The FTSE 100 closed Monday up 0.495% together with other European markets, ending two straight weeks of declines. The positive start to the week for European markets comes despite Israel taking early steps to push into Gaza--the limited and incremental incursions so far seem to be helping assuage concerns that escalations might prompt another front opening on Israel's northern border, with gold and crude-oil prices sliding as a result, CMC Markets UK's chief market analyst Michael Hewson says in a research note. "The main drags on the FTSE 100 have been energy due to the slide in oil prices, although we could be seeing some profit taking on BP and Shell ahead of their third-quarter numbers later this week," Hewson adds.


COMPANIES NEWS:

Shein Buys Missguided Brand From Frasers

Shein, the Chinese e-commerce giant, is adding Frasers Group's Missguided to its shopping basket.

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Airtel Africa Pretax Profit Falls Despite Revenue Growth as Finance Costs Rise

Airtel Africa reported a fall in pretax profit for first half of fiscal 2024, citing increased finance costs during the period and despite double-digit constant-currency revenue growth in all segments.

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Pearson Lifts 2023 Guidance After Nine-Month Underlying Revenue Rose

Pearson said that for the first nine months of the year underlying revenue grew 5%, excluding the online program management business, and raised its guidance for the year.

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Inspecs Group's Revenue Rose in First Nine Months of the Year

Inspecs Group said its revenue rose in the first nine months of the year, driven by in-line performances across its major markets.

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Guild ESports to Raise Up to GBP1 Mln via Strategic Investor Subscription

Guild eSports said it will raise up to 1 million pounds ($1.2 million) via a subscription with a strategic investor, and that it will use the net proceeds as additional working capital and for its international expansion.

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Premier Foods Expands Breakfast Portfolio With FUEL10K Acquisition for GBP34 Mln

Premier Foods said it has bought breakfast brand FUEL10K for an enterprise value of 34 million pounds ($41.2 million).

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Quantum Blockchain Technologies Shares Fall on Plans to Raise GBP2 Mln in Discounted Placing

Quantum Blockchain Technologies shares fell after the company said it will raise 2 million pounds ($2.4 million) via a discounted placing.

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Computacenter Performing in Line with Market Expectations

Computacenter said that its third quarter performance was in line with the board's expectations on the back of strong results in Germany and the U.S. and despite weaker U.K. growth, matching the trend experienced in the first half.

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HeiQ Pretax Loss Widens on Lower Demand

HeiQ has reported a widened pretax loss for the first half year after experiencing challenging trading and weaker demand across all segments.

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Northern Bear Sees Rise in Operating Profit Despite Macro Headwinds

Northern Bear said it is performing in line with management's expectations and ahead of strong prior-year results as activity levels remain high.

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Solid State Revenue, Adjusted Pretax Profit Rise; Full-Year Results Seen Ahead of Consensus

Solid State said revenue and adjusted pretax profit rose for the first half of fiscal 2024 and that it expects both to be marginally ahead of current consensus for the full year.

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D4T4 Solutions Swings to Adjusted Pretax Profit on Higher Sales

D4T4 Solutions said that it expects to report a swing to adjusted pretax profit for the first half-year driven by an improved sales pipeline growth and delayed revenue from contracts that were signed last year.

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Lok 'N Store Pretax Profit Falls on Strong Comparative

Lok 'n Store Group's pretax profit fell in fiscal 2023 in a strong prior-year comparative, and said it is well positioned for the future with recent performance in line with expectations.

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Starcrest Education Cancels Acquisition of Fairview IB World Schools

Starcrest Education said Monday that it has called off the acquisition of Fairview IB World Schools, which would have resulted in a reverse takeover.

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Ascential Shares Rise on Businesses Sale, Potential GBP850 Mln Capital Returns

Shares in Ascential rose after the company said it has conditionally agreed to sell two businesses for a combined enterprise value of 1.4 billion pounds ($1.70 billion) and that following the transactions it expects to return around GBP850 million to shareholders via a special dividend.

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Pineapple Power Says Proposed Element 2 Takeover Won't Proceed

Pineapple Power said it won't go ahead with its proposed reverse takeover of U.K.-based hydrogen-refueling business Element 2 as it hasn't been able to raise the capital needed for the deal.

