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UPDATED ON 27 FEBRUARY 2026
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Rightmove, Paramount & Warner Bros: Markets live

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© Investors’ Chronicle
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February 27
Paramount beats Netflix in Warner Bros tussle

Paramount-Skydance (US:PSKY), the media company bankrolled by Oracle (US:ORCL) founder Larry Ellison, has won the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery (US:WBD) with an increased bid that Netflix (US:NFLX) has refused to match. 

The $111bn (£82bn) enterprise value buyout offer dwarfs the $12bn market value of Paramount and will require huge amounts of debt and new equity. 

The deal puts CNN, HBO and popular movie series such as Harry Potter in the hands of Paramount, which has its own streaming service and the CBS news station already. Ellison’s son David took control of the smaller studio last year through his production company Skydance. 

The politics of the deal are hard to ignore. US President Donald Trump has recently been critical of Netflix, calling for the removal of Obama administration adviser Susan Rice from its board. Ellison has also shifted CBS News to the right following his Paramount acquisition. CNN has long been a thorn in the side of Trump, who has frequently attacked its journalists. 

The new offer from Paramount of $31 per share will be funded through a $45.7bn equity issue guaranteed by Larry Ellison and $57.5bn in new debt. Paramount will also pay Netflix’s $2.8bn break fee.

“At the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive,” said Netflix. The streaming giant’s shares climbed 7 per cent in response to the news, after hitting a 12-month low of $78 earlier in the week.

February 27
Flutter underwhelms with earnings guidance

Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) shares dropped 14 per cent on Friday morning after the sports betting group, which owns Paddy Power and FanDuel, undershot revised revenue guidance in its 2025 results and underwhelmed investors with its earnings forecast for this year.

The group, which moved its primary listing from London to New York in 2024, released results for the year to 31 December after the US market closed yesterday.

Revenue was up 17 per cent to $16.4bn (£12.1bn), but this was $300mn below guidance which had already been cut down from $17.3bn in November. Adjusted Ebitda rose 21 per cent to $2.85bn, which was also below expectations.

For 2026, Ebitda guidance of $2.97bn was below the $3.5bn expected by analysts.

Amid concerns that the growth of prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket is damaging US trading, management said it had completed a “comprehensive review of potential cannibalisation from prediction markets and we have not identified any evidence of any meaningful impact”.

Its shares are down 52 per cent so far in 2026.

February 27
Senior shares surge on bid talks

Shares in Senior (SNR) soared 19 per cent as the company revealed it is in takeover talks with two potential bidders with all-cash offers.

The engineering group recently appointed bankers Jefferies and Lazard to sound out offers after its board rejected three bids from an unnamed suitor in recent weeks for undervaluing the company.

As a result of these talks, it has suspended the £40mn buyback it began last month after completing the £200mn sale of its aerostructures unit to private equity firm Sullivan Street Partners at the end of last year.

Senior’s shares are up 57 per cent year-to-date. The company said last month that full-year results (due on Monday) will be “comfortably above” expectations.

February 27
Christopher Akers
Rathbones boosts buyback and announces new strategy

Rathbones (RAT) chief executive Jonathan Sorrell’s strategy update laid down the gauntlet for it to become “the best wealth manager in the UK, by far” as it extended its share buyback programme by £20mn.

However, the FTSE 250 group’s net outflows rose even as profits surged more than 50 per cent after the integration of Investec’s UK wealth and investment arm.

This was the first set of annual numbers for Sorrell, who took the reins last August. While the strategy update was light on numbers, the market liked the refreshed narrative around clients, employees, efficiency and brand reputation as management attempts to improve muted organic growth and stem outflows.

February 27
Tritax Big Box becomes a blue chip


Tritax Big Box (BBOX) will join the FTSE 100 for the first time on Monday, and marked the occasion with robust full-year results. 

The warehouse landlord reported a 4 per cent increase in like-for-like net rental income to £222mn. Headline net rental income increased 11 per cent to £305mn, with the difference attributable to Big Box’s acquisitions of UKCM and a portfolio from Blackstone (US:BX).

The company remains an active asset manager, and is guiding for £400mn to £500mn of disposals in 2026 from a portfolio valued at £7.89bn. “The programme will be opportunistic,” chief executive Colin Godfrey told Investors’ Chronicle. 

