News 3 July 2026

Etihad Orders 10 Boeing Jets, Raising Talk of Hard-to-Get 787 Slots
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Etihad Orders 10 Boeing Jets, Raising Talk of Hard-to-Get 787 Slots

Etihad Airways is nearing a deal for 10 more Boeing 787 jets, according to people briefed on the matter. The order would boost the Abu Dhabi carrier’s long-haul fleet, as early slots for wide-body deliveries are tight. Wide-bodies are twin-aisle planes mostly used for international routes. Reuters said the deal might be unveiled at the July 20-24 Farnborough Airshow, but sources said talks are still ongoing. Etihad and Boeing both declined to comment. The warning is getting more airtime these days — investors are watching not just how many jets sell, but which airlines can actually secure deliveries fast enough to cash in.
July 9, 2026
ATC Music Group (LON:ATC) jumps after £80,000 trading shifts £2.4 million in value
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ATC Music Group (LON:ATC) jumps after £80,000 trading shifts £2.4 million in value

ATC Music Group plc ended Friday up 5.71% at 185p, giving the AIM-listed music group a market cap near £44.1 million. Shares reached 189.75p during the day, matching the stock’s 52-week high. The bid was 180p and the offer 190p at the close. Liquidity stands out. Shareprices.com said 43,023 shares changed hands with a VWAP at 186.48719p, giving a traded value for the day of about £80,232. ATC has 23,812,742 ordinary shares out. A 10p gain means the market cap rose around £2.38 million, not counting bid-offer spread.
July 3, 2026
B90 Holdings gains 6% as light volume widens spreads
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B90 Holdings gains 6% as light volume widens spreads

B90 Holdings plc moved higher Friday, but underlying trading told the story. Hargreaves Lansdown quotes the AIM stock at 2.65p, up 0.15p, posting a 2.40p sell and 2.90p buy on the tape once the London session closed. The 0.50p spread worked out to 20.8% of the bid and 18.9% of the quoted mid. That’s over three times the 0.15p headline gain. Buyers who took the offer paid 16% higher than the last close, while sellers at the bid got 4% less than the previous close.
July 3, 2026
IQE (LON:IQE) bounces back as AI photonics push lifts shares to 6x sales
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IQE (LON:IQE) bounces back as AI photonics push lifts shares to 6x sales

Shares in IQE plc jumped 6.79% to 44.85p on Friday, bucking a weaker FTSE AIM 100. The Cardiff semiconductor wafer group is trading more on its AI data-centre story than its 2025 earnings. Hargreaves Lansdown put the market cap at £596.97 million. Volume hit 10.5 million shares, well below the Google Finance average volume of 34.1 million. The stock recovered some ground after Thursday’s drop. Still, daily numbers show shares are off 4.6% for the first three days of July despite Friday’s move higher.
July 3, 2026
Smiths Group stock rises; BlackRock stake tops 12% as buyback capacity nears £1.9 billion
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Smiths Group stock rises; BlackRock stake tops 12% as buyback capacity nears £1.9 billion

Smiths Group Plc rose 1.54% to £26.34 on Friday, beating a 0.25% gain in the FTSE 100 Index, but the price move was not the main number in the stock. The sharper investor read is the amount of stock Smiths may still buy back while a major holder has lifted its disclosed exposure. A regulatory filing on Friday showed BlackRock Inc. at 12.01% of Smiths’ voting rights and financial instruments, up from 11.01% in the previous notice. The new position covered 36.1 million voting rights, including 9.67% attached to shares and 2.34% through financial instruments.
July 3, 2026
Smith & Nephew (LON:SN) buyback makes headlines as U.S. knees keep pressure on
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Smith & Nephew (LON:SN) buyback makes headlines as U.S. knees keep pressure on

Smith & Nephew plc finished Friday little changed, but trading screens saw more action in the buyback column. The medical tech firm said in a Friday RNS it repurchased 1,592,090 shares between June 26 and July 2, paying a volume-weighted average price of £11.1447 on the London Stock Exchange. Since May 8, the company has bought back 10,668,678 shares, spending $160.4 million. That leaves about $89.6 million on the first $250 million piece of the buyback, now 64% used up. The tranche is tied to the $500 million repurchase laid out with first-quarter earnings, which Smith+Nephew said they would finish inside 12 months using free cash flow and existing cash.
July 3, 2026
IAG shares trail FTSE with investors watching fuel cost pass-through before Q2
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IAG shares trail FTSE with investors watching fuel cost pass-through before Q2