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Restore Names Dan Baker as CFO, Jamie Hopkins as Chair

Restore said Monday it has appointed Dan Baker as chief financial officer and director with effect from Nov. 13.

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Cake Box Holdings Appoints Martin Blair as Nonexecutive Chairman

Cake Box Holdings said Monday that it has appointed Nonexecutive Director Martin Blair as nonexecutive chairman, replacing Nilesh Sachdev.

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Technology Minerals' Acquisition of Remaining Recyclus Share Capital Progressing Well

Technology Minerals said the proposed transaction to buy the remaining issued share capital of Recyclus Group was advancing well, and that it was progressing with the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority and in the final stages of obtaining approval for the publication of a prospectus.

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Cadence Minerals Shares Soar on Preliminary Deal to Advance Iron Ore Project in Brazil

Shares in Cadence Minerals surged 29% after it said its joint-venture company Pedra and Branca Alliance has signed a preliminary deal with Sinoma Tianjin Cement Industry Design & Research Institute to advance the development of the iron ore project in Brazil.

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K3 Business Technology CEO Marco Vergani Steps Down

K3 Business Technology Group said Monday that Chief Executive Officer Marco Vergani is stepping down and that Nonexecutive Chairman Tom Crawford will move to an executive role.


MARKET TALK:

Slowdown in Luxury Sales Could Continue to Hamper the Industry

1328 GMT - Third-quarter trading updates from the luxury industry showed a worse-than-feared slowdown in sales growth, which will continue to be a risk to the sector's earnings, UBS analysts write in a research note. The biggest slowdown was among European consumers, while China, a key market in the luxury sector that has been facing economic woes, remained robust with little change in trends, now driving the majority of sector's organic sales growth, UBS says. Results published so far could be used as a reference for companies publishing their results in the coming weeks such as Prada, Hugo Boss, Tod's, Compagnie Financiere Richemont and Burberry, they say. (andrea.figueras@wsj.com)

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European Markets Rise as Electrolux, Oil Stocks Gain

1251 GMT - European stocks rise as consumer-electronics, defense and oil shares make progress. The Stoxx Europe 600 and CAC 40 gain 0.6%, the FTSE 100 rallies 0.7% and the DAX climbs 0.5%. Oil stocks mostly increase even as Brent crude drops 1.6% to $87.81 a barrel, though BP drops 0.9% ahead of its 3Q results Tuesday. IG futures data show the Dow opening at 32602, versus Friday's close of 32417. Electrolux rises 7% after JPMorgan upgraded the Swedish home electrical-appliance maker to neutral from under-weight. Dassault Systemes also gains 3% after JPM upgraded the French defense group to overweight from underweight. "Market sentiment rose after investors assessed Israel's military action in Gaza over the weekend as more limited than expected," ActivTrades analyst Pierre Veyret writes. (philip.waller@wsj.com)

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ASOS's Talk of Potential Topshop Sale Lifts Shares

1230 GMT - ASOS is undergoing a 12-month turnaround plan and according to media reports it is exploring selling its Topshop brand, Interactive Investor analyst Victoria Scholar says in a note. The education company has been battling with a weak consumer backdrop, intense competition from rivals and cost pressures, and last month reported a 15% drop in 4Q sales, adding it saw earnings coming in toward the bottom end of its expected range, Scholar says. In the meantime, Frasers Group has been opportunistically increasing its stake in ASOS, Scholar says. Although a potential Topshop disposal has lifted shares, reversing some of its year-to-date decline, it is still down over 24% since the start of January, she says. Shares are up 1.6% at 391.60 pence. (anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com)

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Pearson Seen Ahead After In-Line 3Q, Profit Guidance Upgrade

1202 GMT - Although Pearson's 3Q organic revenue growth is in line with views, the higher-education and workforce-skills divisions still look weak, Barclays analysts Nick Dempsey and Aytaj Khalilli say in a note. Still, higher education is expected to improve in 4Q due to timing and full-year profit guidance has been raised by GBP20 million, so overall the education company is ahead despite higher education not looking great, the analysts say. The company expects organic growth at the higher end of low-mid single digit, and its profit upgrade is good in this market and will broadly outweigh higher education's disappointing-looking number, the analysts say. Shares are up 2.55% at 942.60 pence. (anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com)

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Rightmove Shares Look Attractive After Recent Price Weakness

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10-30-23 1303ET