Sales of Tesla (TSLA) vehicles in the UK fell by more than third in May, according to data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Thursday.
SMMT said that registrations of Tesla vehicles fell by 36% year-on-year in May to 2,016 cars. That's despite an increase in sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) overall last month, with registrations up nearly 26% year-on-year to 32,738 units.
Meanwhile, figures published by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) last week showed that sales of Tesla vehicles dropped across Europe by 49% to 7,261 units in April.
Sales have fallen as CEO Elon Musk faced backlash for his role heading up US president Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), though the billionaire confirmed he was leaving his role advising the Trump administration last week.
Following his exit from Washington DC, Musk has ramped up his criticism of Trump's tax bill this week. "Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL," Musk posted on X on Wednesday.
Shares in Tesla were down 2% in pre-market trading on Thursday and are down nearly 7% over the past five days.
Shares in Applied Digital (APLD) continued to rally in Wednesday's session, closing 29% higher and were up 4.5% in pre-market trading on Thursday.
The jump in Applied Digital (APLD) shares come after the company announced a $7bn ($5.2bn) deal with CoreWeave (CRWV), the cloud services provider backed by Nvidia (NVDA).
Applied Digital, which designs and operates digital infrastructure, announced on Monday that it had entered into two approximately 15-year lease agreements with CoreWeave.
Under the agreement, Applied Digital will deliver 250 megawatts of critical IT load to host CoreWeave's AI and high-performing computing (HPC) infrastructure at its Ellendale, North Dakota data center campus.
Applied Digital said it anticipating generating approximately $7bn in total revenue from the leases.
Fintech firm Wise (WISE.L) announced on Thursday that it planned to switch its primary listing from the UK to the US, in another blow to the London market.
Wise CEO Kristo Käärmann said that the company now planned to dual list its shares in the US and UK.
"We believe the addition of a primary US listing would help us accelerate our mission and bring substantial strategic and capital market benefits to Wise and our Owners," he said.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said: "The UK stock market is like a boxer determined to keep going in a gruelling fight. While the FTSE 100’s (^FTSE) share price performance might have beaten the main US indices this year, the broader UK stock market continues to take a succession of blows to the head from a reputational perspective."
"Although subject to a shareholder vote, it seems unlikely Wise will receive widespread opposition if it means the shares could be worth more in the future," he said.
Shares in FTSE 250-listed (^FTMC) airline Wizz Air dived 27% on Thursday morning, following the release of its final full-year results.
Wizz Air posted a nearly 62% drop in operating profit for the 2025 fiscal year, at €167.5m (£140.96m), while net profit was down 41.5% to €213.9m. The airline said its 2025 results had been impacted by groundings of its planes related to engine issues.
In addition, Wizz Air said it was not giving guidance for the 2026 fiscal year "given the lack of visibility across our trading seasons".
Garry White, chief investment commentator at Charles Stanley, said: "The company is facing rising costs after grounding a significant proportion of its aircraft due to problems with Pratt & Witney engines.
"The tone of the statement, however, was upbeat. Despite its many challenges, the airline remains profitable — and the number of grounded aircraft will start reducing in both absolute and relative terms in the current financial year."
"Two of the airline’s key markets — Ukraine and Israel — are in crisis, so its operations will continue to be negatively impacted by the situations there," he added. "It could be some time before services in these markets return to normal.
"Nevertheless, the current financial year looks set to see an improvement, as the grounding issue is slowly resolved."
Shares in Dr Martens (DOCS.L) were up 18% on Thursday morning, after the iconic boot brand revealed an update to its business strategy, as recently appointed CEO Ije Nwokorie looks to turn around the business.
In its final full-year 2025 results, released on Thursday, Dr Martens posted group revenue of £787.6m ($1.07bn), which was down 10% year-on-year on a reported basis but was in line with expectations. Reported profit before tax of £8.8m was down from £93m in 2024.
However, Nwokorie said the company's new "Levers for Growth" strategy would increase "opportunities by shifting the business from a channel-first to a consumer-first mindset".
"We will give more people more reasons to buy more of our products, whether that's our iconic boots and shoes, newer product families such as Zebzag and Buzz, or adjacent categories such as sandals, bags and leather goods," he said. "And we will tailor distribution to each market, blending DTC (direct-to-consumer) and B2B (business-to-business), optimising brand reach and ensuring a better use of capital."
On the back of this strategy, the company said that over the medium-term, it expected to deliver "sustainable, profitable revenue growth above the rate of the relevant footwear market, with operating leverage driving a mid to high-teens EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin."
AJ Bell's Mould said: "Dr Martens is on the front foot with a strategy that seeks to kick out the troubles of old and return the business to profitable growth. This should shift the market’s focus from earlier problems in the US and a sharp drop in earnings to a business intent on regaining its power."
