The FTSE 100 closed 1.3% higher on Thursday, in line with other major markets. "The U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy update last night has gone down well with the markets," AJ Bell's Russ Mould said. In addition, U.K. lenders were spurred by the Bank of England's surprising decision to raise interest rates. "This is earlier than we, and the market, anticipated following the onset of the Omicron variant," Citi's Andrew Coombs said. HSBC advanced 3.7%, Lloyds rose 4.6%, Barclays increased 3.2% and shares in NatWest were up 2.9%. Big miners and oil companies were up too, helping the index close higher.
Companies News:
Walker Crips Swung to 1H Pretax Profit; Flags Challenges Ahead
Walker Crips Group PLC reported Thursday a swing to a pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2022, though it said it still has a difficult year ahead.
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FRP Advisory 1H Pretax Profit Fell; Declares Dividend
FRP Advisory Group PLC said Thursday that pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2022 fell, though revenue rose and it declared a dividend payout.
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Egdon Resources 1Q Revenue Materially Rose on Wressle Outperformance
Egdon Resources PLC said Thursday that revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 rose, matching revenue for the entirety of fiscal 2021.
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Simec Atlantis Energy Shares Fall After Reductions to Headcount, Monthly Operating Costs
Shares in Simec Atlantis Energy Ltd. fell Thursday after it said that it has taken actions that will reduce headcount and monthly operating costs.
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Hurricane Energy's Net Free Cash Increased Significantly; Shares Rise
Shares in Hurricane Energy PLC on rose Thursday after the company said its net free cash has increased significantly from October to November.
Domino's Pizza Agrees to Investments With Franchisees; Lifts Mid-Term Outlook
Domino's Pizza Group PLC said Thursday that it has reached a resolution with its franchisees to make strategic investments of around 20 million pounds ($26.5 million) to improve growth, and raised its medium-term expectations.
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United Talent Agency Acquires MediaLink for $125 Million
United Talent Agency said it has acquired MediaLink, a marketing and media consulting firm that is owned by Ascential PLC, for $125 million, as the Hollywood talent firm seeks to ramp up its marketing practice.
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Aviva to Increase, Extend Share Buyback to GBP1.0 Bln
Aviva PLC said Thursday that it will increase and extend its share buyback program to 1.0 billion pounds ($1.33 billion).
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Schroders Is in Talks to Buy Significant Stake in Greencoat Capital
Schroders PLC said Thursday that it is in advanced talks to buy a significant stake in Greencoat Capital, but cautioned that there is no certainty any deal will be struck.
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Boohoo Downgrades FY Guidance on Covid-19 Uncertainty
Boohoo Group PLC said Thursday that it has downgraded its guidance on full-year net sales growth and its adjusted Ebitda margin due to increased consumer uncertainty related to the new Covid-19 variant.
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Gym Group Says It Is Performing in Line With Market Views for 2021
Gym Group PLC said Thursday that it is performing in line with full-year market expectations in terms of its key profit measure of adjusted Ebitda less normalized rent.
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Robert Walters Expects 2021 Pretax Profit to Beat Market Views
Robert Walters PLC said Thursday that it expects 2021's full-year pretax profit to be comfortably ahead of current market expectations.
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Walker Crips Swung to 1H Pretax Profit; Flags Challenges Ahead
Walker Crips Group PLC reported Thursday a swing to a pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2022, though it said it still has a difficult year ahead.
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ITM Power Says 1H Revenue Rose
ITM Power PLC said Thursday that it expects to report that revenue rose sharply in the first half of fiscal 2022, and that its contracts backlog increased at year end.
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McBride Shares Down After It Expects Wider Adjusted Loss in 1H
McBride PLC shares fell in early trading Thursday after the company said it expects to book a wider loss for the first half of 2021 due to rapidly rising costs as a result of supply-chain issues and inflationary pressures.
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Trackwise Designs Shares Dive on Heavily Discounted Equity Issue
Shares of Trackwise Designs PLC fell 38% on Thursday after the company said it is planning to raise up to 7.0 million pounds ($9.3 million) via a heavily discounted equity issue and will use the money to fund capital expenditure as well as working capital.
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Hunting Expects Break-Even 2021 Ebitda After Improved 4Q
Hunting PLC said Thursday that a notably-improved final quarter of 2021 has met its expectations with a broadly break-even earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization result expected for the full-year.
Market Talk:
UK's Economy Is Likely to Contract in December and January
1048 GMT - The latest purchasing managers survey data add to evidence that the Covid-19 Omicron variant has set back the economic recovery, Pantheon Macroeconomics' senior U.K. economist Gabriella Dickens says. It is highly likely that the economy will contract in both December and January as consumers pull out spending in services, she says. Pantheon forecasts a 0.2% on month drop in December followed by a further 0.1% drop in January, but that assumes no additional restrictions are brought in. "The decline will be much steeper if the government brings in new rules on social distancing or household mixing, and in the unlikely worst case that all non-essential shops and consumer services businesses are forced to close again, GDP would drop by about 6%," Dickens says.
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BOE Won't Wait Long Before Raising Rates if it Holds Back on Thursday
1018 GMT - Even if the Bank of England leaves rates unchanged at 0.1% when it announces a decision at 1200 GMT, policymakers are "unlikely to be able to wait too long before acting," says RBC Capital Markets. RBC expects the BOE to raise rates by 15 basis points on Thursday, but many in the market expect rates to be left on hold once more. However, the uncertainty caused by the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 means the BOE may hold back for now, RBC says. Omicron may delay the start of a rate-rise cycle but won't "knock it off course completely," it says. The yield on 10-year gilts rises 2.7 basis points to 0.754%, according to Tradeweb.
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UK Economy Slows Sharply in December as Omicron Hits Services Spending, PMI Shows
0959 GMT - Economic activity in the U.K. eased significantly in December due to tighter pandemic-related restrictions and heightened uncertainty around the coronavirus Omicron variant, IHS Markit's purchasing managers index survey shows. The composite PMI stood at 53.2, a 10-month low, down from 57.6 in November. The slowdown was focused on the services sector, with firms reporting a steep drop in spending by households; while growth in manufacturing also eased but held up better, the data shows. "With Covid-19 infections set to rise further in coming weeks due to the spread of the Omicron variant, and more restrictions being introduced, the pace of economic growth looks likely to continue to weaken as we head into 2022," IHS Markit's chief business economist Chris Williamson says.
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Boohoo's 3Q Update Seen as Disappointing; Shares Drop
0818 GMT - Boohoo Group's update for 3Q was weak and disappointing, Jefferies says. The London-listed, online fashion retailer's revenue growth of 10% is well below the guided 2H run-rate of 20% and 30%, Jefferies says. Boohoo's full-year Ebitda guidance has been cut to GBP128 million at the mid-point, the U.S. bank notes, 35% below its estimates. Jefferies has a buy recommendation on the stock and a target price of 430 pence. Shares are down 15% at 117.30 pence.
Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires; Write to Sarka Halas at sarka.halas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-16-21 1200ET
