UKX FTSE 100 Index

Shares in London close in the green on Thursday as most earnings updates have been received positively by investors today, according to CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson. "With private equity companies already sniffing around some of the more undervalued sectors of the U.K. economy, maybe some of [Thursday's] updates could raise optimism that there still remain a significant number of U.K. companies that may have further to go in terms of share price upside," the analyst says.

 
Companies News: 

DiscoverIE Says 1Q Performance Was Ahead of Views

DiscoverIE Group PLC said Thursday that its performance for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 was ahead of the board's expectations

---

Spectris Swung to 1H Pretax Profit

Spectris PLC said Thursday that it swung to pretax profit for the first half of the year as actions taken over the last two years to simplify its operations led to lower costs, and that it expects a continuing recovery in the second half.

---

Volex Sees FY 2022 Underlying Profit Ahead of Views After Strong Start

Volex PLC said Thursday that it expects to deliver underlying operating profit for fiscal 2022 slightly ahead of current market expectations after positive trends experienced in the first quarter.

---

Empresaria Sees 1H Profits Up on Year, Net Fees Increased

Empresaria Group PLC said Thursday that it expects first-half profit to be ahead of the same time a year prior, on the back of a rise in net fees.

---

4D Pharma Agrees to $30 Million Loan

4D Pharma PLC said Thursday that it has agreed a secured credit facility of up to $30 million with Oxford Finance LLC, and that this strengthened its financial position and increased its financial flexibility.

---

Oakley Capital Investments to Buy Back Up to 2 Mln Shares

Oakley Capital Investments Ltd. said Thursday that it plans to buy back up to 2 million of its ordinary shares, which will then be cancelled.

---

Biome Technologies 1H Revenue Rose

Biome Technologies PLC said Thursday that revenue for the first half of the year rose, and that expectations for its performance remains in line with revised market expectations.

---

Salt Lake Potash Shares Drop on Downgraded FY Guidance, Potential Fundraise

Shares in Salt Lake Potash Ltd. fell on Thursday after it announced that it has reduced its production guidance for fiscal 2022 and that the suspension of the trading of its shares on the AIM market was lifted.

---

Quixant Expects Double-Digit 1H Revenue Growth

Quixant PLC said Thursday that it expects to report double-digit growth in revenue for the first half of the year, in line with management expectations, as strong demand in the period drove healthy order intake.

---

Argo Blockchain Chairman Leaves; CEO Appointed as Interim Chair

Argo Blockchain PLC said Thursday that Executive Chairman Ian Macleod is leaving the company amid a board reshuffle, and that Chief Executive Peter Wall has been appointed as its interim chair.

---

Likewise Group to Raise GBP10 Mln in London IPO

Likewise Group PLC, a floor-covering and matting distributor, said Thursday that it plans to raise 10 million pounds ($13.9 million) and float on London's junior AIM on Aug. 18.

---

Co-operative Bank Swung to 1H Pretax Profit

Co-operative Bank PLC on Thursday reported a swing to pretax profit for the first half of the year and said its full-year performance is in line with guidance.

---

UK Lawsuit Targets Google App Store Charges

Alphabet Inc.'s Google is facing a lawsuit in the U.K. over its Google Play app store charges in a legal case that claims that users are entitled to compensation, the claimants said Thursday.

---

London Stock Exchange Suffers Indigestion From Refinitiv Deal

London Stock Exchange Group PLC's $15 billion acquisition of Refinitiv Holdings Ltd. is proving more difficult to integrate than expected, and shareholders of Europe's biggest exchange operator by market value are paying an early price.

---

Anglesey Mining Shares Rise on New CEO, Financing Options

Shares in Anglesey Mining PLC rose after it said that it has appointed a new chief executive officer and was investigating various financing routes for its Parys Mountain zinc-copper-lead project in Wales.