IAG shares underperformed the FTSE on light volume, as traders looked to see how well fuel costs could be passed through ahead of Q2 results. IAG dipped Friday, losing 1.50p to close at 477.50p. The move came as the FTSE 100 ended higher on the week, but trading in the British Airways parent was quiet. Only a narrow range, 473.80p to 477.50p, printed before the closing auction.
July 3, 2026
Compass Group (LON:CPG) shares drop as currency move clouds screens ahead of July update
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Compass Group (LON:CPG) shares drop as currency move clouds screens ahead of July update

London markets traded Friday. The London Stock Exchange ran its usual hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. BST. Reuters reported a gain for the FTSE 100 at the close. Compass Group PLC ended the session quoted at $32.86 for sellers and $32.89 for buyers at Hargreaves Lansdown, down 1.36%. The FTSE 100 added 0.2%, so Compass lagged the index by roughly 1.6 percentage points on the day.
July 3, 2026
Cirata (LON:CRTA) up after 15p fundraise, faces July test on dilution
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Cirata (LON:CRTA) up after 15p fundraise, faces July test on dilution

Cirata Plc climbed on Friday. The AIM-listed software stock, which sees light trading, jumped back above the level of its upcoming cash call. Cirata plans to test the market in July with 36.3 million new shares. Shares closed at 17.90p, adding 1.15p, or 6.87%. The last print was at 16:35:20. The stock traded between 16.80p and 17.95p on the day. Volume came in at 54,812 shares.
July 3, 2026
Autins Group hits 2026 high as profit targets attract investor attention
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Autins Group hits 2026 high as profit targets attract investor attention

Autins Group Plc finished Friday’s session in London at 15.50p, up 1.00p, or 6.90%. That puts the car insulation maker at its best level since 2026 and gives the AIM-company a market cap of about £8.46 million. Autins is on the FTSE AIM All-Share index. This wasn’t a broad-market play. According to Fidelity’s delayed data, the FTSE All-Share was up 0.28%. Autins quoted a 21.4% bid-offer spread, 128,856 shares traded and 15 trades today. For investors, this means the rerating shows up on screens, but trading is thin.
July 3, 2026
3i Group up as buyback aims to close NAV gap ahead of Action update
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3i Group up as buyback aims to close NAV gap ahead of Action update

3i Group plc picked up for a second day on Friday, finishing 26p higher at 2,611p as the blue-chip FTSE 100 Index also pushed up. The FTSE 100 closed at 10,679.03, adding 0.25% for the day, with gains from financials and miners driving a weekly rise. Investors are less focused on Friday’s 1% shift. The main question now is if shares are finally narrowing the gap with 3i’s latest reported asset value, after a May dip blamed on slower growth at Action, the Dutch discounter that is a big piece of 3i’s portfolio.
July 3, 2026
Diageo shares slip as rebound stays weak, eyes turn to August strategy update
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Diageo shares slip as rebound stays weak, eyes turn to August strategy update

Diageo plc closed out Friday trading slightly off in London, missing a late push that sent the FTSE 100 Index to a four-month high. Diageo shares were seen at 1,534.0p to sell and 1,534.5p to buy at 16:53 BST, down 3.5p on the day. According to Reuters’ LSEG strip, the FTSE 100 finished at 10,679.03, up 0.25%. Volume was the clearer signal. The selloff on Wednesday came on higher-than-normal volume, while Thursday’s recovery saw lighter trading. A rebound on smaller volume doesn’t mean buyers aren’t there, but the stock has less support before Sir Dave Lewis lays out his plan next month.
July 3, 2026
Close Brothers shares rise after FCA review delay puts provision in spotlight
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Close Brothers shares rise after FCA review delay puts provision in spotlight

Close Brothers Group plc jumped Friday after traders bet the motor finance exposure would play out over a longer period. Shares gained 7.9% to finish at 439.8p at 16:35 BST, having started at 411.4p and traded as high as 441.2p. The numbers show why it matters. With Close Brothers up 32.2p, its market value climbed by about £48.5 million, using Google Finance’s figure of 150.71 million shares outstanding. That’s roughly 15% of the £320 million motor finance provision now on the books. The provision itself sits at about 48% of Close Brothers’ £662.84 million market cap.
July 3, 2026
Oberon Investments (AQSE:OBE) holds near its lows as quiet day drags on shares
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Oberon Investments (AQSE:OBE) holds near its lows as quiet day drags on shares

