Rolls-Royce: FTSE 100 giant set to splash £1bn on shareholders February 23, 2026 City darling Rolls-Royce is gearing up plans to dish out bumper returns to investors this week as the firm delivers its annual results. The FTSE 100 giant is set to launch a buyback worth as much as £1.5bn, which will come on top of the company’s final dividend as the aircraft engineer looks to reinforce [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Retail sales inch up; Segro ups dividend February 20, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the CityAM liveblog. The FTSE 100 took a breather from its blistering record run on Thursday after a major stock tumble at British Gas owner Centrica led the index into the red. Centrica shed over five per cent after telling markets it would hit pause on its share [...]
Labour MPs: Britain must help establish a World Bank for defence February 20, 2026 MPs Alex Bailey, Calvin Bailey and Luke Charters make the case for why Britain should help establish an international defence bank.
FTSE 100 Live: Centrica profit falls; Stocks dip after record rally February 19, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the CityAM liveblog. It’s been quite the week for the “old and unexciting” FTSE 100. The blue-chip index closed 1.2 per cent higher on Tuesday led by a rally in the mining sector. Antofagasta led the pack up over 10 per cent, which came a day after its [...]
Rolls-Royce shares hit new high as FTSE 100 rallies to record February 18, 2026 Rolls-Royce was among a whole host of City heavyweights storming higher on Wednesday helping the FTSE 100 seal another record. The aerospace giant jumped 2.2 per cent to 1,325.50p taking it to a new all-time high ahead of January’s previous peak of 1,305.00p. The move came as defence titan BAE System jumped near four per [...]
BAE Systems rides defence wave to dividend boost and record results February 18, 2026 BAE Systems shareholders are set for a pay bump as the London-listed group has benefited from the wave of increased global defence spending. Sales at Europe’s largest defence contractor rose 10 per cent to a record £30.7bn, while underlying profit grew 12 per cent to £3.3bn. The group saw its total order backlog reach a [...]
Defence stocks rally after Starmer vows to ‘go faster’ on spending pledge February 17, 2026 Investors piled into defence stocks on Monday after Keir Starmer said the UK needed to “go faster” on defence spending to combat the growing threat from Russia. The Prime Minister warned that the UK needed to “step up” its defence commitments amid reports that he wants to ramp up the defence budget by tens of [...]
Babcock shares surge as Starmer calls for Europe to ‘step up’ on defence February 16, 2026 Shares in Britain’s defence giants rallied on Monday morning as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called for Europe to “step up” on defence spending. Babcock – which plays a key role in the UK’s nuclear submarine fleet as well as naval, land and air operations – surged nearly four per cent in early trading to [...]
Natwest and Lloyds shares lead FTSE 100 rally after bruising week February 16, 2026 Natwest led a rally across Britain’s banking giants on Monday morning as lenders patched their wounds after a bruising week on the stock market. The bank topped the FTSE 100’s risers at the starting bell, gaining over four per cent in early trading to 603.60p. Barclays was shortly behind, advancing over 2.5 per cent to [...]
Defence and AI drive Europe’s venture capital rebound February 10, 2026 European venture capital (VC) investment rose to €66bn (£57bn) in 2025, up five per cent year on year, as funding flowed into AI and defence tech, according to PitchBook data. The increase marks a post-pandemic high for the region, but reflects a narrowing of investor focus rather than a broad-based recovery. Large late-stage rounds in [...]