FTSE 100 Rises in Early Trade as Focus Turns to BOE

The FTSE 100 index rises 0.4% to 7110.85 in early trade as markets shrug off a Federal Reserve announcement that tapering of asset purchases could start in November and interest rates might rise next year. The Fed "has been keen to stress that there is no rush to raise interest rates," IG says. Attention turns to a Bank of England decision at 1100 GMT, where no changes are expected but "the discussion around the U.K. economic outlook may provide some volatility in sterling," IG says. Property stocks, financials and base-metal miners mostly rise, though precious-metal miner Fresnillo loses 0.4% as gold prices ease. Entain falls 2.4% after sharp gains Wednesday, while Royal Mail is down 0.4% after warning of rising costs in a trading update.

 
Companies News: 

Colefax Group's Performance Since FY2021-End Strong

Colefax Group PLC said Thursday that its trading conditions have remained strong in most of its major markets since its fiscal 2021 year ended on April 30.

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Trakm8 Holdings to Post Higher FY 2022 Revenue, Break Even on Profit Basis

Trakm8 Holdings PLC said Thursday that it expects to report higher revenue for fiscal 2022 and break even on an adjusted pretax and post-tax profit basis.

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Begbies Traynor Says 1Q Profit and Revenue Grew by Double Digits

Begbies Traynor Group PLC said Thursday that it has achieved double-digit growth in revenue and profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, and that it is confident of delivering market expectations for the full year.

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City Pub 1H Pretax Loss Narrowed on Lower Costs

City Pub Group PLC on Thursday reported a narrowed pretax loss for the first half of 2021 as it booked lower costs, but said revenue fell due to Covid-19-related restrictions which continued to hit the business.

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Enteq Upstream Backs FY 2022 Expectations

Enteq Upstream PLC on Thursday reaffirmed its revenue and earnings expectations for the fiscal year ending in March 2022.

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Big Technologies 1H Pretax Profit Rose Amid Higher Revenue

Big Technologies PLC on Thursday reported an increase in pretax profit in the first half of the year as revenue grew due to new contract wins and the expansion of existing ones.

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Venture Life Swung to 1H Pretax Loss, Shares Fall

Shares in Venture Life Group PLC fell on Thursday after the company said that it swung to a pretax loss for the first half, but that it expects the second half to benefit from the consolidation of recent acquisitions.

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Seraphine Group 2Q Performance Hit by Supply-Chain Disruptions, Shares Drop

Shares in Seraphine Group PLC fell Thursday after the company said its performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2022 was more challenging than it had expected due to supply-chain issues after a strong run in the first 13 weeks, which ended July 4.

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AdEpt Technology Says 1Q Performance Was In Line With Views; Warns of Effects of Supply Chain Issues

AdEpt Technology Group PLC said Thursday that its start to fiscal 2022 was positive and its current performance is in line with management expectations.

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Petards Shares Jump on Swing to 1H Pretax Profit

Shares of Petards Group PLC rose as much as 16% in early trade Thursday after the company reported a swing to pretax profit for the first half of 2021, and said trading remains broadly in line with market expectations.

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Anglo Asian Mining Hit by Higher Fuel, Reagents Costs -- Commodity Comment

Higher costs are threatening the profitability of some mining companies, as evidenced by Anglo Asian Mining's first-half results. Shares in the company, which owns precious-metals mines in Azerbaijan, fell 6.5% after it reported inflation in consumables such as diesel and reagents. Here's what AAM had to say:

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Zaim Credit Systems Says 2Q Was Profitable Even as Weighted Average Default Rate Rose

Zaim Credit Systems PLC said Thursday that its subsidiary Zaim-Express LLC continued to be profitable in the second quarter even as the weighted average default rate rose to 20.8% due to a greater number of first-time customers.

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Ecotricity's Improved Bid for Good Energy Gets 2.5% Acceptance

Ecotricity Group Ltd. said Thursday that its latest offer for Good Energy Group PLC has been accepted by 2.5% of the energy supplier's shareholders.

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CVS Group's FY 2021 Profit Rose Significantly, Early FY 2022 Sales Strong

CVS Group PLC reported on Thursday a significant rise in pretax profit for fiscal 2021 and said that sales grew significantly in the first two months of its current financial year.

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Xeros Technology 1H Pretax Loss Narrowed Slightly

Xeros Technology Group PLC on Thursday reported a slightly narrowed pretax loss for the first half of the year, and said that it is confident that revenue will grow in 2022 and beyond despite suffering royalty income delays.

 
Market Talk: 

Centamin's Outlook Includes Possibility of Making Sukari a Long-Term Mine

0803 GMT - Centamin's new exploration team has identified potential to add 3 million ounces of reserves at the Sukari gold mine by 2024, which would represent a 60% increase from the 5 million reported in December, RBC says. These results evidence the existing optionality within Centamin and its transition to a growth-plus-yield story in an industry with limited expected supply growth, the bank says. The additions at Sukari reflect an improved understanding of an orebody that still has to show its full potential, and underlie the possibility of making the mine a long-term operation, RBC says, reaffirming an outperform rating on the stock.

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Royal Mail Shows Successful Transformation, But Costs Are a Headwind

0744 GMT - The pandemic forced Royal Mail's hand in driving significant change, and the speed and success of this transformation is increasingly evident, Interactive Investor's Richard Hunter says. The British letter-and-parcel courier grew its revenue by 8.2% on year and by 18% versus 2019 in the five months through August. However, costs are a headwind with labor shortages and general inflationary pressures having an effect, Hunter says. "As such, the group is mindful of these factors in an outlook which is understandably cautious and which will become clearer as the effects of the Delta [coronavirus] variant wane," he says. Shares fall 0.7% after the trading update.

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BOE Likely to Use Up Last QE Round in Full

0729 GMT - The Bank of England is expected to use up the latest round of quantitative easing in full and is unlikely to announce any changes when it announces a policy decision at 1100 GMT Thursday, says RBC Capital Markets. "This meeting is probably the last opportunity to make any meaningful change to the current GBP150 billion programme, as by November it will be largely completed," analysts at the bank say. They continue to think the central bank "will see the current round of QE out in full." They expect another unanimous vote to hold the bank rate at 0.1% and an 8-1 vote to maintain the government bond target at GBP875 billion.

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Rolls-Royce to Benefit From U.S. Reopening

0534 GMT - For Rolls-Royce, the U.S. deciding to open its borders to vaccinated individuals will help perpetuate positive trends in engine flying hours into the first half of 2022 and beyond, Berenberg says. International travel is slowly improving and an uptick from November is expected as U.S.--which represented 10% to 15% of flying hours prepandemic--long-haul capacity reactivates, it says. "The bridge from operating profit to cash is still complicated and concerns in regards to the quality of profit recognized on long-term contracts will probably linger, rightly or wrongly. However, if Rolls-Royce can demonstrate a path to mid-teens margins by the middle of the decade, we expect the shares to rate higher," Berenberg says. Berenberg rates the stock at a buy and raises its price target to 160 pence from 150 pence.

 

Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires; Write to Sarka Halas at sarka.halas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 23, 2021 04:45 ET (08:45 GMT)

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