1. Water companies reassure on drought
A drought has been officially declared for parts of England by the government, with parts of southern, central and eastern England officially veering to drought status given the dry weather in the region.
2. Big pharma makes big losses
GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK) and other big pharma companies lost at least US$39bn from their combined market value this week over claims that the stomach acid drug Zantac causes cancer.
3. Flutter wins in the US
Both of the FTSE 100 giants reported growing losses, in the case of Flutter to £122mln, £26mln higher than the same period last year. Yet, the share price didn’t reflect that headline loss.
4. FTSE 100 notches up fourth week of gains
At the close, the UK blue-chip index was 34.98 points, or 0.5% higher at 7,500.89, below the session peak of 7,516.83, but well above the day’s low of 7,464.12.
5. BT joins summer of worker discontent
The telecoms group said it had awarded its biggest pay rise in 20 years, of 5% on average.
Looking ahead to some of next week’s news
Here are some previews on the upcoming updates from BHP, Watches of Switzerland, Persimmon, among the many in the diary for the coming week.