The FTSE 100 closed 0.16% lower on Wednesday at 7,426.14 points as the mood in London remains cautious. "It seemed that the FTSE 100 was fated to suffer a sharp down day, but as the session wore on buyers came in to defend the 7400 level," IG analyst Chris Beauchamp says in a market comment. Worries around U.K. inflation and the rise in oil prices, which boost giants BP and Shell, threaten to mess with the Bank of England's plans for the year, the analyst adds. The rise in oil prices makes it more difficult for central banks to find the optimal policy setting that won't make the current situation even worse, CMC Markets UK analyst Michael Hewson writes.


COMPANIES NEWS:

Barratt Developments FY 2023 Pretax Profit Rose; Backs Guidance for Lower FY 2024 Sales

Barratt Developments' pretax profit rose together with revenue as house prices increased and it was affected by fewer adjusting items, and backed its guidance for lower completions in fiscal 2024.

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Ashmore Group Pretax Profit Fell On Tough Start to the Year

Ashmore Group's pretax profit fell in fiscal 2023 due to a weaker first half-year amid tightening policy rates, banking failures and geopolitical tensions, but market conditions in emerging markets are recovering, it said Wednesday.

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WH Smith Backs Upgraded FY 2023 Earnings After Strong 2H

WH Smith expects to meet upgraded fiscal 2023 earnings, with its performance driven by travel on the back of strong passenger numbers in the second half year.

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Bakkavor's Pretax Profit Rose; 2023 Adjusted Operating Profit Seen Ahead of Views

Bakkavor Group said pretax profit for the first half rose, boosted by price and volume recovery in China, and that it expects adjusted operating profit for the year to be ahead of consensus by around 4 million pounds ($5 million).

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M Winkworth 1H Profit Slipped on 2Q Weakness; Revenue Broadly Flat

M Winkworth said its pretax profit fell 24% though revenue remained flat, as its first half was dragged down by a weaker second quarter for sales, with some completions delayed into the second half of the year.

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Gateley Pretax Profit Fell on Higher Costs; Sees FY 2024 in Line With Board's Expectations

Gateley (Holdings) said pretax profit fell for fiscal 2023 after booking higher costs, and that fiscal 2024 had started in line with the board's expectations and with a food pipeline of work.

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Hochschild Mining Cuts Full-Year Production View After 1H Swing to Pretax Loss

Hochschild Mining said it has lowered its full-year production view after a swing to pretax loss in the first half on impairments charges.

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Halfords Group Sees FY 2024 Performance in Line With Views

Halfords Group that fiscal 2024 performance to date has been in line with expectations, with services division remaining robust but discretionary markets softer.

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Barratt Developments FY 2023 Pretax Profit Rose; Backs Guidance for Lower FY 2024 Sales -- Update

Barratt Developments' reported pretax profit rose together with revenue, though adjusted profit fell and it said it expects market conditions to remain tough over the coming months, retaining its guidance for lower completions in fiscal 2024.

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Beeks Financial Cloud to Report Higher Revenue, Underlying Pretax Profit

Beeks Financial Cloud Group said it expects to report a rise in revenue and underlying pretax profit for fiscal 2023, and that the board had significant visibility on its fiscal 2024 expectations.

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Severfield Sees FY 2024 Meeting Its Views After Robust Start to Year

Severfield said its performance in the five months of fiscal 2024 has met management expectations, and that its outlook remains positive.

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Restaurant Group Raises 2023 Guidance After Strong 1H Performance

Restaurant Group has raised its full-year adjusted Ebitda forecast as it reported a swing to pretax profit for the first half year on higher revenue that was driven by Wagamama, pubs and concessions.

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Oxford Nanopore Technologies Backs Full-Year View Despite Widened 1H Pretax Loss

Oxford Nanopore Technologies backed its full-year view despite a widened pretax loss in the first half of the year due to a 30% drop in revenue.

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Omega Diagnostics Says FoodPrint Production Issues Resulted in Order Backlog

Omega Diagnostics Group said that its FoodPrint test product had some production issues toward the end of the fiscal year ended March 31 which resulted in lower production yields and a backlog in the fulfillment of some orders.

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Surgical Innovations Warns Production, Supply-Chain Problems Will Hurt Profit

Surgical Innovations Group expects to report a modest profit in adjusted Ebitda in 2023 as persistent production and supply-chain disruptions are likely to continue to hurt profits in the second half of the year.

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Darktrace FY 2023 Pretax Profit Rose on Robust Revenue Increase

Darktrace said that fiscal 2023 pretax profit rose on the back of revenue growth across all geographic markets and customer sizes.

