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HSBC posts better-than-expected FY results, Diageo halves dividend as H1 sales fall
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Wednesday 25 Feb 2026
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 36.8 points higher ahead of the bell, after wrapping up the previous session 0.04% lower at 10,680.59.
STOCKS TO WATCH
HSBC reported a better-than-expected annual results despite a 7.4% fall in pre-tax profits due to the adverse impact from legal provisions, organisational simplification and the sale of its French-retained portfolio of loans. Pre-tax profits at the lender came in at $29.9bn in 2025, beating estimates of $28.86bn, while revenue rose 4% to $68.27 versus company-compiled consensus forecasts of $67.36bn.
Drinks giant Diageo posted a fall in interim sales and halved its dividend on Wednesday, after weak trading in North America weighed heavily. Net sales fell 4% to $10.5bn in the six months ended 31 December, or by 2.8% on an organic basis, while adjusted operating profits before one-off items were 2.8% lower, at $3.3bn. Diageo's dividend was cut to $0.20 per share, from $0.405 - which the firm said would bolster its balance sheet and create more financial flexibility.
Drugmaker GSK has agreed to acquire Canadian clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm 35Pharma for $950m in cash. GSK said on Wednesday that the acquisition includes 35Pharma's HS235, a potential best-in-class investigational medicine that has completed phase I healthy volunteer clinical trials, with studies to start imminently in pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension due to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Spring has come early to the UK housing market, with a surge in people listing their homes for sale as confidence returns to the sector, a report by the property website Zoopla found. The site said this month was on course to record the highest number of newly listed homes for sale in any February for a decade. - Guardian
The negative effect of a combined increase in employers' taxes and minimum wages has been "particularly acute" for young people, the Bank of England's chief economist has warned. Huw Pill said on Tuesday that the increase in national insurance contributions from April last year and the government's efforts to equalise the "national living wage" had caused a particular problem for young people trying to find jobs. - Guardian
Electricity generated by the Sizewell C nuclear power station will cost roughly double the normal price of power, according to a new Government report. Estimates suggest that the power Sizewell C produces will cost £120 per megawatt hour in today's prices, compared with the current wholesale price of about £60 to £70. The extra costs will be added to energy bills. - Telegraph
The developer of one of the world's most powerful AI coding tools said its products were not to blame for a dramatic sell-off in software stocks. Scott White, the head of product at Silicon Valley AI lab Anthropic, said it would be a "little bit of an overreach or overreaction" to connect the recent global market rout to its product releases, Bloomberg reported. - Telegraph
Wayve, the driverless car company, has raised $1.5bn in the largest funding round yet for a British artificial intelligence start-up. The fundraiser values the London pioneer of autonomous vehicles at $8.6bn, backed by the Silicon Valley heavyweights Microsoft, Nvidia and Uber, carmakers Nissan, Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz, and led by the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, one of the world's biggest technology investors. - The Times
PwC has apparently called in lawyers to stop one of its former executives from allegedly poaching partners to join her new consultancy business. Marissa Thomas, PwC's former UK chief operating officer, launched Unity Advisory with Steve Varley, the former UK boss of EY, last year, promising to attract partners and clients from bigger, more established consulting groups. - The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices partially rebounded on Tuesday after a tariff-fuelled sell-off the previous session, with massive deals in the chip sector helping to repair sentiment despite ongoing concerns about overspending on AI.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.76% at 49,174.50, while the S&P 500 had advanced 0.77% to 6,890.07 and the Nasdaq Composite wrapped up the session 1.04% firmer at 22,863.68.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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