Intel, Tesla, H&M, Babcock and DFS

Shares in Intel (INTC) popped 6% on Wednesday and were up a further 2% in pre-market trading on Thursday, following a report that the struggling chipmaker had approached Apple (AAPL) about securing investment.

Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Intel (INTC) and iPhone-maker Apple (AAPL) had discussed how to work more closely together, citing people familiar with the matter, but the talks were early-stage and may not result in an agreement.

The report comes after fellow chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) announced a $5bn (£3.71bn) investment in Intel (INTC) last week, saying that the two companies would be working together to develop AI infrastructure and personal computing products.

Japanese investment holding company SoftBank Group (9984.T) also announced a $2bn investment in Intel's common stock last month.

Just days after the SoftBank announcement, president Donald Trump said that the US government had taken a 10% stake in Intel (INTC).

Electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) saw another month of declining sales in Europe in August, while Chinese rival BYD (002594.SZ) continued to gain market share in the region, according to data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) on Thursday.

The industry association said that new registrations of Tesla (TSLA) vehicles across Europe fell 22.5% in August to 14,831 units, with its market share shrinking to 1.9% compared to 2.5% at this time last year. Since the start of the year, the ACEA data showed Tesla (TSLA) sales had fallen 32.6%.

Meanwhile, new registrations of BYD (002594.SZ) cars in Europe surged nearly 216% last month to 11,455 units, with its market share rising to 1.4% from 0.5% a year ago.

Overall sales of battery electric cars across Europe rose nearly 27% in August, while registrations for plug-in hybrids and hybrid electric vehicles rose 56% and nearly 12%, respectively.

Tesla (TSLA) shares were little changed in pre-market trading on Thursday morning, while BYD (002594.SZ) closed the trading session in Shenzhen up 1.7%.

In Sweden, shares of H&M (HM-B.ST) jumped more than 9% on Thursday morning, after the retailer posted a third-quarter earnings beat.

H&M (HM-B.ST), whose brands also include & Other Stories and COS, said operating profit for the group increased by 40% to 4.91 billion Swedish krona (£388m), beating a mean forecast of in an LSEG poll of 3.68 billion krona, according to a Reuters report.

Sales for the quarter came in at 57.02 billion krona, which was up 2% in local currencies but down 3% in krona. H&M (HM-B.ST) said that net sales in crowns were negatively affected by a currency translation effect of around 5 percentage points due to the strengthened Swedish krona.

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Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: “Amid the backdrop of trade barriers, macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical events, foreign currency headwinds, and a cautious consumer, H&M has delivered an impressive update.”

“There is lots to get excited about going forward for the company too – it said the autumn collections have been well received and it opened its first store in Brazil, a significant new market with major growth potential where its rival Zara already operates,” she said.

On the London market, shares of Babcock International dipped nearly 2% on Thursday, after the engineering services firm flagged some weakness in its land unit.

In a trading update for the first five months of its financial year, Babcock (BAB.L) said it had organic revenue growth and underlying operating margin progress in line with the board's expectations. The company said it had seen strong growth in its nuclear and aviation business but lower revenue in land due to lower activity in its rail business.

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However, Babcock (BAB.L) said it expectations for the year were unchanged and said it continued to progress towards medium-term targets of averaging revenue growth of mid-single digit, underlying operating margin of at least 9% and average operating cash conversion of at least 80%.

Despite the dip in shares on Thursday, the stock is still up 141% year-to-date, buoyed by its exposure to the defence sector as government have pledged to spend more in this area.

Shares in DFS Furniture rose nearly 6% on Thursday morning, as the sofa retailer reported better-than-expected annual profit.

DFS (DFS.L) posted underlying profit before tax and amortisation of £30.2m ($40.6m) for the 2025 fiscal year, which was up £19.7m on last year and was also ahead of analyst consensus of £27.9m, according to figures provided by the company.

Chris Beauchamp, IG's UK chief market analyst, said: “DFS seems to be settling down to a period of better performance, with a three-piece suite of improvements that bode well for the future.”

“The mention of a dividend will no doubt perk up investor interest, though it was couched in cautious language. But overall this is a very solid rebound that augurs well for the future.”

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