Market Live Email
Standard Chartered FY earnings up 16pc, Croda FY sales grow despite US tariff impact
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Tuesday 24 Feb 2026
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 8.4 points higher ahead of the bell on Tuesday, after wrapping up the previous session 0.02% softer at 10,684.74.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Asia and Africa-focused bank Standard Chartered reported a 16% rise in annual earnings on the back of a strong performance at its wealth management division. Standard Chartered said on Tuesday that pre-tax profits came in at $6.96bn, compared with $6bn a year earlier and the $7.2bn forecast by analysts. It also unveiled a $1.5bn share buyback that was set to start immediately.
Croda posted a jump in annual sales and earnings on Tuesday, despite the ongoing impact of US tariffs and wider geopolitical uncertainty. The speciality chemicals group posted a 6.6% rise in sales in the year ended 31 December to £1.7bn on a constant currency basis, while adjusted underlying earnings were 7.1% stronger at £396.6m. Croda said it was encouraged by the progress it had made during the year despite an "uncertain" trading environment.
Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty revealed on Tuesday that chief financial officer Phil Harrison will step down from the board later this year following more than ten years in the role. Harrison will remain a director of the company and continue to fulfil his current role until Myles Westcott, currently group financial controller at BAE Systems, succeeds him later in the year.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Paramount Skydance has increased its bid for Warner Bros Discovery, Reuters reported on Monday, raising the stakes in the bidding war for the historic studio and its broadcast and cable TV assets in an effort to beat out rival suitor Netflix. It could not immediately be determined how the bid was revised. Warner Bros and Paramount declined to comment, while Netflix could not immediately be reached. - Guardian
Criminal gangs are "systematically" targeting shops, retailers have warned, with 5.5m incidents of shoplifting detected last year, costing the industry an estimated £400m. The British Retail Consortium has warned over "endemic" violence towards shop workers - who faced an average 36 incidents of violence involving a weapon every day last year - and said high levels of theft was causing "anxiety" among retail staff. - Guardian
Unemployment will surge to 5.5% within months as the jobless rate climbs above the worst months of the pandemic, a Wall Street bank has warned. Economists at JP Morgan said unemployment will hit two million in the first half of the year as businesses hold off hiring in the wake of Rachel Reeves's £25bn raid on employers' National Insurance contributions, which kicked in last April. - Telegraph
Britain's reliance on foreign food imports is a threat to national security, the head of the National Farmers' Union has warned. Tom Bradshaw will use a speech on Tuesday to call for more home-grown food production to boost the economy, as he claims that thousands of farms are fighting for survival. - Telegraph
Almost 90% of firms in the FTSE 350 have achieved, or are close to meeting, a government-backed target to have 40% of board positions held by women. The FTSE Women Leaders Review, published on Tuesday, reveals that 88% of FTSE 350 firms had boards where at least 33% of all positions were filled by women, with 69% of firms meeting the voluntary 40% target. - The Times
A New York investment bank has settled a lawsuit by a former analyst who claimed she was wrongfully dismissed for asking to be able to sleep more than eight hours a night. Kathryn Shiber, a junior analyst, alleged she was fired ten weeks into a three-year analyst programme at Centerview Partners soon after she informed the boutique firm that she had mood and anxiety disorders requiring her to sleep eight to nine hours a night. - The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices were firmly in the red at the close of trading on Monday as Donald Trump raised his global tariff rates after the Supreme Court ruled he had exceeded his powers when instituting his so-called "reciprocal" tariffs.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.66% at 48,804.06, while the S&P 500 shed 1.04% to 6,837.75 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.13% weaker at 22,627.27.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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