The FTSE 100 Index closed Thursday up 0.6% to 7188 after swinging from red terrain in a trading day marked by BOE's decision to raise its key interest rate by 0.75 percentage points to 3% amid efforts to tame the inflation. Grocer J Sainsbury rose 7% after reporting a first-half revenue increase and backing its full-year guidance, followed by Harbour Energy, up 4.8%. The telecomunications group BT lead the falls with a 8.9% decline after reporting lower first-half pretax profit, followed by the electronics distributor RS Group, down 7.3%, after the group warned about a slowing economic backdrop.
Companies News:
Town Centre Securities Launches Share-Buyback Program
Town Centre Securities PLC said Thursday that it has launched a new share-buyback program to return value while maximizing long-term growth for shareholders.
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Kitwave Group to Meet FY 2022 Market Forecasts After Strong Year
Kitwave Group PLC said Thursday that the strong performance experienced in the first half of the year has continued into the second half, and that it expects to meet market forecasts for fiscal 2022.
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Libertine Holdings 1H Commercial Revenue Rose
Libertine Holdings PLC said Thursday that its commercial revenue for the first half of fiscal 2023 rose, as it delivers on commercial and technical progress.
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Xpediator Shares Rise After 9-Month 2022 Revenue Exceeded All of 2021
Xpediator PLC shares rose Thursday after it said it continues to perform well, with revenue for the first nine months of 2022 already exceeding the entirety of 2021, and backed its profit guidance.
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TI Fluid Systems Nine-Month Revenue Rose After Booking Battery Electric Vehicle Awards
TI Fluid Systems PLC said Thursday that revenue rose on year in the first nine months of 2022 and that it booked 900 million euros ($883.6 million) of lifetime revenue for battery electric vehicle awards year to date, of which EUR300 million was booked in the third quarter.
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Morses Club Appoints Steve Curtis as Interim Chairman; Sheryl Lawrence as Deputy Chairman
Morses Club PLC said Thursday that Steve Curtis will join the board as interim chairman from Nov. 5, and that Sheryl Lawrence will take on the role of deputy chairman on the same date.
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Up Global Sourcing FY 2022 Pretax Profit Rose; Expects FY 2023 Profit in Line With Views
Up Global Sourcing Holdings PLC said Thursday that pretax profit for fiscal 2022 rose as international, online and supermarket revenue increased, and that the board anticipates profit performance for fiscal 2023 to be in line with current market expectations.
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BrandShield Systems Says Strong Business Momentum Continued into 3Q
BrandShield Systems PLC said Thursday that the strong business momentum has continued into the third quarter, boosted by key customer wins across multiple sectors' geographies.
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DSW Capital 1H Performance Strong; On Track for Full Year
DSW Capital PLC said Thursday that performance in the first half of fiscal 2023 was strong and that it is on track to achieve full-year expectations.
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CAP-XX Expects to Meet FY 2023 Forecasts Despite Slow Start to Year
CAP-XX Ltd. said Thursday that it expects to meet market expectations for revenue and adjusted Ebitda in fiscal 2023 despite a slower-than-expected start to the year.
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Yourgene Health Shares Drop as 1H Total Revenue Fell
Shares in Yourgene Health PLC dropped Thursday after the company said that total revenue on a statutory basis for the first half of fiscal 2023 fell significantly as it transitions away from Covid-19-related services postpandemic.
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IG Design Appoints Paul Bal as Next CEO
IG Design Group PLC said Thursday that it has appointed Paul Bal as chief executive, effective April 1.
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Insig AI to Focus on Profitability Over Expansion in Response to Economic Challenges
Insig AI PLC said Thursday that it plans to focus on becoming profitable earlier than previously forecast rather than expanding its coverage into more small companies, following macroeconomic turmoil in U.K. markets.
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Hansard Global 1Q New Business Fell on Challenging Overall Environment
Hansard Global PLC said Thursday that in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 its new business was 24.8 million pounds ($28.3 million) in present value of new business premiums, 21% lower than in the year-prior period.
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IDE Group Increases Stake in MXC Capital
IDE Group Holdings PLC said Thursday that it has increased its shareholding in MXC Capital Ltd. to 83.8% from 34.8%.
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Carnival to Retain Former CEO Donald as Consultant -- Update
Carnival Corp. said its former Chief Executive and longtime board member Arnold Donald would step down from the board at the end of the month and continue with the company as a consultant until February 2025.
Market Talk:
Gilt Yields Rise as BOE Looks Set For More Rate Rises
1303 GMT - Gilt yields turn higher after the Bank of England raised its key interest rate by 0.75 percentage points to 3.0%, with more rate rises likely despite an economy that is heading into recession, says BlackRock chief investment strategist Vivek Paul in a note. "Even though evidence of the damage to growth from higher rates is becoming clear, today's hike is unlikely to be the last," he says. "With U.K. rates volatility at historic highs, caution is still warranted on gilts." U.K. 10-year gilt yields trade more than 10 basis points higher at 3.527%, up from 3.458% before the decision, according to Tradeweb. Gilt yields initially dropped after the announcement as the BOE warned of a "very challenging" economic outlook. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)
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Sterling Falls as BOE Suggests Rate-Rise Bets Are Overdone
1309 GMT - Sterling falls as the Bank of England indicated Thursday that the market is overestimating the future path of interest rates due to a potential two-year recession, Silicon Valley Bank says. "GBP/USD volatility will remain elevated in the aftermath as participants digest comments from both the Federal Reserve and the BOE, delivered within the past 24 hours," Silicon's Sam Cooper says in a note. The BOE raised its benchmark rate 75 basis points to 3.0% on Thursday and said further rises may be required but to a "peak lower than priced into financial markets." GBP/USD falls to a near two-week low of 1.1159 and EUR/GBP rises to a one-week high of 0.8730, according to FactSet. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)
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BOE's Rate Rise Unlikely to Significantly Hit New Mortgage Deals
1433 GMT - The Bank of England's 75 basis points interest rate hike further challenges financially-stretched first-time house buyers, Rightmove says. However, compared with the volatility just a few weeks ago, mortgage rates have started to stabilize and fall, and as today's change was expected, it is unlikely there will be significant changes to new fixed-rate deals based solely on today´s hike, says Rightmove property expert Tim Bannister in a market comment. "Mortgage payments will be much more manageable for those first-time buyers who have been lucky enough to save up a bigger deposit of 25%, as they may find that monthly mortgage payments on a typical first-time buyer home are lower than their current monthly rental payments," Bannister says. (joseph.hoppe@wsj.com)
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-03-22 1335ET
