JD Sports names Andy Higginson as chair, Vistry FY margins seen above targets

Stocks to watch

Sports and fashion retailer JD Sports tapped Andy Higginson to take over as chairman of the group following an extensive search process.

JD Sports said on Friday that Higginson, the former chair of William Morrison Supermarkets, will take up the role on 11 July.

Housebuilder Vistry expects price rises to drive margins above full-year targets after a first-half driven by strong demand.

Vistry said on Friday that it continues to expect adjusted annual pre-tax profits to be at the top end of market forecasts of £417.0m.

Newspaper round-up

What price happiness? The answer might be £3,360 a year. The average UK worker would take a 10.5% pay cut to work for an employer where staff enjoy "above average" levels of happiness, a study has shown. The research, which examined 23.0m jobseekers across the UK, US and Canada, comes amid a growing push for companies and governments to quantify the costs and benefits of wellbeing alongside cash measures of economic output. - Guardian

Twitter has revealed that it is suspending more than 1.0m spam accounts a day, as Elon Musk threatens to walk away from buying the business in a dispute over fake users. The new figure, confirmed by the social media platform on Thursday, represents a doubling of its previous update. Its chief executive, Parag Agrawal, said in May that spam account suspensions were running at 500,000 a day. - Guardian

The next Tory leader will find it all but impossible to slash taxes as Britain reels under a £185.0bn blow from net zero policies and its ageing population, the fiscal watchdog has said. The Office for Budget Responsibility warned Tory challengers that funding tax cuts through borrowing will pile pressure on the public finances and risk fuelling inflation, as it raised the spectre of the national debt hitting three times the size of the economy. - Telegraph

Advisers to two of West End's biggest landlords will pocket nearly £70.0m in fees following Shaftesbury and Capital & Counties £5.0bn merger. Shaftesbury, whose portfolio stretches parts of Soho and Carnaby Street, is paying £35.7m to bankers, lawyers, legal and communications advisers, while Capco, which owns Covent Garden, is dishing out £33.0m. - Telegraph

PwC's UK partners will take home more than £1.0m for the first time ever after an "exceptional year" for the Big Four accountant. On average, the 995 members of its top executive tier will be paid £920,000 for its most recent financial year, which ended last week. That is up 6% on the £868,000 they were paid in 2021, then a record. In addition, each partner is due a windfall of about £100,000 after PwC sold its mobility services business, which helps multinational companies to manage their immigration, business travel, tax, and payroll. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Friday amid a decline in commodity prices.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.12% at 31,384.55, while the S&P 500 was 1.50% firmer at 3,902.62 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 2.28% stronger at 11,621.35.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com