Rentokil appoints new North America CEO, retail stocks in focus

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 37 points higher on Friday, having closed up 0.41% on Thursday at 7,453.75.

Stocks to watch

Rentokil Initial has appointed Brad Paulsen as the new chief executive officer of its North America region, it announced on Friday. Paulsen would bring extensive leadership experience, having previously served as CEO of electrical distributor Rexel USA and in key roles at HD Supply and the Home Depot. Additionally, the company welcomed Will Lin as vice president of performance and digital marketing for North America, who has a strong background in digital marketing and data analytics from companies like Simplilearn, Rent.com, Vrbo, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard.

Retail stocks will also be in focus after industry data showed UK retail footfall stabilising in November, as shoppers snapped up Black Friday bargains. According to the latest BRC-Sensormatic IQ Footfall Monitor, footfall decreased by 0.7% in the four weeks to 25 November year-on-year, a notable improvement on October’s 5.7% decline. Within that, footfall fell 1.7% on high streets, by 1% in retail parks and 2.2% in shopping centres.

Newspaper round-up

Another nine days of disruption for rail passengers has begun as train drivers in the Aslef union start an overtime ban and a series of rolling strikes halting services across Britain, in a long-running dispute over pay. Drivers will be taking industrial action at train operating companies (Tocs) contracted to the Department for Transport, striking for 24 hours at each one on different dates between Saturday 2 December and Friday 8 December. The strikes will stop most or all trains at the affected operators in England and also hit some cross-border services to Scotland and Wales. – Guardian

Gambling firms are raking in more money than ever from UK punters, fuelled by a surge in the use of online slot machines, which the government is considering curbing due to their association with heavy losses and addiction. The betting and gaming industry’s revenues reached £15.1bn in the year to March 2023, or £10.95bn excluding the National Lottery, figures from the Gambling Commission released on Thursday show. – Guardian

With Twitter losing advertisers left and right because of Elon Musk’s tweets, contrition from the billionaire would have been expected. Yet on stage at an event in New York this week, he was anything but. Musk had a blunt three word missive for companies that had stopped advertising with his social network: “Go f— yourself.” – Telegraph

Matthew Moulding has taken a stake in the activist investor targeting his beauty business in a move that harks back to the so-called “Pac-Man defence” strategy occasionally employed to counter potential hostile takeovers. Moulding, the founder of THG, has taken a 3.2 per cent stake in Kelso Group after the activist called for a break-up of his listed beauty empire. – The Times

Microsoft will invest £2.5 billion in Britain over the next three years to double its data centre capacity and provide computing power to help to drive the expansion of artificial intelligence. Microsoft will invest £2.5 billion in Britain over the next three years to double its data centre capacity and provide computing power to help to drive the expansion of artificial intelligence. The investment has been hailed by Rishi Sunak as “a turning point for the future of AI infrastructure and development in the UK”. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks were mostly higher at the close on Thursday, with the Dow Jones hitting a new high for 2023, as a winning month for stocks drew to a close.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.47% at 35,950.89 and the S&P 500 had advanced 0.38% to 4,567.80, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.23% at 14,226.22.

The Dow closed 520.47 points higher on Thursday, extending gains recorded in the previous session after US GDP figures came in ahead of expectations.

Major averages delivered solid gains in November, putting an end to a three-month losing streak.

For the month, the S&P 500 was up 8.9%, while the Nasdaq picked up nearly 10.7%. The blue-chip Dow Jones was up 8.8% in November, turning in its best monthly performance since last October.