Market Live Email
Rio Tinto FY net profits drop 14pc, Mondi slashes dividend
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Thursday 19 Feb 2026
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 28.8 points higher ahead of the bell on Thursday, after wrapping up the previous session 1.23% stronger at 10,686.18.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Mining giant Rio Tinto posted a 14% drop in full-year net profits on Thursday as weak steel demand in China hit iron ore earnings, despite better prices for copper and gold. Rio tinto, which recently abandoned merger talks with rival Glencore, said net profits came in at $9.97bn in 2025 compared with $11.55bn a year earlier.
Self storage group Safestore reported a solid start to the year on Thursday, with first‑quarter revenues rising 7.9% to £61.2m, or 6.3% at constant exchange rates, supported by growth across both like‑for‑like and newly opened stores. Like‑for‑like revenues increased 4.2%, with closing occupancy standing at 77.8% of current lettable area. Average storage rates rose 4.8% to £31.19.
British Gas owner Centrica reported a decline in full-year operating profits in a "challenging environment", with varied performance across the business. In the year ended 31 December, Centrica said operating profits fell to £814m, down from £1.5bn a year earlier.
Paper and packaging group Mondi slashed its dividend after a 29% slump in annual profits, as it pointed to further declines in paper prices over the first quarter as a "prolonged cyclical downturn" continues across the sector. Mondi declared a final dividend of just 4.92 euro cents for FY25, down from 46.67 cents the year before, taking the total payout to just 28.25 cents, down from 70 cents previously.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
UK retailers are planning to cut staff hours and jobs amid rising employment costs and pessimism about the economy. Almost two-thirds (61%) of finance bosses at retail companies said they planned to reduce working hours or cut overtime, according to the latest survey from the British Retail Consortium, the trade body that represents most big retailers. More than half (55%) said they would cut head office jobs and 42% said they would reduce jobs in stores. - Guardian
Tesla will avoid a 30-day suspension of its dealer and manufacturer licenses in California, its biggest market, after the US electric vehicle maker stopped using the term "autopilot" in the marketing of its vehicles in the state. Tesla now uses the term "supervised" in references to its full self-driving technology and has stopped using "autopilot" entirely in its marketing in the state. State regulators said Tuesday that Tesla had stopped misleading drivers about the safety of its cars, and so the state will not suspend its state sales license for 30 days, as had been threatened. - Guardian
Rachel Reeves is opposing virtually all demands for changes to tax and spending in her upcoming Spring Statement in an attempt to restore confidence. The Treasury is determined to belatedly deliver on Labour's manifesto pledge that there would be only one major fiscal event per year, according to Whitehall sources. - Telegraph
A British artificial intelligence researcher is in talks to raise $1bn (£740m) for his three-month-old start-up in what would be one of the biggest ever venture funding rounds in Europe. Prof David Silver, a former scientist at Google's DeepMind lab, is close to raising hundreds of millions of pounds for his new business, Ineffable Intelligence, from investors including Silicon Valley fund Sequoia. - Telegraph
A leading London law firm is using a chatbot for first-round interviews with potential recruits in a landmark advance of artificial intelligence in legal practice. Partners at Mishcon de Reya have confirmed that graduates applying to the firm this year will face a virtual interview with an AI chatbot in the first instance. - The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices rose on Wednesday as investors digested a barrage of better-than-expected economic data and minutes from the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.26% at 49,662.22, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.56% to 6,881,31 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.78% firmer at 22,753.63.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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