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Harbour Energy to acquire Waldorf assets in $170m deal, WH Smith delays FY results until 19 December
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Friday 12 Dec 2025
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 41.1 points higher ahead of the bell on Friday after wrapping up the previous session 0.49% firmer at 9,703.16.
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Independent oil and gas company Harbour Energy has agreed to acquire substantially all the subsidiaries of Waldorf Energy Partners and Waldorf Production, both of which were currently in administration. Harbour Energy, which said the $170m deal would be financed from existing liquidity, stated that the acquisition was expected to be immediately accretive to free cash flow and would strengthen the competitiveness, resilience and longevity of its UK operations. Completion was expected to take place in the second quarter of 2026.
WH Smith said on Friday that it will publish annual results on 19 December to give auditors more time to finish their work in the wake of an accounting error that wiped almost £600m from the company's stock market value last month and led to the departure of chief executive Carl Cowling. The newspaper, books and stationery chain cut forecasts in August and started an independent review led by Deloitte after it discovered an accounting blunder at its North American arm overstated profits by as much as £50m.
Drugmaker GSK said on Friday that the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use had recommended expanding the use of Arexy, its RSV vaccine, to all adults aged 18 and over. The European Commission was expected to deliver its final decision in February 2026 and, if approved, the expanded indication will make Arexvy available to the wider adult population.
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MPs have launched an inquiry into the role and performance of the Office for Budget Responsibility. The all-party Commons Treasury committee will spend until the end of next month investigating the independent agency's forecasting performance and impartiality. The panel will consider whether reforms are needed 15 years after the OBR was set up by George Osborne when he was Tory chancellor. - Guardian
The government will consider new laws to correct the power imbalance in franchise agreements in response to the "harrowing stories" of small business people running Vodafone stores. The move follows allegations of suicide and attempted suicide among shopkeepers who had agreed to deals to run retail outlets for the £18bn telecoms company, which were revealed by the Guardian on Monday. - Guardian
Ed Miliband has been left isolated over his net zero policies after the European Union dropped a flagship pledge to ban sales of new petrol cars. Brussels was said to be preparing for a major climbdown on vehicle emissions rules amid a revolt by member states including Germany and Italy. Manfred Weber, head of the European Parliament's biggest grouping of MEPs, said a ban on petrol, diesel and hybrid cars scheduled for 2035 was now off the table indefinitely. - Telegraph
A technology executive who was paralysed in a cycling accident and one [of] Britain's top entrepreneurs are set for a big payday after the payments company they co-founded was sold for almost £1bn. The €1.05bn (£920m) acquisition of GoCardless by Mollie, a Dutch rival, is expected to result in a bonanza for some staff at the British business including its boss Hiroki Takeuchi, as well as his fellow founder Tom Blomfield, a well-known figure on Britain's tech scene who also helped to set up digital bank Monzo. - The Times
The British chief executive of Coca-Cola has been promoted to executive chairman as part of a reshuffle of the American drinks conglomerate's top team. James Quincey, who has been in the top job at the fizzy drinks company since 2017, will move into the role of executive chairman next year. He will be succeeded by Henrique Braun, Coca-Cola's chief operating officer, who will take over at the end of March. - The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices turned in mixed performance on Thursday, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to a new all-time high on the back of strong gains from high-priced stocks like Goldman Sachs, American Express and Visa.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.34% at 48,704.01, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.21% to 6,901.00 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.25% weaker at 23,593.86.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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