UK Stocks-Factors to watch on March 5 (updated)

Admiral

05/03/2026 05:39

Adds new items, adds FTSE 100's opening move

March 5 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index opened flat on Thursday.

* TAYLOR WIMPEY: Taylor Wimpey TW.L
forecast
 lower profit for 2026.

* RENTOKIL INITIAL: Rentokil Initial RTO.L
reported
 a 4% rise in annual adjusted pretax profit.

* WH SMITH: WH Smith SMWH.L
reported
 a 5% rise in first-half revenue, helped by double-digit growth in North America.

* ENTAIN: Entain ENT.L said its annual
loss
 after tax widened on a charge related to the UK gambling tax increase.

* ITV: ITV ITV.L
beat
 market forecasts with a 1% decline in 2025 adjusted operating profit.

* AVIVA: Aviva AV.L posted a 24.6% jump in annual
profit
.

* HARBOUR ENERGY: Harbour Energy HBR.L raised its 2026 output
outlook
.

* ABF: Primark named interim
CEO
 Eoin Tonge as its permanent boss.

* RECKITT: Reckitt RKT.L
beat
 fourth-quarter like-for-like net sales growth expectations.

* PAGEGROUP: PageGroup PAGE.L
reported
 a 67% fall in annual pretax profit.

* SENIOR: Senior SNR.L said Arcline Investment Management has made a preliminary all-cash
offer
 for the company.

* 3I INFRASTRUCTURE: 3i Infrastructure 3IN.L agreed to sell its 71%
stake
 in TCR for 1.14 billion euros.

* ADMIRAL GROUP: Admiral Group ADML.L
reported
 a 16% rise in annual pre-tax profit.

* UK TESLA SALES: Tesla's TSLA.O UK sales fell sharply in February, data from New Automotive showed.

* WIZZ AIR: Wizz Air  said its fiscal 2026 net profit will drop by about 50 million euros amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

* WINDFALL TAX: British finance minister told oil and gas executives that the conflict in the Middle East had made it harder to predict when the windfall tax would be dropped.

* SHELL: Raizen RAIZ4.SA said it is analysing a proposal for a Shell-led SHEL.L 4 billion real capital injection.

* SHELL: Shell's Kazakhstan unit and the country's Ministry of Energy have signed a
contract
 for geological exploration of the Zhanaturmys field in the Aktobe region, the ministry said.

* BATS: BATS BATS.L is facing a London lawsuit from shareholders over allegations it failed to properly tell markets about breaches of U.S. sanctions on its North Korea business.

* ENERGY PRICE: Britain's domestic energy price cap is forecast to rise by about 10% in July due to a surge in wholesale prices tied to the Iran war, analysts at Cornwall Insight said.

* COMMODITIES: Oil and gold rose, aluminium extended gains.

* EX-DIVS: Rio Tinto RIO.L will trade without entitlement to its latest dividend payout on Thursday.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/

TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times PRESS/FT
> Other business headlines PRESS/GB

(Compiled by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru)

((Neeshita.Beura@thomsonreuters.com))