Oberon Investments Group plc held at a 2.05p mid-price on the Aquis Growth Market’s Apex segment Friday, flat for the session and 7.9% above its 1.90p year low. Trading was limited to one deal at 15:41, with 487,142 shares moving at 2.02p and turnover at £9,840.27. No new headlines out this week. The latest Oberon RNS on Aquis’s site is a June 3 director/PDMR shareholding update, so Friday pricing just leans against April guidance, past funding prints and scant trading.
July 3, 2026
LSEG stock ticks higher as focus moves to buyback figures over daily trading
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LSEG stock ticks higher as focus moves to buyback figures over daily trading

London Stock Exchange Group plc climbed for the third day in a row on Friday, up 3.8% since Wednesday’s close. The stock is still trading well below last year’s high, even as the share count drops and capital-markets numbers improve. LSEG finished at 8,670p, up 62p. Trading volume hit 396,514 shares, around a quarter of its 65-day average, according to FactSet and the Wall Street Journal. London stocks ended higher, though gains lagged other markets. The FTSE 100 finished up 0.2% at 10,679.03. The FTSE 250 added 0.5%, with banks and precious-metals miners supporting that rise, according to Reuters.
July 3, 2026
British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) lags FTSE as £600m cost cuts don’t lift shares
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British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) lags FTSE as £600m cost cuts don’t lift shares

British American Tobacco p.l.c. dipped on Friday, even as London shares edged up. The move was minor but let investors take in BATS’s £600 million cost-saving plan. BAT finished at 4,621p, slipping 13p. Shares changed hands between 4,577p and 4,647p. Volume hit 928,870, about 21% of the 65-day average, so selling was light. The stock is up 30.43% for the year but down 2.74% over the last five sessions.
July 3, 2026
FTSE 100 stalls near high as UK services hit

FTSE 100 ends at four-month high, UK mid-caps beat blue chips after services data

Mid-caps outperformed blue-chips in London on Friday, with more interest from domestic buyers. New services and pricing numbers did little to reassure about the UK economy. The FTSE 250 has heavier UK demand exposure than the FTSE 100, so the move up was mostly about traders going for rate-sensitive stocks, financials, contractors and some miners. London trading was listed as closed on Hargreaves Lansdown’s market data pages, with the FTSE 250 up around two times as much as the FTSE 100.
July 3, 2026
Standard Chartered gains as bank eyes digital-asset trades for fees
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Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) gains with digital-asset growth in focus

Shares of Standard Chartered rose on July 3, 2026, in London, with investors watching the bank’s digital-asset expansion and what it could mean for fee growth. The stock traded higher at 17:05 BST. Standard Chartered PLC finished Friday trading at 2,122p, gaining 32p, or 1.53%, at 17:05 BST on delayed data from Davy. The FTSE 100 closed up 26.16 points, or 0.25%, at 10,679.03 at 16:35 BST, Investors Chronicle numbers show.
July 3, 2026
CRISM Therapeutics (LON:CRTX) shares hover near 10p placing price as Spreadex exposure falls
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CRISM Therapeutics (LON:CRTX) shares hover near 10p placing price as Spreadex exposure falls

CRISM Therapeutics Corporation ended the week with the market testing a simple line: 10p. That was the price of the company’s 27.45 million-share May/June equity raise. It was also the exercise price for director options granted on June 30, making 10p the short-term level against which new money, management incentives and Friday’s share quote can be judged. Different delayed feeds did not settle on one clean reference after the London close.
July 3, 2026
Aterian (LON:ATN) shares climb 8% in London with light trade
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Aterian (LON:ATN) shares climb 8% in London with light trade

Aterian PLC climbed 8% on Friday. The move came as the lightly traded London small-cap market reacted to the company shifting away from just exploration spending toward a model mixing funded field activity and mineral trading in Rwanda. The stock closed at 27p, up from 25p, after starting the session at 25.5p. LSEG data in Investors Chronicle put the day’s range between 24p and 27p. Hargreaves Lansdown reported 227,559 shares traded and showed a 26p/28p bid-offer.
July 3, 2026
Haleon stock gains as buyback math and Microsoft AI pact shift focus before H1 results
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Haleon stock gains as buyback math and Microsoft AI pact shift focus before H1 results

Haleon PLC rose for a third straight session at the London close on Friday. The Sensodyne maker has gained 4.8% since Tuesday’s close, a small but notable rebound before half-year results later this month, with the share count and cost story doing more work than sales momentum. The stock closed at 364.30p, up 1.08%, versus a 0.25% gain for the FTSE 100. The close was still 12.45% below Haleon’s 52-week high of 416.10p set on Feb. 18. Friday volume was 13.0 million shares, about 49% of the 26.38 million average shown by Investors Chronicle.
July 3, 2026
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