Business news live: FTSE opens higher but retail sales fell sharply in May

FTSE news live – Shares start day on the rise

The FTSE is in the green this morning; not enormous rises but welcome ones all the same for investors.

While the benchmark FTSE 100 is up 0.38 per cent, the UK’s smaller businesses are shining slightly brighter today, with the FTSE 250 up 0.51 per cent and the AIM also up 0.21 per cent.

European markets are up too, with Germany’s DAX leading the way with a 0.9 per cent rise in early trading.

Karl Matchett20 June 2025 08:54

Homebuilders Berkeley Group announce ‘Rob the Builder’ as new executive chair

British homebuilder Berkeley Group Holdings has reported end-of-year pre-tax profits of £528m and announced that their new executive chairman will be Rob Perrins, the veteran CEO known in the industry as “Rob the Builder”, who succeeds Michael Dobson to become executive chairman.

As Dobson steps down in September, Perrins, who has caught the attention of deputy prime minister Angela Rayner in her mission to build 1.5m houses, will steer the company through a new strategic phase.

A statement from Berkeley thanked the outgoing chair, as Perrins prepares to accelerate investment through a new “company 10-year strategy”.

Reporting their end-of-year financials on Friday, the group highlighted more than 4,000 homes being delivered – 92 per cent of which were on brownfield land typically previously used for industrial or commercial purposes.

Karl Matchett20 June 2025 08:40

Retail sales fell in May

The early data out today shows retail data falling sharply in May – with the Office for National Statistics labelling the 2.7 per cent drop as “dismal”.

ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: “Retail sales fell sharply in May with their largest monthly fall since the end of 2023.

“This was mainly due to a dismal month for food retailers, especially supermarkets, following strong sales in April. Feedback suggested reduced purchases for alcohol and tobacco with customers choosing to make cutbacks.

“The falls were consistent across all sectors with clothing and household goods stores reporting slow trading due to reduced footfall. There was also decreased demand for DIY items as consumers took advantage of the good weather over the previous few months.

“Looking at the wider picture, retail sales are still up across the latest three-months as a whole.”

Karl Matchett20 June 2025 08:32

Friday’s business news and stock markets – live

Good morning and welcome to the final day of the working week – following on from yesterday’s interest rates call, today we’ll see how the markets react as the US stock market reopens and how the several ongoing geopolitical issues affect business confidence.

We start with UK retail data – which wasn’t great last month.

Karl Matchett20 June 2025 08:15