UKX FTSE 100 Index

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.11% Thursday, though it slightly underperformed more positive European peers as surging gilt yields weigh on the index. House builders and real estate stocks are bearing the brunt of the rise in yields, with Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey and Rightmove the worst performers on the U.K. benchmark, says CMC Markets UK chief market analyst Michael Hewson. "On the flip side, basic resources are helping to limit the underperformance in the U.K. with gains for Anglo American, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto," Hewson says.

COMPANIES NEWS:

Deliveroo to Return Up to GBP250 Mln via Premium Tender Offer

Deliveroo is planning to return up to 250 million pounds ($303.4 million) to shareholders via a premium tender offer, which opens Friday.

---

Diageo Backs FY 2024 Views Despite Persistent Cost Pressures

Diageo said expectations for fiscal 2024 remain unchanged despite warning of persistent continuing cost pressures and macroeconomic challenges.

---

Babcock International Underlying Operating Profit Rises Amid 'Encouraging' Performance

Babcock International Group said its performance for the first five months of fiscal 2024 has been encouraging, and that year-on-year underlying operating profit rose and was driven by revenue growth.

---

Mitchells & Butlers Backs Full-Year View After Fourth-Quarter Sales Grew

Mitchells & Butlers said it still expects results for the full fiscal year in the top end of market views after its fourth-quarter sales rose, although at a slightly slower pace than in the preceding quarter.

---

HSS Hire Group Sees Weaker Performance in 2H After First-Half Pretax Profit Fell

HSS Hire Group said pretax profit for the first half of 2023 fell amid higher costs and warned that performance in the second half has slowed considerably.

---

Avation Pretax Profit Falls on Lower Rental Revenue

Avation said first-half pretax profit fell as lease rental revenue decreased, and that an airline has reduced its arrears payments by $5.1 million since June.

---

FRP Advisory Sees FY 2024 at Least in Line With Views

FRP Advisory Group expects its full-year performance to at least meet market views if current activity levels continue as business since the start of fiscal 2024 has been encouraging, it said.

---

Crossword Cybersecurity Pretax Loss Widens on Rising Costs

Crossword Cybersecurity said its pretax loss widened in the first half of the year, partly on rising expenses, despite revenue rising 27%.

---

XLMedia Pretax Profit Rises on Reversal of Impairment Charge

XLMedia reported a higher pretax profit for the first half of the year after booking a reversal on an impairment, and despite a drop in revenue due to declining activity in North America and Europe.

---

Arcelik Asked by UK Regulator to Offer Remedies Over Whirlpool Deal Concerns

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Thursday it will refer Arcelik's planned merger of one of its units with Whirlpool's European major appliances business for an in-depth phase 2 probe, unless the company offers to remedy competition concerns.

---

STM Group Pretax Profit Falls, Interim Dividend Scrapped Due to Takeover Talks

STM Group posted a fall in pretax profit for the first half of 2023 on heavier costs despite reporting higher revenue and said it isn't paying out an interim dividend due to continuing talks about a possible takeover offer by Pension SuperFund Capital.

---

MetalNRG Examines Reverse Takeover, Dual-Listing Options After Strategic Review

MetalNRG is considering a reverse takeover and a dual listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange following a strategic business review, the natural-resources investment company said Thursday.

---

888 Holdings Cuts 2023 Views on Weak 3Q Performance

888 Holdings downgraded its expectations for the full year on the back of a weak third-quarter performance and further investments to support medium-term growth.

---

NWF Group Backs FY 2024 Expectations After 1Q Was in Line With Views

NWF Group said its first-quarter performance has been in line with the board's expectations, and backed its fiscal 2024 views.

---

AB Dynamics 2023 Revenue Will Exceed GBP100 Mln on Strong 2H

AB Dynamics said fiscal 2023 revenue will exceed 100 million pounds ($121.3 million) due to a better-than-anticipated performance in the latter part of the year, and that this will result in adjusted operating profit beating market expectations.

---

FIH Group Says Outlook Remains Positive Despite Mixed Year-to-Date Performance

FIH Group's business outlook remains positive despite mixed performances in its business units during the first five months of fiscal 2024, the AIM-listed international services group said Thursday.

---

B90 Pretax Loss Widens; May Need to Raise Funds if Business Doesn't Improve

B90 Holdings reported a widened pretax loss for the first half of the year due in part to new acquisitions and increased marketing spending, and said it may need to raise extra funds if business doesn't improve.

---

Shield Therapeutics Shares Fall After Discounted Equity Raise

Shield Therapeutics shares fell on Thursday after the company said it intends to raise up to $27.4 million through a debt facility and discounted equity raise as it seeks to accelerate its commercial activity in the U.S.

---

Colefax Sees FY 2023 in Line Despite Challenges Ahead

Colefax Group said fiscal 2023 performance remains in line with expectations, but that it continues to expect worsening conditions ahead on the back of higher interest rates.

---

Mobile Tornado Group's Pretax Loss Narrowed, Revenue Rose

Mobile Tornado Group said its pretax loss narrowed in the first half of the year, mainly on a foreign-exchange gain, while revenue rose 14%, despite a challenging economic environment.

