The FTSE 100 closed 0.19% lower on Tuesday at 7,481.99 points
along with European equity indices slipping into the red as
earnings season wraps up, IG analyst Axel Rudolph writes. London's
blue-chip index best performer was Coca-Cola HBC after it announced
a EUR400 million share buyback, while IAG led losses after its
strategic update and had fallen almost 5% by market close.
---
COMPANIES NEWS:
Workspace Group Swings to Pretax Loss on Property Value Falls;
Revenue Rose
Workspace Group swung to a pretax loss after property valuation
losses, though trading profit and revenue rose.
---
Cranswick Expects Full-Year Results at Upper End of Consensus
After Pretax Profit Rose
Cranswick said it expects its fiscal 2024 results to be at the
upper end of market views after pretax profit and revenue for the
first half rose on positive volume momentum.
---
UK Commercial Property Ends Merger Talks With Picton
Property
UK Commercial Property REIT said Tuesday that it has ended
merger talks with Picton Property Income after failing to get
support from its largest shareholder.
---
Telecom Plus Pretax Profit Rises on Customer Growth
Telecom Plus said pretax profit for the first half of fiscal
2024 rose on the back of double-digit customer growth, that it
remains confident of meeting full year expectations, and will
launch an initial 10 million-pound ($12.5 million) share buyback in
second half.
---
Petershill Partners Aggregate Assets Under Management Rose
Petershill Partners said that assets under management rose and
that fee-paying assets were in-line with full-year
expectations.
---
Knights Group Sees Higher Revenue, Underlying Pretax Profit
Knights Group Holdings said revenue and underlying pretax profit
are expected to rise for the first half of its fiscal year, and
that its performance in the period was in line with the board's
expectations.
---
AO World Lifts Expectations on Improved Profit, Margins
AO World has raised profit expectations for fiscal 2024 and
reported a swing to pretax profit in first half.
---
Avon Protection Swings to Pretax Loss on Impairment Charges,
Declining Revenue
Avon Protection said it swung to a pretax loss in its fiscal
year, mainly dragged by impairment charges and a fall in
revenue.
---
IAG Says It Remains Committed to Dividends, Sets out Medium-Term
Targets
International Consolidated Airlines Group said that it will
start paying dividends again once its balance sheet and investment
plans are secure, as it set out its medium-term targets.
---
Intercede Shares Surge on New Contracts, Renewals, Rise in
Pretax Profit
Shares in Intercede Group rose after the company reported a rise
in pretax profit for the first half of its fiscal year and said it
had secured a number of new contracts and renewals.
---
Empresaria Shares Fall After as Challenging Market Conditions
Weigh
Empresaria Group shares fell 21% on Tuesday after the company
said that the challenging market conditions experienced so far this
year have continued into the fourth quarter, and are expected to
remain into the first half of 2024.
MARKET TALK:
Restaurant Group Unlikely to Get More Bids, Peel Hunt Says
1124 GMT - Restaurant Group isn't expected to receive any other
takeover offers, Peel Hunt analysts say in a research note. The
U.K. restaurant operator--which houses brands including Wagamama,
Brunning & Price and Frankie & Benny's--has been eyed by a
couple of interested parties, including by asset manager Apollo
Global Management's Rock Bidco. Restaurant Group and Apollo agreed
an all-cash offer worth around GBP506 million in October, with
accepting shareholders being paid 65 pence a share. The brokerage
cuts the stock rating to hold from buy, but kept its target price
at 65 pence a share. Shares are down 2.2% at 66.0 pence.
(joseph.hoppe@wsj.com)
---
Workspace Group's Large Asset Value Decline Prompts Forecast
Downgrades
1115 GMT - Workspace Group has posted another large net asset
value decline in its interim results, as yield increases prompt
declines in property valuations, Peel Hunt says. The office-rental
company's occupancy is stable and it generated impressive rental
growth, but Peel Hunt cuts its fiscal 2024 net tangible asset value
forecasts by around 10% to 830 pence, assuming broadly flat
property valuations in the second half of the year, analysts say in
a research note. "Although estimated rental value growth seems to
have slowed, Workspace expects a further growth in rate and starts
the second half with good momentum," the brokerage says. Shares are
down 6.1% at 554.0 pence. (joseph.hoppe@wsj.com)
---
GBP/USD Options Look Cheap, Societe Generale Says
1110 GMT - As sterling rises, options betting on it rising have
barely moved and they look cheap, Societe Generale options
strategist Olivier Korber says in a note. GBP/USD realized
volatility--a measure of past movements--is "surging with the
faster pace of dollar moves." However, GBP/USD implied
volatility--which measures expected moves based on options
pricing--hasn't reacted, leading to a "large negative vol risk
premium." Korber advises buying a GBP/USD two-month one-touch
option, with a knock-in at 1.31, a bet which would pay out if
GBP/USD hit that level within two months. GBP/USD two-month implied
volatility trades at 6.878%, having traded above 8% in late
October, according to Refinitiv. GBP/USD rises to a 10-week high of
1.2554, according to FactSet. (jessica.fleetham@wsj.com)
---
Higher UK Borrowing Won't Stop Some Autumn Budget Statement
Giveaways
1103 GMT - October's public-finance figures shouldn't prevent
U.K. Treasury Chief, Jeremy Hunt, from planning some tax cuts in
his autumn statement on Wednesday, despite borrowing coming in
higher than expected, Investec economist Ellie Henderson writes in
a note. Public-sector net borrowing, excluding banks, was GBP14.9
billion in October, rising some GBP4.5 billion from the same month
last year and ahead of expectations, figures show Tuesday. But with
Hunt's Conservative Party eager to offer some tax cuts to voters
ahead of elections due next year, and with borrowing year-to-date
still running below Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts,
Hunt is unlikely to see the figures as a barrier to some fiscal
offerings, Henderson says."But in the absence of a 'magic money
tree,' the chancellor will be constrained in his giveaways," she
says. (Joshua.Kirby@dowjones.com)
Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires; Dow Jones
Newswires; paul.larkins@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 21, 2023 13:15 ET (18:15 GMT)
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