Godfrey also guided for growth in both like-for-like net rental income and adjusted earnings per share to accelerate in 2026, with the latter increasing 4 per cent in 2026. This will contribute towards the company’s target of increasing 2030 adjusted earnings per share by 50 per cent year on year.

The dividend was increased 4 per cent to 8p.

February 27
IAG lifts buybacks by €500mn

Pre-tax profit at British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) rose by a quarter in 2025 to €4.5bn (£3.9bn) on a 3.5 per cent increase in sales to €33.2bn.

The company attributed the stronger performance to operational improvements as a result of its transformation plan.

IAG is benefitting from sustained demand for travel. Chief executive Luis Gallego said group-wide operating margins of 15.1 per cent “are now at the top of our through-the-cycle range”, with Iberia earning a margin of 16.22 per cent and British Airways 15.2 per cent. The dividend was increased by 9 per cent, while its buyback programme was lifted to €1.5bn (£1.3bn), an increase of €500mn on last year.

Although the company remained upbeat on prospects for 2026, citing “compelling market dynamics”, IAG’s shares fell by 4 per cent.

February 27
Melrose shares slide on softer guidance

The buoyant market for new planes underscored an uplift in revenues and pre-tax profit for aerospace engineering company Melrose (MRO).

Revenue rose by 8 per cent to £3.6bn and adjusted operating profit was up 23 per cent to £647mn. Growth was powered by the engines business, where operating profit rose 27 per cent as its margin was hiked by 3 percentage points to 31.9 per cent. Sales growth in the airframes business was just 3 per cent, though, constrained by ongoing supply chain issues. 

With operating profit guidance of £700mn-£750mn coming in slightly softer than analysts’ expectations, the shares plunged by 15 per cent.

February 27
Rightmove shares rise on stable results

Rightmove’s (RMV) full year results contained few surprises but were still sufficient to lift its ailing shares 5 per cent in early trading, in something of a relief rally.

The property portal reported underlying operating profit of £298mn on revenues of £425mn, both up 9 per cent versus the prior year. Within its revenues, the number of estate agents and developers with which it partners increased 1 per cent to 19,272, while the average revenue per partner increased 6 per cent to £1,621.

It also reiterated the 2026 guidance it issued at its November investor day: revenue growth of 8 per cent to 10 per cent, an increase in investment spend, underlying operating profit growth of 3 per cent to 5 per cent, and underlying earnings per share growth of at least 5 per cent. Consensus is at the top end of these guidance ranges.

The company also announced a £90mn share buyback (2.7 per cent yield), to complete by the end of August. It increased its dividend by 8 per cent versus the prior year to 6.59p.

“These strong business results demonstrate the high quality and sustained usage of the Rightmove platform in all property market cycles,” said chief executive Johan Svanstrom.

February 27
Pearson looks to calm AI nerves as CFO exits

Pearson’s (PSON) full-year results did not point to a business being knocked off course by AI, despite what the 30 per cent share price slide over the past year suggests.

The education giant saw underlying group sales rise 4 per cent to £3.6bn, with growth across all its five divisions. The standout was the virtual learning division, where sales grew 8 per cent for the full year and by 18 per cent in the second half after higher student enrollments. Adjusted operating profit rose 6 per cent to £614mn, with the margin up 30 basis points to 17.2 per cent despite ongoing investment in products, and inflation.

Free cash flow rose 8 per cent to £527mn, more than offsetting a £350mn share buyback and the eDynamic Learning deal. Net leverage rose to 1.3 times, but remains within range.

The results came alongside a reshuffle in the finance team, with departing chief financial officer Sally Johnson set to be replaced by the current CFO of Sky, Simon Robson.

Looking into 2026, Pearson had already flagged that it lost a major student assessment contract in New Jersey, which will impact the assessment and qualifications division in the coming months. The group still expects mid-single-digit sales growth and adjusted operating profit between £640mn-£685mn.

The shares have slid on fears that AI tools will lead students to bypass Pearson’s expensive textbooks, and that AI could eventually automate the creation of educational content. However, the company has been rolling out its own AI study tools, which it said are used by more than 3mn undergraduate students.