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Solid State Backs Recently Upgraded FY 2024 Guidance on Strong Divisional Performance

Solid State said it has made a strong start to the financial year across both its divisions, and said it was confident in meeting recently upgraded forecasts.

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Concurrent Technologies Buys Phillips Aerospace for $3.375 Mln

Concurrent Technologies has bought Phillips Machine & Welding--known as Phillips Aerospace--for $3.375 million in shares and cash, as part of its strategy to boost its U.S. operations.

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Light Science Technologies Shares Rise After Tomtech Acquisition

Light Science Technologies Holdings shares rose after the group announced the acquisition of Tomtech Ltd. for a total consideration of 500,000 pounds ($628,250), upon certain conditions.

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Bridgepoint to Acquire Energy Capital to Create $61.11 Bln Asset Manager

Bridgepoint Group said it will add infrastructure specialist Energy Capital Partners Holdings and its affiliated entities to its platform for an enterprise value of 835 million pounds ($1.05 billion), creating a 57 billion euro ($61.11 billion) global private markets asset manager.

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Gusbourne Appoints Mike Paul as Interim CEO

Gusbourne said that nonexecutive Director Mike Paul has been appointed as interim chief executive officer, replacing Charlie Holland.

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RM Infrastructure Income Seeks Wind-Down After GCP Merger Talks Collapse

RM Infrastructure Income is proposing a managed wind-down after discussions with GCP Infrastructure Investments ended, it said Wednesday.

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Powerhouse Energy's Pretax Loss Narrows Amid Strategy Change; CEO Keith Riley Steps Down

Powerhouse Energy said its pretax loss narrowed in the first half of the year despite falling revenue as the company shifts strategy.

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Bloomberg's Planned Takeover of Broadway Technology Cleared by UK Regulator

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority said it has cleared Bloomberg's acquisition of Broadway Technology after deciding it doesn't qualify for investigation.

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Goldman Sachs Asset Management wins UK's largest OCIO mandate with BAE Systems -- Financial News

The move will see the scheme's in-house investment management team join GSAM towards the end of 2023

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Merit Group FY 2023 Loss Widened After Restructure but Says New Year Off to Good Start

Merit Group's pretax loss widened despite a rise in revenue after taking losses on disposals, but has made a positive start to the new fiscal year, the company said Wednesday.

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NatWest to Name Rick Haythornthwaite as Chair, Sky News Reports

-- NatWest Group has lined up Rick Haythornthwaite as its new chairman to replace Howard Davies, Sky News reports citing unnamed sources.

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Yellow Cake's Annual Report Gets Low Approval Count at AGM

Yellow Cake said Wednesday that the resolution put forward at the annual general meeting to approve the report and accounts for fiscal 2023 was approved but with a low count, while all other resolutions tabled received higher votes.

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Infrastructure India Shares Jump After Sale of DLI to Pristine Malwa

Infrastructure India shares soared after the group said that a wholly-owned subsidiary has conditionally sold its 99.99% interest on Distribution Logistics Infrastructure Private Ltd. to Pristine Malwa Logistics Park Private Ltd.

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NatWest Group Names Richard Haythornthwaite as Chair

NatWest Group has appointed Richard Haythornthwaite as its next chair, succeeding Howard Davies.

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NatWest Group Names Rick Haythornthwaite as Chair -- Update

NatWest Group has appointed experienced executive Richard Haythornthwaite as its next chair, succeeding Howard Davies and as the bank seeks to recover from the Nigel Farage scandal that lead to the resignation of its CEO.

MARKET TALK:

Saudi Telecom's Stake Acquisition in Telefonica Shows Sector Vulnerability

1249 GMT - Saudi Telecom's acquisition of a 9.9% stake in Telefonica shows the vulnerability of the European telecommunication industry, Citi analysts Georgios Ierodiaconou and Rohit Modi say in a research note. The move follows last year's acquisition of a stake in Vodafone by Emirates Telecommunications Group, known as E&. These investments show strategic interest in the sector, but also indicate that European companies have shrunk so much that they might have become vulnerable to involvement from abroad, Citi analysts say. As seen in Vodafone, the acquisition could be taken well in the short term for Telefonica, but in the medium term the stock might be driven by earnings momentum, Citi says. Telefonica shares are up 0.5%. (andrea.figueras@wsj.com)

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Restaurant Group Has Strong 1H, But Debt Edges Higher

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09-06-23 1245ET