Sterling Falls Vs Dollar Amid UK Omicron Fears

1104 GMT - Sterling falls against the dollar after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of oncoming "tidal wave" of cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Concerns about the spread of Omicron in the U.K. has prompted the market to scale back interest rate rise expectations before Thursday's Bank of England policy meeting, ING analysts say. The BOE will "want to keep its options open" ahead of a possible rate rise in February, they say. Meanwhile, Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting should see the central bank announce a faster pace of tapering of its bond purchases, they say. GBP/USD drops 0.1% to 1.3250. 


 
Companies News:

Next Fifteen Communications Sees Full-Year Results Ahead of Expectations After Strong 3Q

Next Fifteen Communications Group PLC said Monday that it anticipates beating management expectations for the full year after booking strong revenue growth in the third quarter.

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Eqtec Cuts 2021 Revenue Guidance on Project Deferrals

Eqtec PLC on Monday said that its 2021 revenue will be lower than previously guided, after it decided to defer financial close for its Billingham and Deeside projects in the U.K. to next year.

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C4X Discovery FY 2021 Pretax Loss Narrowed on Higher Revenue

C4X Discovery Holdings PLC on Monday reported a narrowed pretax loss for fiscal 2021 as revenue increased in the period due to a license deal with Sanofi.

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Spinnaker Acquisitions to Buy HomeServe Labs in Reverse Takeover

Spinnaker Acquisitions PLC said Monday that it has conditionally agreed to buy HomeServe Labs Ltd. from HomeServe PLC via a reverse takeover, and that it has therefore requested the temporary suspension of trading of its shares.

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Homeserve Sells Policy Book to Piedmont for $22 Mln

Homeserve PLC said that its U.S. subsidiary has entered into an agreement to sell to Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. the book of policies built during the two companies' partnership, which will end in April, for around $22 million.

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Tungsten Corp Shares Fall After $1.5 Mln US Employment Claim Settlement

Shares in Tungsten Corp. fell on Monday after the company said that it has agreed to pay $1.5 million as settlement of an employment claim made against it in the U.S., as well as $513,000 in associated legal fees.

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Public Policy Holding Raises GBP11.1 Mln in London IPO

Public Policy Holding Company, Inc. said Monday that it has raised 11.1 million pounds ($14.7 million) as part of its initial public offering on London's junior AIM, with trading expected to start on Thursday.

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Taylor Maritime to Buy Stake in Grindrod Shipping for $77.9 Mln

Taylor Maritime Investments Ltd. said Monday that it will acquire a 22.6% stake in Grindrod Shipping Holdings Ltd. for $77.9 million.

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Tungsten Corp. Swung to 1H Pretax Profit

Tungsten Corp. said Monday that it swung to a pretax profit after booking lower costs for the first half of fiscal 2022, but that customer wins in the period were below expectations.

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DSW Capital Prices London IPO at 100 Pence a Share; Trading Expected Thursday

DSW Capital PLC on Monday priced its initial public offering on London's junior AIM at 100 pence a share, implying a market capitalization of 21.4 million pounds ($28.4 million) when trading starts on Thursday.

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Byotrol Appoints Chris Sedwell as CFO

Byotrol PLC said Monday that it has appointed Chris Sedwell as its new chief financial officer.

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Rockhopper Exploration CFO Stewart MacDonald to Step Down

Rockhopper Exploration PLC said Monday that Chief Financial Officer Stewart MacDonald intends to step down and join another company.

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Triple Point Income Sells Achnacarry Hydro Ltd. for GBP10.7 Mln

Triple Point Income VCT PLC said Monday that it has completed the disposal of hydroelectric asset Achnacarry Hydro Ltd. for 10.7 million pounds ($14.2 million).

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Hawkwing Withdraws From Internet Fusion Group Takeover

Hawkwing PLC said Monday that it has withdrawn from reverse-takeover negotiations with Internet Fusion Group Ltd.

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Aptamer Group Prices London IPO at 117 Pence a Share; Trading Expected Dec. 22

Aptamer Group PLC on Monday priced its initial public offering on London's junior AIM at 117 pence a share, implying a market capitalization of 80.7 million pounds ($107.1 million) when trading starts on Dec. 22.

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Shell to Acquire Toll Products Company MSTS Tolls

Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Monday that it has agreed to buy tolls payment products company MSTS Tolls from TreviPay.

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Gear4Music Chief to Sell Significant Stake at Discounted Price

Gear4Music (Holdings) PLC said Monday that Chief Executive Andrew Wass intends to sell around 7.9% of the company's issued share capital at a discounted price.

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Royal Mail to Sell Remaining Nine Elms Plots for GBP111.2 Mln

Royal Mail PLC said Monday that it has exchanged contracts to sell the last three remaining plots on its Nine Elms Park Site to London Square for 111.2 million pounds ($147.6 million). 


 
Market Talk:

Bank of England Seen as Unlikely to Raise Rates Before March

1022 GMT - October's U.K. gross domestic product data, which showed that the country's economy grew by a marginal 0.1% on month before the Omicron variant news, is likely to postpone any increase in rates, Pantheon Macroeconomics says. Even though that employment and inflation data have topped expectations, uncertainty about the near-term economic outlook is elevated enough to suggest that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee meeting likely will vote unanimously to keep rates at 0.10% on Thursday, Pantheon's chief U.K. economist Samuel Tombs says. "We now expect the committee to wait until March to begin to raise Bank Rate, given that the economic situation likely will not be any brighter by the time of its next meeting at the beginning of February," he says.

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Global Economy Is Set to Expand 4.2% in 2022; Uncertainties Are Unusually High

1015 GMT - The global economy will continue to recover from the pandemic-induced shocked in 2022 and it is projected to expand 4.2%, UniCredit's group chief economist Erik F. Nielsen says. The forecast is lower than the 4.6% expansion previously expected as more severe and longer-lasting supply bottlenecks as well as higher inflation are likely to slow growth, he says. However, the outlook is subject to many uncertainties such as the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic, supply-side strains, energy prices, behavior of central banks, and increasing geopolitical risks, he says. "We'll be entering 2022 with more unknowns--from economics, to politics and policies, to markets--than I can recall ever having faced in my almost 40 years as an economist," Nielsen says.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-13-21 0624ET