Pound Seen Falling if New BOE Chief Economist Takes Loose Policy Stance

Sterling will weaken if the Bank of England's new chief economist Huw Pill takes a different stance to his predecessor by backing continued expansionary monetary policy. Pill replaced Andy Haldane, who was "probably the most pronounced hawk" on the Monetary Policy Committee, as he spoke out in favor of winding down asset purchases during his last meetings, Commerzbank currency analyst Thu Lan Nguyen says. "If Pill was to sound rather more dovish, the market might interpret this as a weakening of the hawkish camp within the MPC thus putting pressure on sterling," she adds. Pill started his role on Monday. GBP/USD falls 0.2% to 1.3802 and EUR/GBP rises 0.2% to 0.8597.


 
Companies News: 

Trafalgar Property Shares Fall on Warning Over Going Concern

Trafalgar Property Group PLC shares fell Tuesday after it warned on the potential future of the business, despite a narrowed pretax loss in fiscal 2021.

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Alumasc FY 2021 Earnings, Revenue Rose

Alumasc Group PLC said Tuesday that its fiscal 2021 earnings and revenue grew.

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RA International 1H Profit, Revenue Drop in Line With Expectations

RA International Group PLC said Tuesday its revenue and underlying earnings in the first half of 2021 fell in line with its expectations.

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Parsley Box Shares Fall on Widened 1H Pretax Loss

Shares in Parsley Box Group PLC fell Tuesday after reporting a significantly widened pretax loss for the first half of the year, but said it expects to benefit from further growth in the second half.

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GRC International Posts Narrowed FY 2021 Loss Despite Slip in Revenue

GRC International Group PLC said Tuesday that it narrowed its fiscal 2021 pretax loss despite a fall in revenue, and said it is optimistic heading into the new year.

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Concurrent Technologies 1H Pretax Profit Rose But Warns of Potential Shipment Delays

Concurrent Technologies PLC on Tuesday reported a rise in pretax profit for the first half of the year, but warned of potential shipment delays.

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Boku 1H Earnings, Revenue Rose

Boku Inc said Tuesday that its earnings and revenue grew in the first half.

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Flowtech Fluidpower Swung to 1H Profit

Flowtech Fluidpower PLC said Tuesday that it swung to a first-half profit as volumes and revenue recovered.

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Pearson Acquires Australian AI Analytics Company

Pearson PLC said Tuesday that it has acquired Faethm, an Australian workforce artificial intelligence and predictive analytics company.

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TP Group to Hold October Meeting After Science Group Requisition

TP Group PLC said Tuesday that it will hold a general meeting of group shareholders on Oct. 1 after Science Group PLC called for a meeting on Monday to consider the constitution of the board.

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Altitude Group FY 2021 Revenue Fell, Pretax Loss Narrowed; Shares Fall

Shares in Altitude Group PLC fell Tuesday after the company reported a decline in revenue for fiscal 2021, despite seeing its pretax loss narrow.

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FIL Investments Reduces Stake in Base Resources to 7.22% After Selling Shares for A$6.7 Mln

Base Resources Ltd. said Tuesday that FIL Investments International has sold shares in the company for 6.7 million Australian dollars ($5.0 million) between May 20 and Sept. 3.

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Science Group to Raise Up to GBP18.5 Mln to Fund Purchase of TP Group Shares

Science Group PLC said Tuesday that it intends to raise up to 18.5 million pounds ($25.6 million) to fund recent purchases of shares in TP Group PLC.


 
Market Talk: 

Ted Baker Sales Head the Right Way, But Hurdles Linger

1053 GMT - Ted Baker gains 1.5% after the fashion brand said second-quarter sales matched expectations, but delayed the planned launch of its new e-commerce service. The company's sales are heading in the right direction, but they haven't reached pre-pandemic levels, trading firm eToro says. "The reality is Ted Baker's clothes aren't flying off the rails at anything like the same volume they were before the crisis," eToro analyst Mark Crouch says. "It feels like Ted is another two to three quarters away from getting anywhere near its pre-pandemic sales volumes. While fashion spending has picked up, there are fears of a fresh lockdown in autumn. If that happens, then we expect a significant negative retail-sales impact."

