Daily Stock Market Report (Fri 9th Jan 2026) - SBRY, CKN, UTG

Good morning and welcome to Friday's report.
Today's report is now complete (12.30).

Spreadsheet accompanying this report: link (updated to 16th December).

Companies Reporting
Name (Mkt Cap)RNSSummaryOur View (Author)Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) (£101bn | SR78)Statement re Glencore plcRio Tinto confirms it has been discussing a potential combination with Glencore, which could include an all-share merger. Current expectations are that any merger would be effected by Rio acquiring Glencore.Glencore (LON:GLEN) (£49bn | SR34)Statement regarding Rio TintoAs above from Rio Tinto.Halma (LON:HLMA) (£13.8bn | SR79)AcquisitionAcquired Safetec Srl, an Italian fire and gas safety business that designs solutions for large industrial projects. Cash paid €72.5m, Safetec 2025 revenue was c.€30m.J Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) (£7.5bn | SR90)Trading StatementQ3 LFL sales +3.4%, with grocery +5.4% LFL. Won market share over Christmas. FY26 retail free cash flow now exp to be gt;£550m (previously gt;£500m).
Shore Capital forecasts unchanged.AMBER/GREEN ↓ (Roland)I can’t really fault this update, except to point out that LFL sales growth was slightly below reported grocery price inflation for December. The economics of this business remain tough. My feeling is that any increase in volumes...