 
Market Talk: 

Indivior Seen as Strongly Positioned

0958 GMT - Indivior enjoys a solid position in an industry forced into expansion by a raging opioid crisis, according to Numis Securities. With the opioid crisis accelerating in the U.S. and world-wide and being exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, the pharmaceutical company remains a key part of the fight against opioid addiction, Numis says. Meanwhile, lower costs allowed for a better first-half profitability, the brokerage says. Numis has a buy rating on the stock and a target price of 320.0 pence. Shares are up 3.6% at 153.6 pence.

---

UK June Business Borrowing Looks Encouraging

0951 GMT - The flow of U.K. business borrowing in June was encouraging as companies showed signs of increased resilience, according to money and credit data. Small- and medium-sized businesses repaid GBP0.3bn of bank loans, suggesting that they don't need to keep borrowing just to remain afloat, Kieran Tompkins, assistant economist at Capital Economics, says. Large businesses, however, borrowed an additional GBP0.8 billion from banks in June, but they have been paying back loans for much of the past year, he says.

---

AstraZeneca 2021 Outlook Should Reassure

0941 GMT - AstraZeneca's 2021 outlook was broadly as expected and implies around $0.30 to $0.40 earnings-per-share accretion from the July 21 closing of the Alexion acquisition, Jefferies says. This should calm some nerves and prompt a modest share rise, according to the investment bank. The Anglo-Swedish pharma major also posted sales which were above consensus on the back of key growth drivers such as diabetes drug Farxiga, lung-cancer medicine Tagrisso and lymphoma treatment Calquence, Jefferies says. EPS, however, came in shy of consensus as did gross margin, which was largely due to no-profit supply of the Covid-19 vaccine, Jefferies says. AstraZeneca trades up 0.2% at 8,279.00 pence.

---

Rentokil Initial's Focus on Expansion Seen Prompting More Growth

0939 GMT - Rentokil Initial delivered a strong 1H and the continued focus on expansion bodes well for further growth, according to Peel Hunt. With anticipated full-year M&A spend increasing by GBP50 million to GBP100 million and momentum in the business, the pest-control group enjoys further upside potential to forecasts, Peel Hunt says. The brokerage has an add rating on the stock and a target price of 573.0 pence. Shares are up 4.8% at 552.6 pence.

---

Shell Says Stopping North Sea Oil Exploration Won't Serve Climate

0927 GMT - Royal Dutch Shell says calls for stopping oil-and-gas exploration in the U.K.'s part of the North Sea wouldn't serve the climate. "As long as the U.K. still needs oil and gas in its consumption for its society, it's better to produce in its own backyard--it's better for the climate, it's better for the balance of payments," Chief Executive Ben van Beurden says. "To just import oil and gas--which would be the alternative--from around the world would obviously not serve the climate at all," he says.

---

BAE Systems Earnings Top Hopes in 'Pretty Clean' 1H

0926 GMT - BAE Systems 1H results topped expectations and the defence group maintained its FY guidance despite currency turbulence, Citigroup says. BAE produced a "pretty clean set of results," Citi says, with pretax earnings before interest beating market expectations by 8%. "We continue to believe that following several years of limited cash conversion, profit and cash are now aligning positively and we reiterate our buy and 670 pence target price," Citi analyst Charles Armitage says. "The GBP500 million share buyback, maintaining FY guidance despite forex headwinds and three-year cash target should help the shares up today, despite recent good performance," he says. Shares rise 2% to 575p.

---

Shell Says Selling or Closing Refineries Will Help Meet Court Ruling on Emissions

0925 GMT - Royal Dutch Shell says it is working to see whether it can meet a Dutch court ruling to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. "Of course divestments and closures and conversions etcetera will help, particularly of our refineries, because most of our scope 1 and 2 emissions are in refining and in chemicals," Chief Executive Ben van Beurden says. Oil and gas production assets are a small minority of the company's emissions so "divestment is not necessarily an option," he says.

Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-20-7842-931

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 29, 2021 12:23 ET (16:23 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.