BOE Seen Trying to Encourage Stronger Pound

1028 GMT - The Bank of England isn't pushing back against the market's interest rate rise expectations as it probably wants to encourage a stronger pound, ING says. The market sees the benchmark rate rising to 1.35% by December from 0.25% currently, ING analysts say. Previously the BOE may have issued a "verbal rate protest" against such pricing to weaken sterling in a deflationary environment with poor global demand but now it's likely welcoming sterling strength to fight against higher energy prices, they say. EUR/GBP could fall towards 0.8275 if the BOE lifts rates by 25 basis points and doesn't protest against rate bets at next Thursday's meeting, they say. EUR/GBP falls 0.1% to 0.8322 after hitting a one-week low of 0.8311 earlier. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

 
Companies News:

Abrdn Raises GBP264 Mln From Sale of Part of Phoenix Group Stake

Abrdn PLC said Friday that it has sold 40 million shares in Phoenix Group Holdings PLC to institutional investors, raising proceeds of around 264 million pounds ($353.3 million).

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Amigo Holdings Appoints Danny Malone as Interim CFO

Amigo Holdings PLC said Friday that it has appointed Danny Malone as chief financial officer on an interim basis.

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Character Group to Return GBP13.5 Mln to Shareholders in Tender Offer

Character Group PLC said Friday that it intends to return around 13.5 million pounds ($18.1 million) to shareholders through a tender offer and repurchase of shares.

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Capita PLC to Sell Trustmarque for GBP115 Mln

Capita PLC said Friday that it has agreed to sell its Trustmarque IT services business to One Equity Partners for 111 million pounds ($148.6 million).

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Avon Protection Launches Buyback Program of up to GBP18.5 Mln

Avon Protection PLC said Friday that it was launching a share buyback program of up to 18.5 million pounds ($24.8 million), and that organic revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 was ahead of the year-prior period.

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Paragon Banking Group 1Q Performance in Line With Expectations

Paragon Banking Group PLC said Friday that performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 has been strong and in line with the board's expectations.

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Chill Brands 1H 2022 Revenue Soared

Chill Brands Group PLC said Friday that revenue for the first half of fiscal 2022 rose significantly.

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YouGov Expects FY 2022 to Beat Views After Good First Half

YouGov PLC said Friday that it expects fiscal 2022 results to be slightly ahead of the board's expectations after experiencing growth across all divisions and geographies in the first half.

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Trackwise Sees 2021 Loss Widening, Revenue Rising; Names CFO Designate

Trackwise Designs PLC said Friday that it expects its 2021 adjusted operating loss to widen and revenue to rise, and named Paul Cook as its chief financial officer designate.

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BrandShield to Raise GBP1.5 Mln in Share Placing

BrandShield Systems PLC said Friday that it intends to raise 1.5 million pounds ($2 million) through a share placing to institutional investors.

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Surface Transforms Sees 2021 Revenue Increase

Surface Transforms PLC said Friday that it expects to report a 20% increase in revenue for 2021.

 
Market Talk:

ITV Shares Look Cheap Despite Positives, Barclays Says

0952 GMT - Shares in ITV gain 1.5% to 113 pence after Barclays upgrades the U.K. broadcaster to overweight from equal-weight and increases its price target to 160 pence from 140p. European broadcasters are almost universally unloved by investors who believe the trend of people watching more on-demand TV rather than on traditional TV channels will reduce advertising revenues, Barclays says, Still, ITV's ad revenues have been rising and 2022 shouldn't be any different, the company has significant M&A opportunities, investors could re-evaluate its TV production business if management achieves its 5% annual revenue growth target and the shares are arguably cheap, Barclays says. "ITV is our non-consensual value call for 2022," Barclays analysts say. (philip.waller@wsj.com)

Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires; Dow Jones Newswires; paul.larkins@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 28, 2022 05:57 ET (10:57 GMT)

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