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Gamma Communications Shares Look to Have Outrun Current Progress

1032 GMT - Gamma Communications is delivering steady progress but its recent share-price movement appears overdone, Peel Hunt says, lowering its rating on the stock to hold from add. The London-listed telecoms company's first-half growth showed the U.K. continuing to perform well but an underwhelming International performance, the brokerage says. "Whilst we continue to rate Gamma's business model, strategy, and management team for the longer term, it could travel sideways in the short term as it continues to see pressure from Covid-19 and as competition invests in price," Peel Hunt says. The brokerage raises its target price to 2,225 pence from 1,852 pence. Shares trade down 8.6% at 2,135 pence having risen from 1,660 pence at the start of the year.

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DS Smith Management's Outlook Prompts Raised Forecasts

1023 GMT - After DS Smith's management said business has been in line with expectations, analysts at Goodbody say the scale of cost inflation has likely been tempering the outlook, and see an upside to forecasts. The packaging company's Ebitda forecasts for 2022 have been upgraded to GBP973 million and to GBP1.03 billion for 2023, reflecting the strong pricing and volume backdrop, Goodbody says. "Within these forecasts we assume that box prices will increase by over 15% with volumes set to remain robust," the Irish brokerage says. Goodbody has a buy rating on the stock. Shares are up 2.5% at 461.20 pence.

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Vistry's Excellent 1H Leads to Full-year Guidance Upgrades

1016 GMT - Vistry's solid update brings full-year forecast upgrades on the back of a better first half and a substantial orderbook, and the company continues to show tangible signs of progress with all aspects of the business seemingly moving in the right direction, Goodbody says. The house builder has highlighted customer interest and sales trends remain positive going into the second half, allaying investor fees of demand normalization, the brokerage says. Vistry's management has guided for a 2021 adjusted pretax profit of GBP345 million, 5% ahead of market consensus and 4% ahead of Goodbody's forecast of GBP331 million, and the brokerage raises its guidance to match. Goodbody retains its buy recommendation on the stock. Shares are up 5.0% at 1,285.0 pence.

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European Oil-Field Services Companies Offer Exposure to Carbon Capture

1011 GMT - The oil-and-gas industry is likely to play an important role in the development of carbon capture and storage technology, and oil majors such as Shell, BP and Equinor are active on the field, Citi says. Aker Carbon Capture is the only listed pure-play on the CCS theme in Europe, but oil-field services companies such as Aker Solutions, Technip Energies, Petrofac and Wood Group offer meaningful exposure, the bank says. "We think the strategic alliance of Technip Energies with Shell to use Shell's Cansolv capture technology could help the company become a meaningful player in the space," Citi says.

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Industrial Hubs Are Key to Lowering Carbon Capture Technology Costs

1009 GMT - At current prices, carbon capture and storage projects in sectors such as natural gas processing, ammonia production and even blue hydrogen in certain cases are already economically viable, Citi says. However, further work is needed to scale the technology and reduce costs for hard-to-abate industries such as iron, steel and cement, the bank says. Policy support is helping to bridge this gap, and industrial hubs are key to delivering economies of scale and lowering the unit cost of capture, Citi says. "The key challenge is to secure the required funding to underpin the foundation phase for these projects, which sees high upfront capex for a relative small volume of CO2. However, as these projects scale, the unit cost per ton of CO2 stored falls significantly."

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Ted Baker's Move to Delay New Online Platform Launch Slows Progress

0940 GMT - Ted Baker's trading update for the second quarter of fiscal 2022 shows that there are some positive signs of revival underway, but the U.K. fashion chain still has a long way to go, Freetrade analyst David Kimberley says. The company's decision to push back the launch of its new platform isn't going to please shareholders or shoppers, he says. "Despite its much-vaunted turnaround strategy, Ted seems like it's just going to replicate much of what it was doing prior to Covid-19, albeit with a bit more oomph in its online offering," Kimberley says in relation to Ted Baker's focus on physical stores, noting that shopping habits have changed. Shares are up 1.7% at 169.60 pence.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-07-21 0714ET