---

Digital 9 Infrastructure Shares Fall on Swing to Pretax Loss, Dividend Suspension

Shares in Digital 9 Infrastructure fell after the company reported a swing to pretax loss after booking a loss on its investments and said it won't declare a dividend to prioritize liquidity due to higher interest rates.

---

Ceres Power Holdings Pretax Loss Widened on Higher Costs

Ceres Power Holdings reported a widened pretax loss for the first half of the year, despite revenue growth, as operating costs increased.

---

N4 Pharma Acquires Major Stake in Nanogenics Through Discounted Share Placing; Shares Fall

N4 Pharma shares fell after the group conducted a discounted share placing to acquire a 71.25% interest in Nanogenics Ltd. for 250,000 pounds ($303,375).

---

Silver Bullet Data Services Shares Fall After Going-Concern Warning

Silver Bullet Data Services Group shares fell on Thursday after the company said alongside its first-half results that there is material uncertainty around its future if it doesn't secure extra funding in the short term.

---

Safestore Holdings Finance Chief to Retire

Safestore Holdings said Chief Financial Officer Andy Jones will retire after 10 years with the company, and that it has started an external candidate search.

---

Let's Explore to Buy Huddled Group for GBP3.95 Mln; Pretax Loss Widens on Revenue Fall

Let's Explore Group said it has conditionally agreed to buy Huddled Group and its subsidiaries for 3.95 million pounds ($4.8 million), and that its first-half pretax loss widened as revenue fell.

---

Hummingbird Resources Shares Fall After Warning of Possible Divestments

Shares in Hummingbird Resources fell 14% after the company Thursday warned that it might need to divest assets if it doesn't meet its production targets, lower costs or get additional funding.

---

Saietta Shares to Be Suspended After FY 2023 Earnings Delay

Saietta shares will be suspended from trading after the company said it won't be able to publish fiscal 2023 earnings before the deadline due to technical accounting issues.

---

Science In Sport Pretax Loss Narrows on Cost Cuts, Revenue Growth

Science In Sport has reported a narrowed pretax loss for the first half-year as it cut costs and revenue grew on the back of record performance over the past four months.

---

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Chairman Andrew Sutch to Retire

Hipgnosis Songs Fund said Chairman Andrew Sutch plans to retire once a suitable replacement has been found, and by next year's annual shareholder meeting.

---

PHSC's Revenue, Earnings Fell in First Five Months of Fiscal 2024

PHSC said revenue and earnings have fallen slightly on year in the first five months of fiscal 2024.

---

Kropz Narrows Loss; Reports Maiden Revenue After First Sales

Kropz said its pretax loss has narrowed and reported its maiden revenue, as subsidiary Kropz Elandsfontein recognised its first sales.

---

Macquarie Asset Management Considers Offer for Renewi -- Update

Macquarie Asset Management said it is considering a possible cash offer for waste-management business Renewi, after having a 636.3-million pound ($772.2 million) proposal rejected on Monday.

MARKET TALK:

Mitchells & Butlers Continues to Outperform Market

1247 GMT - Mitchells & Butlers published a strong trading statement as it continues to perform better than the market, Liberum analysts Anna Barnfather and Nishant Dahad write in a research note. The U.K. pub-and-restaurant operator has maintained its pace of growth with 9.7% like-for-like sales growth in the fourth quarter, driven by increased volume and spend per head, bringing the year-to-date growth to 9.1%, the say. "It continues to trade ahead of the wider market as benchmarked by the Coffer CGA Business Tracker--which recorded 7.8% growth in July and 5.3% in August--helped by the balance and breadth of its estate," the analysts say. Liberum keeps a buy rating on the stock, with a 310.0 pence price target. Shares are up 4.9% at 225.0 pence. (christian.moess@wsj.com)

---

UK Bank Ringfencing Changes Would Improve Customer Choice, UK Finance Says

1231 GMT - Proposed changes to the U.K.'s "ringfencing" regime for banks enhance customer choice and competition, U.K. banking and financial services trade association, UK Finance, says after the government opened a consultation on the reforms. The rules ringfence retail deposits in banks with deposits of GBP25 billion or more, aiming to protect household savings from risky investments. The changes include raising the deposit threshold by 40% to GBP35 billion, exempting retail-focused banks and allowing ring-fenced banks to operate outside of the U.K. or the European Economic Area. "Alongside this we continue to urge the government to review the long-term need for the ring-fencing regime, recognising the significant changes to bank resolvability since the regime was first introduced in 2019," financial & risk policy principal Nala Worsfold says. (elena.vardon@wsj.com)

---

ZOO Digital Seen Investing in Future Despite Short-Term Industry Headwinds

1225 GMT - Although the writer's strike has ended, the disruption to the TV and film industry is still taking its toll on ZOO Digital, AJ bell analyst Russ Mould says on a note. The subtitles and dubbing services company had been banking on order levels going back to normal from October, but said this now looks unlikely amid limited earnings visibility, Mould says. Still, Hollywood will be eager to get back to work so this might simply be a short-term rocky period, he says. "The fact it will continue to invest in dubbing capabilities in hope of a rapid rebound in work shows the board is thinking about the long-term prize, not panicking because of short-term problems," Mould says. Shares are up 4.2% at 404.80 pence. (anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com)

Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires;

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2023 12:06 ET (16:06 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.