Latest News
ValiRx soars on anti-cancer compound's successful study
Clinical stage biotechnology company ValiRx has seen positive results from recent studies into the effectiveness of its VAL101 compound's ability to induce cancer cells to kill themselves off.
ReNeuron lands £1.5m grant to develop retinal disease treatment
Clinical stage stem cell business ReNeuron Group has won a £1. 5m grant to advance development of its hRPC stem cell therapy candidate for blindness-causing degenerative diseases of the retina.
UK retail sales fall more than expected in March
Retail sales fell more than expected in March as consumers stayed away from shops amid snow and sub-zero temperatures swept in by the so-called Beast from the East.
Mothercare chairman Alan Parker steps down
Beleaguered mother and child retailer Mothercare announced the departure of chairman Alan Parker on Thursday, hot on the heels of the appointment of a new chief executive earlier this month.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Housing, Porsche, Bank of England, oil
Rogue landlords should have their properties confiscated by local councils, according to a cross-party report from MPs into Britain’s private rented sector. Current financial penalties are “meaningless” in deterring the worst, criminal offenders among landlords, according to the housing, communities and local government committee. - Guardian.
Debenhams profits dwindle as snow and costs add to range of woes
Debenhams profits plunged 85% in the first half of its financial year as like-for-like sales slipped amid the "challenging UK market background" and heavy snow, while finance director jumped ship to join a department store rival.
GlaxoSmithKline and Innoviva publish positive new IMPACT data
GlaxoSmithKline, alongside Nasdaq-listed partner Innoviva, announced the publication of the landmark IMPACT study - one of the biggest ever conducted in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with a history of exacerbation - in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday.
Telecom Plus grows profits as customer numbers rise
Telecom Plus, which trades as the Utility Warehouse, said on Thursday that full-year adjusted pre-tax profits from continuing operations are expected to have risen, as customer numbers increased.
London open: Stocks edge up ahead of retail sales; but Debenhams dives
London stocks edged higher in early trade on Thursday as investors eyed the latest retail sales data, with Debenhams casting a small shadow after it posted a big drop in profit.
Melrose restates GKN potential as offer goes unconditional
Melrose Industries said an early review of GKN confirmed its potential for improvement as Melrose's £8bn offer for the engineering company became unconditional.
Unilever quarterly sales slow as volumes grow but prices stodgy
Unilever sales growth slowed in the first quarter, but solid volume growth gave the consumer goods colossus confidence of hitting its full-year sales and margin targets in spite of flat prices.
BHP lowers guidance for copper and iron ore production
BHP Billiton posted its operational review for the nine months ended 31 March on Thursday, confirming that its full-year production guidance remained unchanged for petroleum, metallurgical coal and energy coal.
Ashtead on track to meet full-year expectations
Equipment rental group Ashtead said its business was performing well and that it was on track to meet expectations for annual profit.
Essentra trading in line, finance director to leave later this year
Essentra, a FTSE 250 supplier of plastic and fibre products, said on Thursday that trading in the financial year-to-date has been in line with the board's expectations, as it announced the departure of its group finance director.
FDA gives AstraZeneca's Tagrisso the thumbs up for first-line treatment
AstraZeneca announced on Thursday that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Tagrisso (osimertinib) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, whose tumours have epidermal growth factor receptor mutations as detected by an FDA-approved test.
SFO opens criminal investigation into Ultra Electronics' Algeria business
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has opened a criminal investigation into suspected corruption in the conduct of Ultra Electronics’ business in Algeria.
Rentokil sales growth crawls up as pests put off by cold
Pest control group Rentokil Initial’s underlying revenue growth slowed in the first quarter because of the impact of the hurricane in Puerto Rico and cold weather in the US that delayed the emergence of spring pests.
Sky nine-month revenue up 5%, core earnings 14% higher
Broadcaster Sky, which is currently the subject of a bidding war, posted a 5% jump in nine-month like-for-like revenues on Thursday as core earnings rose 14%, and the company said it remains on track for the full year.
London pre-open: Stocks to edge higher ahead of retail sales data
London stocks were set to edge higher at the open on Thursday as investors eyed the latest retail sales data.