alone – and investors welcomed the news with the FTSE 100 titan up over five per cent for the session.
Meanwhile, the London Stock Exchange Group revealed its biggest-ever buyback as the company fends off dual threats from activist investor pressure and shareholder fears over the rise of AI.
The blue-chip business – which has a mammoth market cap of near £40bn – said it would purchase at least £3bn of shares over the next twelve months, adding to the £2.1bn buyback carried out in 2025.
The move came as the data and analytics business faces rising pressure from activist investor Elliott, which recently built up a major stake in the company, raising concerns it would be urged to shift its listing from London to New York and spin off the London Stock Exchange operation into a separate business.
Elliott has reportedly privately assured the UK government that it would not force a break-up of the group.
It wasn’t all sweet in the City however, WPP took a plunge at open after revealing an over eight per cent drop in revenue. Still, the promise of £500m in savings seemed to please some investors with the firm finishing the day in the green up five per cent.
We’ll be bringing you the latest on today’s top market moves.
Here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday:
- Jupiter Fund Management share price jumps as it rebounds
- WPP shares plunge after turnaround plan targets £500m of savings
- This is why Nvidia’s results failed to woo investors
- Ronaldo acquires stake in second division Spanish team UD Almeria
- Ocado shares tumble as boss warns of job cuts
