London’s blue-chip index ended Friday’s session in positive territory, with the FTSE 100 finishing up 25 points at 10,497 as Middle East tensions showed signs of easing.
The day’s biggest corporate story centred on easyJet, where private equity giant Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) gatecrashed advanced takeover talks with a £5.7 billion offer worth 715p per share.
Apollo’s proposal topped the 690p cash offer that Minneapolis-based Castlelake had agreed in principle with the budget airline’s board just last weekend, prompting easyJet’s directors to shift their recommendation.
The easyJet board said it would be minded to recommend Apollo’s proposal to shareholders and is no longer minded to recommend the Castlelake deal.
Market analyst Neil Wilson at Saxo said a bidding war is now firmly underway, and suggested further rivals could yet emerge in the fight for the airline’s assets.
“For me this is a prime asset going for a song,” Wilson said, pointing to the airline’s take-off and landing slots, growing holiday margins, and an order book of new Airbus aircraft as reasons the price should be higher.
Apollo has until 7 August to submit a formal bid, and Wilson added that he “wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more juice to be squeezed” from the process.
Vodafone was the index’s standout performer, surging 10% after French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel agreed to purchase a 16.2% stake in the company for £4.4 billion.
BT shares also benefited, rising 1.8% on sector read-across, while miners Rio Tinto and Anglo American each gained around 1.5% to provide further support to the index.
Recruiter Hays said it expects profit for the 2026 financial year to come in at the top end of market expectations, even as like-for-like net fees fell 5% in the three months to 30 June.
Wizz Air Holdings faced pressure after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the budget airline to underperform, with analyst Ruairi Cullinane cutting earnings forecasts for the 2027 and 2028 financial years despite lower fuel prices.
Cullinane warned that pressure on ticket yields, higher non-fuel costs, and rapid capacity growth in Central and Eastern Europe could weigh on fares beyond the summer peak.
On the high street, UK retail footfall fell 3.4% in June according to data from the British Retail Consortium, worse than May’s 2.6% decline, with record heatwave temperatures blamed for keeping shoppers away.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “Footfall dropped in June as the record heatwave kept many shoppers indoors. High streets saw the sharpest declines, while air-conditioned shopping centres and retail parks proved more resilient.”
Oil markets remained a key focus throughout the session, with IG chief technical analyst Axel Rudolph noting that Brent crude is on track for its first weekly gain in a month, rising around 5% amid renewed US-Iran strikes disrupting tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Rudolph added that the International Energy Agency has warned a prolonged conflict could hinder efforts to rebuild global oil inventories, though record crude production from the UAE has helped partially offset supply disruptions.
Across the Atlantic, Wall Street made a subdued start, with the Dow Jones gaining 0.2% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hovered near the flat line following a strong session on Thursday.
South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix made its Nasdaq debut after raising $26.5 billion in what became the largest ever US listing by a foreign company, with chip stocks including Intel, Micron Technology, and Lam Research slipping ahead of the event.
Market analyst Daniela Hathorn at Capital.com cautioned that the week had “demonstrated that markets may have become too confident in pricing a smooth geopolitical outcome,” suggesting investors may need to grow comfortable with greater volatility ahead.