Cranswick holds annual guidance, Pearson delivers 'solid' first half

Stocks to watch

UK food producer Cranswick held annual guidance after first quarter revenue rose 6.7% on the back of strong volume growth. Premium product ranges performed “particularly well” in the 13 weeks to June 29, while easing input costs were reflected in selling prices, Cranswick said on Monday. On a like-for-like basis, revenue growth was 6.4%.

Educational publisher and virtual learning company Pearson said it delivered a “solid” performance in the first half, with underlying sales and profits ahead of last year, as it reiterated its outlook for the next two years. Sales totalled £1.75bn in the six months to 30 June, down from £1.88bn the year before but up 2% on an underlying basis when excluding results from its online learning arm sold last year and non-core operations that have been wound down. Underlying adjusted operating profits were up 4% at £250m.

Newspaper round-up

The chief executive of Vodafone has said Labour will fail to achieve its promise of nationwide access to 5G, which is essential for next-generation technology such as artificial intelligence, by 2030 if the telecom company’s £15bn merger with the rival Three UK is blocked. In its election manifesto, the government said nationwide coverage was needed by the end of the decade because the UK was falling behind other countries in terms of the investment and rollout of advanced mobile networks. – Guardian

Labour’s clean energy targets may already be in jeopardy just weeks after the party came to power with the promise to quadruple Britain’s offshore wind power, according to senior industry executives. The offshore wind industry has said there will not be enough time to develop the projects needed to create a net zero electricity system by the end of the decade unless ministers increase the ambition and funding of the government’s upcoming “make or break” subsidy auctions. – Guardian

The parcel delivery business Evri is to hire 9,000 extra workers in a race to take on Royal Mail, just days after agreeing to be taken over by a giant buyout fund. Evri said it planned to take on 8,000 more delivery drivers and 1,000 more workers amid exploding demand for online shopping. Last week, the US private equity giant Apollo reached a deal to buy Evri for £2.7bn after outbidding rivals in an auction. It pledged to further invest in expansion amid an online delivery arms race. – Telegraph

Optimism among senior executives at some of Britain’s biggest businesses has increased after Labour’s landslide general election victory this month. Risk appetite is up, fears about uncertainty have retreated sharply and revenue growth predictions are rising, according to Deloitte’s latest survey of chief financial officers. – The Times

The UK has fallen out of the world’s top ten leading nations for manufacturing for the first time amid a “redrawing of the contours” of the global economy. In the most recent rankings, for 2022, Britain dropped to 12th place. That was down from eighth the year before, according to an analysis by Make UK. – The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.64% at 40,589.34.

The S&P 500 added 1.11% to 5,459.10, and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 1.03% at 17,357.88.